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+Project Gutenberg's Anson's Voyage Round the World, by Richard Walter
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
+almost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or
+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
+with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
+
+
+Title: Anson's Voyage Round the World
+       The Text Reduced
+
+Author: Richard Walter
+
+Commentator: H. W. Household
+
+Release Date: August 28, 2005 [EBook #16611]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ASCII
+
+*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK ANSON'S VOYAGE ROUND THE WORLD ***
+
+
+
+
+Produced by Amy Zelmer and Sue Asscher
+
+
+
+
+
+ANSON'S VOYAGE ROUND THE WORLD.
+
+
+THE TEXT REDUCED.
+
+
+
+WITH INTRODUCTION, NOTES AND GLOSSARY
+
+BY
+
+H.W. HOUSEHOLD, M.A.
+FORMERLY ASSISTANT MASTER AT CLIFTON COLLEGE.
+
+
+
+RIVINGTONS
+34, KING STREET, COVENT GARDEN,
+LONDON.
+
+1901.
+
+
+
+CONTENTS.
+
+
+INTRODUCTION BY THE EDITOR.
+
+
+CHAPTER 1. PURPOSE OF THE VOYAGE. COMPOSITION OF THE SQUADRON. ARRIVAL AT
+           MADEIRA.
+
+
+CHAPTER 2. SPANISH PREPARATIONS. FATE OF PIZARRO'S SQUADRON.
+
+
+CHAPTER 3. FROM MADEIRA TO ST. CATHERINE'S. UNHEALTHINESS OF THE
+           SQUADRON.
+
+
+CHAPTER 4. THE COMMODORE'S INSTRUCTIONS. BAD WEATHER. NARROW ESCAPE OF
+           THE PEARL. ST JULIAN.
+
+
+CHAPTER 5. FURTHER INSTRUCTIONS. TIERRA DEL FUEGO. THE STRAITS OF LE
+           MAIRE.
+
+
+CHAPTER 6. HEAVY GALES. A LONG BATTLE WITH WIND AND SEA. THE CENTURION
+           LOSES HER CONSORTS.
+
+
+CHAPTER 7. OUTBREAK OF SCURVY. DANGER OF SHIPWRECK.
+
+
+CHAPTER 8. ARRIVAL AT JUAN FERNANDEZ. THE TRIAL REJOINS.
+
+
+CHAPTER 9. THE SICK LANDED. ALEXANDER SELKIRK. SEALS AND SEA-LIONS.
+
+
+CHAPTER 10. REAPPEARANCE OF THE GLOUCESTER. DISTRESS ON BOARD. HER
+            EFFORTS TO ENTER THE BAY.
+
+
+CHAPTER 11. TRACES OF SPANISH CRUISERS. ARRIVAL OF THE ANNA PINK.
+
+
+CHAPTER 12. THE WRECK OF THE WAGER. A MUTINY.
+
+
+CHAPTER 13. THE WRECK OF THE WAGER (CONTINUED). THE ADVENTURES OF THE
+            CAPTAIN'S PARTY.
+
+
+CHAPTER 14. THE LOSSES FROM SCURVY. STATE AND PROSPECTS OF THE SQUADRON.
+
+
+CHAPTER 15. A PRIZE. SPANISH PREPARATIONS. A NARROW ESCAPE.
+
+
+CHAPTER 16. THE COMMODORE'S PLANS. ANOTHER PRIZE. THE TRIAL DESTROYED.
+
+
+CHAPTER 17. MORE CAPTURES. ALARM OF THE COAST. PAITA.
+
+
+CHAPTER 18. THE ATTACK ON PAITA.
+
+
+CHAPTER 19. THE ATTACK ON PAITA (CONTINUED). KIND TREATMENT AND RELEASE
+            OF THE PRISONERS. THEIR GRATITUDE.
+
+
+CHAPTER 20. A CLEVER TRICK. WATERING AT QUIBO. CATCHING THE TURTLE.
+
+
+CHAPTER 21. DELAY AND DISAPPOINTMENT. CHASING A HEATH FIRE. ACAPULCO. THE
+            MANILA GALLEON. FRESH HOPES.
+
+
+CHAPTER 22. THE MANILA TRADE.
+
+
+CHAPTER 23. WAITING FOR THE GALLEON. DISAPPOINTMENT. CHEQUETAN.
+
+
+CHAPTER 24. THE PRIZES SCUTTLED. NEWS OF THE SQUADRON REACHES ENGLAND.
+            BOUND FOR CHINA.
+
+
+CHAPTER 25. DELAYS AND ACCIDENTS. SCURVY AGAIN. A LEAK. THE GLOUCESTER
+            ABANDONED.
+
+
+CHAPTER 26. THE LADRONES SIGHTED. TINIAN.
+
+
+CHAPTER 27. LANDING THE SICK. CENTURION DRIVEN TO SEA.
+
+
+CHAPTER 28. ANSON CHEERS HIS MEN. PLANS FOR ESCAPE. RETURN OF THE
+            CENTURION.
+
+
+CHAPTER 29. THE CENTURION AGAIN DRIVEN TO SEA. HER RETURN. DEPARTURE FROM
+            TINIAN.
+
+
+CHAPTER 30. CHINESE FISHING FLEETS. ARRIVAL AT MACAO.
+
+
+CHAPTER 31. MACAO. INTERVIEW WITH THE GOVERNOR. A VISIT TO CANTON.
+
+
+CHAPTER 32. A LETTER TO THE VICEROY. A CHINESE MANDARIN. THE CENTURION IS
+            REFITTED AND PUTS TO SEA.
+
+
+CHAPTER 33. WAITING FOR THE MANILA GALLEON.
+
+
+CHAPTER 34. THE CAPTURE OF THE GALLEON.
+
+
+CHAPTER 35. SECURING THE PRISONERS. MACAO AGAIN. AMOUNT OF THE TREASURE.
+
+
+CHAPTER 36. THE CANTON RIVER. NEGOTIATING WITH THE CHINESE. PRISONERS
+            RELEASED.
+
+
+CHAPTER 37. CHINESE TRICKERY.
+
+
+CHAPTER 38. PREPARATIONS FOR A VISIT TO CANTON.
+
+
+CHAPTER 39. STORES AND PROVISIONS. A FIRE IN CANTON. SAILORS AS FIREMEN.
+            THE VICEROY'S GRATITUDE.
+
+
+CHAPTER 40. ANSON RECEIVED BY THE VICEROY. CENTURION SETS SAIL. TABLE
+            BAY. SPITHEAD.
+
+
+MAPS.
+1. MAP OF SOUTH AMERICA.
+2. MAP OF THE CHINA SEA.
+
+
+NOTES.
+
+
+GLOSSARY.
+
+...
+
+
+
+INTRODUCTION.
+
+It was in the reign of Elizabeth that England first became the enemy of
+Spain. Rivals as yet Spain had none, whether in Europe or beyond the
+seas. There was only one great military monarchy in Europe, only one
+great colonising power in the New World, and that was Spain. While
+England was still slowly recovering from the prostration consequent upon
+the Wars of the Roses, and nearly a century had to run before she
+established her earliest colony in Newfoundland, the enterprise and
+disciplined courage of the Spaniards had added an enormous empire across
+the Atlantic to the already great dominions of the Spanish crown. In 1520
+Magellan, whose ship was the first to circumnavigate the globe, pushed
+his way into the Pacific and reached the Philippines. In 1521 Cortez
+completed the conquest of Mexico. Pizarro in 1532 added Peru, and shortly
+afterwards Chile to the Spanish Empire.
+
+From the gold mines of Chile and the silver mines of Peru a wealth of
+bullion hitherto undreamed of poured into the treasuries of Spain. But no
+treasuries, however full, could meet the demands of Phillip II. His
+fanatical ambition had thought to dominate Europe and root out the newly
+reformed religion which had already established itself in the greater
+part of the north and west, and nowhere more firmly than among his
+subjects in the Netherlands and among the English. England for years he
+had seemed to hold in the hollow of his hand. The Dutch, at the beginning
+of their great struggle for freedom, appeared even to themselves to be
+embarking upon a hopeless task. Yet from their desperate struggle England
+and Holland rose up two mighty nations full of genius for commerce and
+for war, while Spain had already advanced far along that path of decline
+which led rapidly to the extinction of her preeminence in Europe and the
+loss of her colonies beyond the seas.
+
+By the daring genius of Drake and the great English seamen of the age of
+Elizabeth the field of operations was transferred from the Channel to the
+American coast. The sack of Spanish towns and the spoil of treasure ships
+enriched the adventurers, whose methods were closely akin to piracy, and
+who rarely paused to ask whether the two countries were formally at war.
+"No peace beyond the line" was a rule of action that scarcely served to
+cloak successful piracy. In Spanish eyes it was, not without reason,
+wholly unjustifiable.
+
+The colonial policy of Spain was calculated to raise up everywhere a host
+of enemies. In her mistaken anxiety to keep all the wealth of her
+colonies to herself she prohibited the rest of the world from engaging in
+trade with them. Only with her might they buy and sell. The result was
+that a great smuggling trade sprang up. No watchfulness could defeat the
+daring and ingenuity of the English, Dutch, and French sailors who
+frequented the Caribbean Sea. No threats could prevent the colonists from
+attempting to buy and sell in the market that paid them best. The
+ferocious vengeance of the Spaniards, which in some cases almost
+exterminated the population of their own colonies, converted the traders
+into the Buccaneers, an association of sailors of all nations who
+established themselves in one of the islands of the Caribbean Sea, and
+who for three-quarters of a century were the scourge of the Spanish trade
+and dominions. Their cruelty was as remarkable as their skill and daring.
+They spared neither man, nor woman, nor child. Even half a century after
+their association had been broken up the memory of their inhuman
+barbarity was so vivid that no Spanish prisoner ever mounted Anson's deck
+without a lively dread, which was only equalled by the general surprise
+at his kindly and courteous treatment. The sight of an English sailor
+woke terror in every heart.
+
+At last, in 1713, by the Treaty of Utrecht, that closed the famous War of
+the Spanish Succession, in which Marlborough gained his wonderful
+victories, Spain consented to resign her claim to a monopoly of trade
+with her colonies so far as to permit one English ship a year to visit
+the American coasts. But the concession was unavailing. It granted too
+little to satisfy the traders. The one ship was sent, but as soon as her
+cargo had been cleared she was reloaded from others which lay in the
+offing, and the Spanish colonists, only too glad to enrich themselves,
+actively connived at the irregularity. The Spanish cruisers endeavoured
+to enforce respect for the treaty. They claimed, not without justice, to
+search English vessels seen in American waters and to confiscate
+forbidden cargoes. English pride rebelled, and English sailors resisted.
+Violent affrays took place. The story of Jenkins' ear kindled a wild,
+unreasoning blaze of popular resentment, and by 1739 the two countries
+were on the verge of war. In the temper of the English people Walpole
+dared not admit the Spanish right of search, and he was compelled by
+popular feeling to begin a war for which he was not prepared, in a cause
+in which he did not believe.
+
+It was at this point that Anson's expedition was fitted out.
+
+George Anson was born in 1697. He came of a lawyer stock in
+Staffordshire. In 1712 he entered the navy as a volunteer on board the
+Ruby. His promotion was rapid, owing partly to his own merit, partly to
+the influence of his relations. By 1724 he was captain of the Scarborough
+frigate, and was sent out to South Carolina to protect the coast and the
+trading ships against pirates, and also against the Spanish cruisers,
+which were already exercising that right of searching English vessels
+that finally provoked the war of 1739. There he remained till 1730. He
+was again on the same station from 1732 to 1735. In 1737 he was appointed
+to the Centurion, a small ship of the line carrying sixty guns, and was
+sent first to the West Coast of Africa and then to the West Indies. In
+1739 he was recalled to conduct the expedition which has made his name so
+famous.
+
+In the account of that voyage, which his Chaplain, Mr. Walter, wrote
+under his supervision, everything is told so straightforwardly, and seems
+so reasonable and simple, that one is apt to underestimate the
+difficulties which he had to face, and the courage and skill which alone
+enabled him to overcome them. Seldom has an undertaking been more
+remorselessly dogged by an adverse fate than that of Anson. Seldom have
+plain common sense, professional knowledge, and unflinching resolution
+achieved a more memorable triumph.
+
+On his return from the great voyage he was promoted rear-admiral, and in
+1746 he was given command of the Channel fleet. In 1747 he engaged and
+utterly overwhelmed an inferior French fleet, captured several vessels,
+and took treasure amounting to 300,000 pounds. For this achievement he
+was made a peer. In 1751 he became First Lord of the Admiralty, and to
+his untiring efforts in the preparation of squadrons and the training of
+seamen is due some part, at any rate, of the glory won by English sailors
+during the famous days of Pitt's great ministry. He died in 1762.
+
+No finer testimony to his skill in choosing and in training his
+subordinates can be found than in the list of men who served under him in
+the Centurion and afterwards rose to fame. "In the whole history of our
+Navy," it has been said, "there is not another instance of so many
+juniors from one ship rising to distinction, men like Saunders, Suamarez,
+Peircy Brett, Keppel, Hyde Parker, John Campbell."
+
+He was a man who had a thorough knowledge of his profession. No details
+were beneath him. His preparations were always thorough and admirably
+adapted to the purpose in view. Always cool, wary, resourceful, and
+brave, he was ready to do the right thing, whether he had to capture a
+town, delude his enemies, cheer his disheartened crew, or frustrate the
+wiliness of a Chinese viceroy.
+
+Though without anything of the heroic genius of a Nelson, he is still one
+of the finest of those great sailors who have done so much for England;
+one of whom she will ever be proud, and one whose life and deeds will
+always afford an example for posterity to follow.
+
+...
+
+
+ANSON'S VOYAGE ROUND THE WORLD.
+
+
+CHAPTER 1.
+PURPOSE OF THE VOYAGE.--COMPOSITION OF THE SQUADRON--MADEIRA.
+
+THE SQUADRON SAILS.
+
+When, in the latter end of the summer of the year 1739, it was foreseen
+that a war with Spain was inevitable, it was the opinion of several
+considerable persons, then trusted with the administration of affairs,
+that the most prudent step the nation could take, on the breaking out of
+the war, was attacking that Crown in her distant settlements. It was from
+the first determined that George Anson, Esquire, then captain of the
+"Centurion", should be employed as commander-in-chief of an expedition of
+this kind. The squadron, under Mr. Anson, was intended to pass round Cape
+Horn into the South Seas, and there to range along the coast, cruising
+upon the enemy in those parts, and attempting their settlements. On the
+28th of June, 1740, the Duke of Newcastle, Principal Secretary of State,
+delivered to him His Majesty's instructions. On the receipt of these, Mr.
+Anson immediately repaired to Spithead, with a resolution to sail with
+the first fair wind, flattering himself that all his delays were now at
+an end. For though he knew by the musters that his squadron wanted 300
+seamen of their complement, yet as Sir Charles Wager* informed him that
+an order from the Board of Admiralty was despatched to Sir John Norris to
+spare him the numbers which he wanted, he doubted not of his complying
+therewith. But on his arrival at Portsmouth he found himself greatly
+mistaken and disappointed in this persuasion, for Admiral Balchen, who
+succeeded to the command at Spithead after Sir John Norris had sailed to
+the westward, instead of 300 able sailors, which Mr. Anson wanted of his
+complement, ordered on board the squadron 170 men only, of which 32 were
+from the hospital and sick quarters, 37 from the Salisbury, with officers
+of Colonel Lowther's regiment, and 98 marines; and these were all that
+were ever granted to make up the forementioned deficiency.
+
+(*Note. Sir Charles Wager was at that time First Lord of the Admiralty in
+Walpole's Ministry.)
+
+But the Commodore's mortification did not end here. It was at first
+intended that Colonel Bland's regiment, and three independent companies
+of 100 men each, should embark as land forces on board the squadron. But
+this disposition was now changed, and all the land forces that were to be
+allowed were 500 invalids, to be collected from the out-pensioners of
+Chelsea College.* As these out-pensioners consist of soldiers, who, from
+their age, wounds, or other infirmities, are incapable of service in
+marching regiments, Mr. Anson was greatly chagrined at having such a
+decrepit detachment allotted to him; for he was fully persuaded that the
+greatest part of them would perish long before they arrived at the scene
+of action, since the delays he had already encountered necessarily
+confined his passage round Cape Horn to the most vigorous season of the
+year.** They were ordered on board the squadron on the 5th of August; but
+instead of 500 there came on board no more than 259; for all those who
+had limbs and strength to walk out of Portsmouth deserted, leaving behind
+them only such as were literally invalids, most of them being sixty years
+of age, and some of them upwards of seventy.
+
+(*Note. A local name for Chelsea Hospital, a home for old and disabled
+soldiers. It was founded by Charles II and the buildings were designed by
+Wren.)
+
+(**Note. The squadron did not reach the neighbourhood of Cape Horn until
+March when the autumn of the Southern Hemisphere had begun and with it
+the stormy season.)
+
+To supply the place of the 240 invalids which had deserted there were
+ordered on board 210 marines detached from different regiments. These
+were raw and undisciplined men, for they were just raised, and had
+scarcely anything more of the soldier than their regimentals, none of
+them having been so far trained as to be permitted to fire. The last
+detachment of these marines came on board the 8th of August, and on the
+10th the squadron sailed from Spithead to St. Helens, there to wait for a
+wind to proceed on the expedition.
+
+But the diminishing the strength of the squadron was not the greatest
+inconvenience which attended these alterations, for the contests,
+representations, and difficulties which they continually produced
+occasioned a delay and waste of time which in its consequences was the
+source of all the disasters to which this enterprise was afterwards
+exposed. For by this means we were obliged to make our passage round Cape
+Horn in the most tempestuous season of the year, whence proceeded the
+separation of our squadron, the loss of numbers of our men, and the
+imminent hazard of our total destruction. And by this delay, too, the
+enemy had been so well informed of our designs that a person who had been
+employed in the South Sea Company's* service, and arrived from Panama
+three or four days before we left Portsmouth, was able to relate to Mr.
+Anson most of the particulars of the destination and strength of our
+squadron from what he had learned among the Spaniards before he left
+them. And this was afterwards confirmed by a more extraordinary
+circumstance; for we shall find that when the Spaniards (fully satisfied
+that our expedition was intended for the South Seas) had fitted out a
+squadron to oppose us, which had so far got the start of us as to arrive
+before us off the island of Madeira, the Commander of this squadron was
+so well instructed in the form and make of Mr. Anson's broad pennant, and
+had imitated it so exactly that he thereby decoyed the "Pearl", one of
+our squadron, within gunshot of him before the captain of the Pearl was
+able to discover his mistake.
+
+(*Note. The South Sea Company was formed in 1711 on the model of the East
+India Company to trade in the Pacific; and on the conclusion of the
+Treaty of Utrecht it was given the monopoly of the English trade with the
+Spanish coasts of America. The grant of certain privileges by Government
+led to wild speculation in its shares which gave rise to the famous South
+Sea Bubble of 1720.)
+
+On the 18th of September, 1740, the squadron weighed from St. Helens with
+a contrary wind. It consisted of five men-of-war, a sloop-of-war, and two
+victualling ships. They were the Centurion, of 60 guns, 400 men, George
+Anson, Esquire, commander; the "Gloucester", of 50 guns, 300 men, Richard
+Norris, commander; the "Severn", of 50 guns, 300 men, the Honourable
+Edward Legg, commander; the Pearl, of 40 guns, 250 men, Matthew Mitchel,
+commander; the "Wager", of 28 guns, 160 men, Dandy Kidd, commander; and
+the "Trial", sloop, of 8 guns, 100 men, the Honourable John Murray,
+commander. The two victuallers were pinks, the largest about 400 and the
+other about 200 tons burthen; these were to attend us till the provisions
+we had taken on board were so far consumed as to make room for the
+additional quantity they carried with them, which when we had taken into
+our ships they were to be discharged. Besides the complement of men borne
+by the above-mentioned ships as their crews, there were embarked on board
+the squadron about 470 invalids and marines, under the denomination of
+land forces, which were commanded by Lieutenant-Colonel Cracherode.
+
+The winds were so contrary that we had the mortification to be forty days
+in our passage from St. Helens to the island of Madeira, though it is
+known to be often done in ten or twelve. However, at last, on Monday,
+October the 25th, at five in the morning, we, to our great joy, made the
+land, and in the afternoon came to an anchor in Madeira Road.
+
+We continued about a week at this island, watering our ships and
+providing the squadron with wine and other refreshments.
+
+When Mr. Anson visited the Governor of Madeira* he received information
+from him that for three or four days in the latter end of October there
+had appeared, to the westward of that island, seven or eight ships of the
+line. The Governor assured the Commodore, upon his honour, that none upon
+the island had either given them intelligence or had in any sort
+communicated with them, but that he believed them to be either French or
+Spanish, but was rather inclined to think them Spanish. On this
+intelligence Mr. Anson sent an officer in a clean sloop eight leagues to
+the westward to reconnoitre them, and, if possible, to discover what they
+were. But the officer returned without being able to get a sight of them,
+so that we still remained in uncertainty. However, we could not but
+conjecture that this fleet was intended to put a stop to our expedition.
+Afterwards, in the course of our expedition, we were many of us persuaded
+that this was the Spanish squadron commanded by Don Joseph Pizarro, which
+was sent out purposely to traverse the views and enterprises of our
+squadron, to which in strength they were greatly superior.
+
+(*Note. Madeira then as now belonged to Portugal--a neutral power at that
+time usually jealous of Spain.)
+
+
+CHAPTER 2.
+SPANISH PREPARATIONS--FATE OF PIZARRO'S SQUADRON.
+
+DON JOSEPH PIZARRO.
+
+When the squadron fitted out by the Court of Spain to attend our motions
+had cruised for some days to the leeward of Madeira they left that
+station in the beginning of November and steered for the River of Plate,
+where they arrived the 5th of January, Old Style,* and coming to an
+anchor in the bay of Maldonado at the mouth of that river their admiral,
+Pizarro, sent immediately to Buenos Ayres for a supply of provisions for
+they had departed from Spain with only four months' provisions on board.
+While they lay here expecting this supply they received intelligence by
+the treachery of the Portuguese Governor of St. Catherine's, of Mr.
+Anson's having arrived at that island on the 21st of December preceding,
+and of his preparing to put to sea again with the utmost expedition.
+Pizarro, notwithstanding his superior force, had his reasons (and as some
+say, his orders likewise) for avoiding our squadron anywhere short of the
+South Seas. He was besides extremely desirous of getting round Cape Horn
+before us, as he imagined that step alone would effectually baffle all
+our designs, and therefore, on hearing that we were in his
+neighbourhood** and that we should soon be ready to proceed for Cape Horn
+he weighed anchor*** after a stay of seventeen days only and got under
+sail without his provisions, which arrived at Maldonado within a day or
+two after his departure. But notwithstanding the precipitation with which
+he departed we put to sea from St. Catherine's four days before him and
+in some part of our passage to Cape Horn the two squadrons were so near
+together that the Pearl, one of our ships, being separated from the rest,
+fell in with the Spanish fleet, and mistaking the Asia for the Centurion
+had got within gunshot of Pizarro before she discovered her error, and
+narrowly escaped being taken.
+
+(*Note. The calendar as regulated by Julius Caesar in 46 BC assumed the
+length of the solar year to be exactly 365 1/2 days, whereas it is eleven
+minutes and a few with seconds less. By 1582 the error had become
+considerable for the calendar was ten days behind the sun. Pope Gregory
+XIII therefore ordained that ten days in that year should be dropped and
+October 5th reckoned as October 15th. In order to avoid error in the
+future it was settled that three of the leap years that occur in 400
+years should be considered common years. So 1600 was and 2000 will be a
+leap year but 1700, 1800 and 1900 were not. The New Style (NS.) was
+adopted by Catholic countries. Protestant countries as a rule rejected it
+and adhered to the old Style (OS.). The result was a considerable
+confusion in dates as will be plain in the course of the book. The New
+Style was adopted by England in 1751, when eleven days had to be omitted,
+and September 3rd was reckoned as September 14th. Ignorant people thought
+that they were defrauded of eleven days wages. "Give us back our eleven
+days" became a popular cry against the Minister of the time. Russia and
+other countries under the Greek Church still adhere to the old Style and
+are now thirteen days behind.)
+
+(**Note. Anson's squadron was then at St. Catherine's in Brazil. See
+below, Chapter 3.)
+
+(***Note. The Spanish squadron when it sailed from Maldonado consisted of
+the following ships: "Asia", 66 guns, flag ship; "Guipuscoa", 74;
+"Hermiona", 54; "Esperanza", 50; "St. Estevan", 40. The Asia was the only
+ship that ever returned to Spain.)
+
+Pizarro with his squadron having, towards the latter end of February, run
+the length of Cape Horn, he then stood to the westward in order to double
+it; but in the night of the last day of February, OS. while, with this
+view, they were turned to windward the Guipuscoa, the Hermiona, and the
+Esperanza were separated from the Admiral. On the 6th of March following
+the Guipuscoa was separated from the other two, and on the 7th (being the
+day after we had passed straits le Maire) there came on a most furious
+storm at north-west, which, in despite of all their efforts, drove the
+whole squadron to the eastward, and obliged them, after several fruitless
+attempts, to bear away for the River of Plate, where Pizarro in the Asia
+arrived about the middle of May and a few days after him the Esperanza
+and the St. Estevan. The Hermiona was supposed to founder at sea for she
+was never heard of more and the Guipuscoa was run ashore and sunk on the
+coast of Brazil. The calamities of all kinds which this squadron
+underwentin this unsuccessful navigation can only be paralleled by what
+we ourselves experienced in the same climate when buffeted by the same
+storms. There was indeed some diversity in our distresses which rendered
+it difficult to decide whose situation was most worthy of commiseration;
+for to all the misfortunes we had in common with each other as shattered
+rigging, leaky ships, and the fatigues and despondency which necessarily
+attend these disasters, there was superadded on board our squadron the
+ravage of a most destructive and incurable disease* and on board the
+Spanish squadron the devastation of famine.
+
+(*Note. Scurvy.)
+
+FAMINE.
+
+For this squadron departed from Spain as has been already observed with
+no more than four months' provision and even that, as it is said, at
+short allowance only, so that, when by the storms they met with off Cape
+Horn their continuance at sea was prolonged a month or more beyond their
+expectation they were thereby reduced to such infinite distress that
+rats, when they could be caught, were sold for four dollars a piece and a
+sailor who died on board had his death concealed for some days by his
+brother who during that time lay in the same hammock with the corpse only
+to receive the dead man's allowance of provisions.
+
+By the complicated distress of fatigue, sickness, and hunger, the three
+ships which escaped lost the greatest part of their men. The Asia, their
+Admiral's ship, arrived at Monte Video in the River of Plate with half
+her crew only; the St. Estevan had lost in like manner half her hands
+when she anchored in the Bay of Barragan. The Esperanza, a 50-gun ship,
+was still more unfortunate, for of 450 hands which she brought from Spain
+only 55 remained alive.
+
+By removing the masts of the Esperanza into the Asia, and making use of
+what spare masts and yards they had on board, they made a shift to refit
+the Asia and the St. Estevan, and in the October following Pizarro was
+preparing to put to sea with these two ships in order to attempt the
+passage round Cape Horn a second time, but the St. Estevan, in coming
+down the River of Plate, ran on a shoal and beat off her rudder, on
+which, and other damages she received, she was condemned and broke up,
+and Pizarro in the Asia proceeded to sea without her. Having now the
+summer before him and the winds favourable, no doubt was made of his
+having a fortunate and speedy passage; but being off Cape Horn and going
+right before the wind in very moderate weather, though in a swelling sea
+by some misconduct of the officer of the watch the ship rolled away her
+masts and was a second time obliged to put back to the River of Plate in
+great distress.
+
+The Asia having considerably suffered in this second unfortunate
+expedition the Esperanza which had been left behind at Monte Video, was
+ordered to be refitted, the command of her being given to Mindinuetta,
+who was captain of the Guipuscoa when she was lost. He, in the November
+of the succeeding year that is, in November, 1742, sailed from the River
+of Plate for the South Seas and arrived safe on the coast of Chile where
+his Commodore, Pizarro, passing overland from Buenos Ayres met him. There
+were great animosities and contests between these two gentlemen at their
+meeting occasioned principally by the claim of Pizarro to command the
+Esperanza, which Mindinuetta had brought round, for Mindinuetta refused
+to deliver her up to him, insisting that as he came into the South Seas
+alone, and under no superior, it was not now in the power of Pizarro to
+resume that authority which he had once parted with. However the
+President of Chile interposing, and declaring for Pizarro, Mindinuetta
+after a long and obstinate struggle, was obliged to submit.
+
+But Pizarro had not yet completed the series of his adventures, for when
+he and Mindinuetta came back by land from Chile to Buenos Ayres in the
+year 1745 they found at Monte Video the Asia, which near three years
+before they had left there. This ship they resolved, if possible, to
+carry to Europe, and with this view they refitted her in the best manner
+they could; but their great difficulty was to procure a sufficient number
+of hands to navigate her, for all the remaining sailors of the squadron
+to be met with in the neighbourhood of Buenos Ayres did not amount to a
+hundred men. They endeavoured to supply this defect by pressing many of
+the inhabitants of Buenos Ayres, and putting on board besides all the
+English prisoners then in their custody, together with a number of
+Portuguese smugglers whom they had taken at different times, and some of
+the Indians of the country. Among these last there was a chief and ten of
+his followers who had been surprised by a party of Spanish soldiers about
+three months before. The name of this chief was Orellana; he belonged to
+a very powerful tribe which had committed great ravages in the
+neighbourhood of Buenos Ayres. With this motley crew (all of them except
+the European Spaniards extremely averse to the voyage) Pizarro set sail
+from Monte Video, in the River of Plate about the beginning of November,
+1745, and the native Spaniards, being no strangers to the dissatisfaction
+of their forced men treated both the English prisoners and the Indians
+with great insolence and barbarity, but more particularly the Indians;
+for it was common for the meanest officers in the ship to beat them most
+cruelly on the slightest pretences, and often times only to exert their
+superiority. Orellana and his followers, though in appearance
+sufficiently patient and submissive, meditated a severe revenge for all
+these inhumanities. Having agreed on the measures necessary to be taken,
+they first furnished themselves with Dutch knives sharp at the point,
+which, being the common knives used in the ship, they found no difficulty
+in procuring. Besides this they employed their leisure in secretly
+cutting out thongs from raw hides, of which there were great numbers on
+board, and in fixing to each end of these thongs the double-headed shot
+of the small quarter-deck guns; this, when swung round their heads
+according to the practice of their country was a most mischievous weapon*
+in the use of which the Indians about Buenos Ayres are trained from their
+infancy, and consequently are extremely expert.
+
+SPANISH CRUELTY.
+
+These particulars being in good forwardness, the execution of their
+scheme was perhaps precipitated by a particular outrage committed on
+Orellana himself; for one of the officers, who was a very brutal fellow,
+ordered Orellana aloft, which being what he was incapable of performing,
+the officer, under pretence of his disobedience, beat him with such
+violence that he left him bleeding on the deck and stupefied for some
+time with his bruises and wounds. This usage undoubtedly heightened his
+thirst for revenge, and made him eager and impatient till the means of
+executing it were in his power, so that within a day or two after this
+incident he and his followers opened their desperate resolves in the
+ensuing manner.
+
+(*Note. It is called a bola.)
+
+A DARING ADVENTURE.
+
+It was about nine in the evening, when many of the principal officers
+were on the quarter-deck indulging in the freshness of the night air; the
+waist of the ship was filled with live cattle, and the forecastle was
+manned with its customary watch. Orellana and his companions under cover
+of the night, having prepared their weapons and thrown off their trousers
+and the more cumbrous part of their dress, came altogether on the
+quarter-deck and drew towards the door of the great cabin. The boatswain
+immediately reprimanded them and ordered them to be gone. On this
+Orellana spoke to his followers in his native language when four of them
+drew off, two towards each gangway, and the chief and the six remaining
+Indians seemed to be slowly quitting the quarter-deck. When the detached
+Indians had taken possession of the gangways, Orellana placed his hands
+hollow to his mouth and bellowed out the war-cry used by those savages,
+which is said to be the harshest and most terrifying sound known in
+nature. This hideous yell was the signal for beginning the massacre, for
+on this the Indians all drew their knives and brandished their prepared
+double-headed shot, and the six, with their chief, who remained on the
+quarter-deck, immediately fell on the Spaniards who were intermingled
+with them, and laid near forty of them at their feet, of whom above
+twenty were killed on the spot, and the rest disabled. Many of the
+officers, in the beginning of the tumult, pushed into the great cabin,
+where they put out the lights and barricaded the door. And of the others,
+who had avoided the first fury of the Indians, some endeavoured to escape
+along the gangways into the forecastle, but the Indians placed there on
+purpose stabbed the greatest part of them as they attempted to pass by,
+or forced them off the gangways into the waist. Others threw themselves
+voluntarily over the barricades into the waist, and thought themselves
+happy to lie concealed amongst the cattle; but the greatest part escaped
+up the main-shrouds and sheltered themselves either in the tops or
+rigging; and though the Indians attacked only the quarter-deck, yet the
+watch in the forecastle, finding their communication cut off, and being
+terrified by the wounds of the few who, not being killed on the spot, had
+strength sufficient to force their passage along the gangways, and not
+knowing either who their enemies were or what were their numbers, they
+likewise gave all over for lost, and in great confusion ran up into the
+rigging of the foremast and bowsprit.
+
+Thus these eleven Indians, with a resolution perhaps without example,
+possessed themselves almost in an instant of the quarter-deck of a ship
+mounting sixty-six guns, with a crew of nearly five hundred men, and
+continued in peaceable possession of this post a considerable time; for
+the officers in the great cabin (amongst whom were Pizarro and
+Mindinuetta), the crew between decks, and those who had escaped into the
+tops and rigging, were only anxious for their own safety, and were for a
+long time incapable of forming any project for suppressing the
+insurrection and recovering the possession of the ship. It is true, the
+yells of the Indians, the groans of the wounded and the confused clamours
+of the crew, all heightened by the obscurity of the night, had at first
+greatly magnified their danger, and had filled them with the imaginary
+terrors which darkness, disorder, and an ignorance of the real strength
+of an enemy never fail to produce. For as the Spaniards were sensible of
+the disaffection of their pressed hands, and were also conscious of their
+barbarity to their prisoners, they imagined the conspiracy was general,
+and considered their own destruction as infallible; so that, it is said,
+some of them had once taken the resolution of leaping into the sea, but
+were prevented by their companions.
+
+However, when the Indians had entirely cleared the quarter-deck, the
+tumult in a great measure subsided; for those who had escaped were kept
+silent by their fears, and the Indians were incapable of pursuing them to
+renew the disorder. Orellana, when he saw himself master of the
+quarter-deck, broke open the arm chest, which, on a slight suspicion of
+mutiny, had been ordered there a few days before, as to a place of the
+greatest security. Here, he took it for granted, he should find cutlasses
+sufficient for himself and his companions, in the use of which weapon
+they were all extremely skilful, and with these, it was imagined, they
+proposed to have forced the great cabin; but on opening the chest there
+appeared nothing but firearms, which to them were of no use. There were
+indeed cutlasses in the chest, but they were hid by the firearms being
+laid over them. This was a sensible disappointment to them, and by this
+time Pizarro and his companions in the great cabin were capable of
+conversing aloud, through the cabin windows and port-holes, with those in
+the gun-room and between decks; and from hence they learned that the
+English (whom they principally suspected) were all safe below, and had
+not intermeddled in this mutiny; and by other particulars they at last
+discovered that none were concerned in it but Orellana and his people. On
+this Pizarro and the officers resolved to attack them on the
+quarter-deck, before any of the discontented on board should so far
+recover their first surprise as to reflect on the facility and certainty
+of seizing the ship by a junction with the Indians in the present
+emergency. With this view Pizarro got together what arms were in the
+cabin, and distributed them to those who were with him; but there were no
+other firearms to be met with but pistols, and for these they had neither
+powder nor ball. However, having now settled a correspondence with the
+gun room, they lowered down a bucket out of the cabin window, into which
+the gunner, out of one of the gun-room ports, put a quantity of pistol
+cartridges. When they had thus procured ammunition, and had loaded their
+pistols, they set the cabin door partly open, and fired some shot amongst
+the Indians on the quarter-deck, at first without effect. But at last
+Mindinuetta had the good fortune to shoot Orellana dead on the spot; on
+which his faithful companions, abandoning all thoughts of further
+resistance, instantly leaped into the sea, where they every man perished.
+Thus was this insurrection quelled, and the possession of the
+quarter-deck regained, after it had been full two hours in the power of
+this great and daring chief and his gallant and unhappy countrymen.
+
+Pizarro, having escaped this imminent peril, steered for Europe, and
+arrived safe on the coast of Galicia* in the beginning of the year 1746,
+after having been absent between four and five years.
+
+(*Note. Galicia is the north-western province of Spain.)
+
+
+CHAPTER 3.
+FROM MADEIRA TO ST. CATHERINE'S--UNHEALTHINESS OF THE SQUADRON.
+
+On the 3rd of November we weighed from Madeira.
+
+On the 20th the captains of the squadron represented to the Commodore
+that their ships' companies were very sickly, and that it was their own
+opinion as well as their surgeons' that it would tend to the preservation
+of the men to let in more air between decks; but that their ships were so
+deep they could not possibly open their lower ports. On this
+representation the Commodore ordered six air-scuttles to be cut in each
+ship, in such places where they would least weaken it.
+
+We crossed the Equinoctial, with a fine fresh gale at south-east on
+Friday, the 28th of November, at four in the morning, being then in the
+longitude of 27 degrees 59 minutes west from London.
+
+On the 12th of December we spoke with a Portuguese brigantine from Rio de
+Janeiro, who informed us that we were sixty-four leagues from Cape St.
+Thomas, and forty leagues from Cape Frio.
+
+DISEASE.
+
+We now began to grow impatient for a sight of land, both for the recovery
+of our sick and for the refreshment and security of those who as yet
+continued healthier. When we departed from St. Helens, we were in so good
+a condition that we lost but two men on board the Centurion in our long
+passage to Madeira. But in this present run between Madeira and St.
+Catherine's we had been very sickly, so that many died, and great numbers
+were confined to their hammocks, both in our own ship and in the rest of
+the squadron; and several of these past all hopes of recovery. By our
+continuance at sea all our complaints were every day increasing, so that
+it was with great joy that we discovered the coast of Brazil on the 18th
+of December, at seven in the morning.
+
+We moored at the island of St. Catherine's on Sunday, the 21st of
+December, the whole squadron being sickly and in great want of
+refreshments: both which inconveniences we hoped to have soon removed at
+this settlement, celebrated by former navigators for its healthiness and
+its provisions, and for the freedom, indulgence, and friendly assistance
+there given to the ships of all European nations in amity with the Crown
+of Portugal.
+
+Our first care, after having moored our ships, was to send our sick men
+on shore. We sent about eighty sick from the Centurion, and the other
+ships I believe, sent nearly as many in proportion to the number of their
+hands. As soon as we had performed this necessary duty, we scraped our
+decks, and gave our ship a thorough cleansing; then smoked it between
+decks, and after all washed every part well with vinegar. Our next
+employment was wooding and watering our squadron, caulking our ships'
+sides and decks, overhauling our rigging, and securing our masts against
+the tempestuous weather we were, in all probability, to meet with in our
+passage round Cape Horn in so advanced and inconvenient a season.
+
+In order to render the ships stiffer, and to enable them to carry more
+sail abroad, and to prevent their labouring in hard gales of wind, each
+captain had orders given him to strike down some of their great guns into
+the hold. These precautions being complied with, and each ship having
+taken in as much wood and water as there was room for, the whole squadron
+was ready for the sea; on which the tents on shore were struck, and all
+the sick were received on board. And here we had a melancholy proof how
+much the healthiness of this place had been overrated by former writers,
+for we found that though the Centurion alone had buried no less than
+twenty-eight men since our arrival, yet the number of our sick was in the
+same interval increased from eighty to ninety-six.
+
+And now our crews being embarked, and everything prepared for our
+departure, the Commodore made a signal for all captains, and delivered
+them their orders, containing the successive places of rendezvous from
+hence to the coast of China. And then on the next day, being the 18th of
+January, 1741, the signal was made for weighing, and the squadron put to
+sea.
+
+
+CHAPTER 4.
+THE COMMODORE'S INSTRUCTIONS--BAD WEATHER--NARROW ESCAPE OF THE
+   PEARL--ST JULIAN.
+
+THE LAST AMICABLE PORT.
+
+In leaving St. Catherine's, we left the last amicable port we proposed to
+touch at, and were now proceeding to a hostile, or at best a desert and
+inhospitable coast. And as we were to expect a more boisterous climate to
+the southward than any we had yet experienced, not only our danger of
+separation would by this means be much greater than it had been hitherto,
+but other accidents of a more pernicious nature were likewise to be
+apprehended, and as much as possible to be provided against. And
+therefore Mr. Anson, in appointing the various stations at which the
+ships of the squadron were to rendezvous, had considered that it was
+possible his own ship might be disabled from getting round Cape Horn, or
+might be lost; and had given proper directions that even in that case the
+expedition should not be abandoned. For the orders delivered to the
+captains the day before we sailed for St. Catherine's were that in case
+of separation--which they were with the utmost care to endeavour to
+avoid--the first place of rendezvous should be the Bay of Port St.
+Julian. If after a stay there of ten days, they were not joined by the
+Commodore, they were then to proceed through Straits le Maire round Cape
+Horn into the South Seas, where the next place of rendezvous was to be
+the island of Nuestra Senora del Socoro.* They were to bring this island
+to bear east-north-east, and to cruise from five to twelve leagues'
+distance from it, as long as their store of wood and water would permit,
+both which they were to expend with the utmost frugality. And when they
+were under an absolute necessity of a fresh supply, they were to stand
+in, and endeavour to find out an anchoring-place; and in case they could
+not, and the weather made it dangerous to supply their ships by standing
+off and on, they were then to make the best of their way to the island of
+Juan Fernandez. And as soon as they had recruited their wood and water,
+they were to continue cruising off the anchoring-place of that island for
+fifty-six days, in which time, if they were not joined by the Commodore,
+they might conclude that some accident had befallen him; and they were
+forthwith to put themselves under the command of the senior officer, who
+was to use his utmost endeavours to annoy the enemy both by sea and land.
+With these views their new Commodore was to continue in those seas as
+long as his provisions lasted, or as long as they were recruited by what
+he should take from the enemy, reserving only a sufficient quantity to
+carry him and the ships under his command to Macao at the entrance of the
+River Tigris, near Canton, on the coast of China, where, having supplied
+himself with a new stock of provisions he was thence without delay to
+make the best of his way to England.
+
+(*Note. Nuestra Senora del Socoro is one of the smaller outer islands of
+the Chonos Archipelago on the western coast of Patagonia.)
+
+The next day we had very squally weather, attended with rain, lightning,
+and thunder; but it soon became fair again, with light breezes, and
+continued thus till Wednesday evening, when it blew fresh again; and
+increasing all night, by eight the next morning it became a most violent
+storm, and we had with it so thick a fog that it was impossible to see at
+the distance of two ships' lengths, so that the whole squadron
+disappeared.* On this a signal was made by firing guns, to bring to with
+the larboard tacks, the wind being then due east. We ourselves lay to
+under a reefed mizzen till noon, when the fog dispersed; and we soon
+discovered all the ships of the squadron, except the Pearl, which did not
+join us till near a month afterwards. The Trial sloop was a great way to
+leeward, having lost her mainmast in this squall, and having been
+obliged, for fear of bilging, to cut away the wreck. We bore down with
+the squadron to her relief, and the Gloucester was ordered to take her in
+tow, for the weather did not entirely abate until the day after, and even
+then a great swell continued from the eastward in consequence of the
+preceding storm.
+
+(*Note. i.e. from the sight of those on board the Centurion.)
+
+A RUSE DE GUERRE.
+
+On the 17th of February at five in the afternoon, we came to an anchor in
+the latitude of 48 degrees 58 minutes. Weighing again at five the next
+morning, we an hour afterwards discovered a sail upon which the Severn
+and Gloucester were both directed to give chase; but we soon perceived it
+to be the Pearl, which separated from us a few days after we left St.
+Catherine's; and on this we made a signal for the Severn to rejoin the
+squadron, leaving the Gloucester alone in the pursuit. And now we were
+surprised to see that, on the Gloucester's approach, the people on board
+the Pearl increased their sail and stood from her. However, the
+Gloucester came up with them, but found them with their hammocks in their
+nettings and everything ready for an engagement. At two in the afternoon
+the Pearl joined us, and running up under our stern, Lieutenant Salt
+hailed the Commodore, and acquainted him that Captain Kidd* died on the
+31st of January. He likewise informed him that he had seen five large
+ships on the 10th instant, which he for some time imagined to be our
+squadron; that he suffered the commanding ship, which wore a red broad
+pennant exactly resembling that of the Commodore, at the main top-mast
+head, to come within gun-shot of him before he discovered his mistake;
+but then, finding it not to be the Centurion, he hauled close upon the
+wind, and crowded from them with all his sail, and standing across a
+rippling, where they hesitated to follow him, he happily escaped. He made
+them out to be five Spanish men-of-war, one of them exceedingly like the
+Gloucester, which was the occasion of his apprehensions when the
+Gloucester chased him. By their appearance he thought they consisted of
+two ships of 70 guns, two of 50, and one of 40 guns. The whole squadron
+continued in chase of him all that day, but at night, finding they could
+not get near him, they gave over the chase, and directed their course to
+the southward.
+
+(*Note. Captain Mitchel commanded the Pearl when the squadron started;
+but Captain Norris of the Gloucester had gone home sick from Madeira and
+several changes had taken place in the commands. The death of Captain
+Kidd caused fresh promotions. Captain Mitchel now commanded the
+Gloucester and Captain Murray the Pearl; while Lieutenants Cheap and
+Saunders had been promoted captains of the Wager and Trial.)
+
+And now, had it not been for the necessity we were under of refitting the
+Trial, this piece of intelligence would have prevented our making any
+stay at St. Julian; but as it was impossible for that sloop to proceed
+round the Cape in the present condition, some stay there was inevitable;
+and, therefore, we sent the two cutters belonging to the Centurion and
+Severn in shore to discover the harbour of St. Julian, while the ships
+kept standing along the coast at about the distance of a league from the
+land. At six o'clock we anchored in the Bay of St. Julian. Soon after the
+cutters returned on board, having discovered the harbour, which did not
+appear to us in our situation, the northernmost point shutting in upon
+the southernmost, and in appearance closing the entrance.
+
+Being come to an anchor in this Bay of St. Julian, principally with a
+view of refitting the Trial, the carpenters were immediately employed in
+that business, and continued so during our whole stay at the place. Here
+the Commodore, too, in order to ease the expedition of all unnecessary
+expense, held a consultation with his captains about unloading and
+discharging the Anna pink;* but they represented to him that they were so
+far from being in a condition of taking any part of her loading on board
+that they had still great quantities of provisions in the way of their
+guns between decks, and that their ships were withal so very deep that
+they were not fit for action without being cleared. This put the
+Commodore under the necessity of retaining the pink in the service; and
+as it was apprehended we should certainly meet with the Spanish squadron
+in passing the Cape, Mr. Anson thought it advisable to give orders to the
+captains to put all their provisions which were in the way of their guns
+on board the Anna pink, and to remount such of their guns as had formerly
+for the ease of their ships been ordered into the hold.
+
+(*Note. The Industry pink had been unloaded and discharged on November
+19th.)
+
+
+CHAPTER 5.
+FURTHER INSTRUCTIONS--TIERRA DEL FUEGO--THE STRAITS OF LE MAIRE.
+
+A COUNCIL OF WAR.
+
+The Trial being nearly refitted, which was our principal occupation at
+this Bay of St. Julian, and the sole occasion of our stay, the Commodore
+thought it necessary, as we were now directly bound for the South Seas
+and the enemy's coasts, to regulate the plan of his future operations.
+And therefore, on the 24th of February, a signal was made for all
+captains, and a council of war was held on board the Centurion. At this
+council Mr. Anson proposed that their first attempt, after their arrival
+in the South Seas, should be the attack of the town and harbour of
+Baldivia, the principal frontier place of the district of Chile. To this
+proposition made by the Commodore the council unanimously and readily
+agreed; and in consequence of this resolution instructions were given to
+the captains of the squadron, by which they were directed in case of
+separation to make the best of their way to the island of Nuestra Senora
+del Socoro, and to cruise off that island ten days; from whence, if not
+joined by the Commodore, they were to proceed and cruise off the harbour
+of Baldivia, making the land between the latitudes of 40 degrees and 40
+degrees 30 minutes, and taking care to keep to the southward of the port;
+and if in fourteen days they were not joined by the rest of the squadron,
+they were then to quit this station, and to direct their course to the
+island of Juan Fernandez, after which they were to regulate their further
+proceedings by their former orders. And as separation of the squadron
+might prove of the utmost prejudice to His Majesty's service, each
+captain was ordered to give it in charge to the respective officers of
+the watch not to keep their ship at a greater distance from the Centurion
+than two miles, as they would answer it at their peril; and if any
+captain should find his ship beyond the distance specified, he was to
+acquaint the Commodore with the name of the officer who had thus
+neglected his duty.
+
+These necessary regulations being established, and the Trial sloop
+completed, the squadron weighed on Friday, the 27th of February, at seven
+in the morning, and stood to sea.
+
+From our departure from St. Julian to the 4th of March we had little
+wind, with thick, hazy weather and some rain. On the 4th of March we were
+in sight of Cape Virgin Mary,* and not more than six or seven leagues
+distant from it. The afternoon of this day was very bright and clear,
+with small breezes of wind, inclinable to a calm; and most of the
+captains took the opportunity of this favourable weather to pay a visit
+to the Commodore.
+
+(*Note. Cape de las Virgenes, the south-eastern extremity of Patagonia at
+the entrance to the straits of Magellan.)
+
+We here found, what was constantly verified by all our observations in
+these high latitudes,* that fair weather was always of an exceeding short
+duration, and that when it was remarkably fine it was a certain presage
+of a succeeding storm; for the calm and sunshine of our afternoon ended
+in a most turbulent night, the wind freshening from the south-west as the
+night came on, and increasing its violence continually till nine in the
+morning the next day, when it blew so hard that we were obliged to bring
+to with the squadron, and to continue under a reefed mizzen till eleven
+at night. Towards midnight, the wind abating, we made sail again; and
+steering south, we discovered in the morning for the first time the land
+called Tierra del Fuego. This indeed afforded us but a very uncomfortable
+prospect, it appearing of a stupendous height, covered everywhere with
+snow. As we intended to pass through Straits le Maire next day, we lay to
+at night that we might not over shoot them, and took this opportunity to
+prepare ourselves for the tempestuous climate we were soon to be engaged
+in; with which view we employed ourselves good part of the night in
+bending an entire new suit of sails to the yards. At four the next
+morning, being the 7th of March, we made sail, and at eight saw the land,
+and soon after we began to open the Straits.
+
+THE EVE OF DISASTER.
+
+About ten o'clock, the Pearl and the Trial being ordered to keep ahead of
+the squadron, we entered them with fair weather and a brisk gale, and
+were hurried through by the rapidity of the tide in about two hours,
+though they are between seven and eight leagues in length. As these
+Straits are often considered as the boundary between the Atlantic and
+Pacific Oceans, and as we presumed we had nothing now before us but an
+open sea till we arrived on those opulent coasts where all our hopes and
+wishes centred, we could not help flattering ourselves that the greatest
+difficulty of our passage was now at an end, and that our most sanguine
+dreams were upon the point of being realised, and hence we indulged our
+imaginations in those romantic schemes which the fancied possession of
+the Chilean gold and Peruvian silver might be conceived to inspire. These
+joyous ideas were heightened by the brightness of the sky and the
+serenity of the weather, which was indeed most remarkably pleasing; for
+though the winter was now advancing apace, yet the morning of this day,
+in its brilliancy and mildness, gave place to none we had seen since our
+departure from England. Thus animated by these delusions, we traversed
+these memorable Straits, ignorant of the dreadful calamities that were
+then impending, and just ready to break upon us; ignorant that the time
+drew near when the squadron would be separated never to unite again, and
+that this day of our passage was the last cheerful day that the greatest
+part of us would ever live to enjoy.
+
+(*Note. The Equator is the zero (0 degrees) of latitude. The latitude
+becomes higher as one proceeds to the poles (90 degrees).)
+
+
+CHAPTER 6.
+HEAVY GALES--A LONG BATTLE WITH WIND AND SEA--THE CENTURION LOSES HER CONSORTS.
+
+We had scarcely reached the southern extremity of the straits of le
+Maire, when our flattering hopes were instantly lost in the apprehensions
+of immediate destruction. For before the sternmost ships of the squadron
+were clear of the Straits, the serenity of the sky was suddenly changed,
+and gave us all the presages of an impending storm; and immediately the
+wind shifted to the southward, and blew in such violent squalls that we
+were obliged to hand our topsails and reef our mainsail. The tide, too,
+which had hitherto favoured us, now turned against us and drove us to the
+eastward with prodigious rapidity, so that we were in great anxiety for
+the Wager and the Anna pink, the two sternmost vessels, fearing they
+would be dashed to pieces against the shore of Staten Land. Nor were our
+apprehensions without foundation, for it was with the utmost difficulty
+they escaped. And now the whole squadron, instead of pursuing their
+intended course to the south-west, were driven to the eastward by the
+united force of the storm and of the currents; so that next day in the
+morning we found ourselves near seven leagues to the eastward of Staten
+Land. The violence of the current, which had set us with so much
+precipitation to the eastward, together with the force and constancy of
+the westerly winds, soon taught us to consider the doubling of Cape Horn
+as an enterprise that might prove too mighty for our efforts, though some
+amongst us had lately treated the difficulties which former voyagers were
+said to have met with in this undertaking as little better than
+chimerical, and had supposed them to arise rather from timidity and
+unskilfulness than from the real embarrassments of the winds and seas.
+But we were severely convinced that these censures were rash and
+ill-grounded, for the distresses with which we struggled during the three
+succeeding months will not easily be paralleled in the relation of any
+former naval expedition.
+
+From the storm which came on before we had well got clear of Straits le
+Maire, we had a continual succession of such tempestuous weather as
+surprised the oldest and most experienced mariners on board, and obliged
+them to confess that what they had hitherto called storms were
+inconsiderable gales compared with the violence of these winds, which
+raised such short and at the same time such mountainous waves as greatly
+surpassed in danger all seas known in any other part of the globe. And it
+was not without great reason that this unusual appearance filled us with
+continual terror, for had any one of these waves broke fairly over us, it
+must in all probability have sent us to the bottom.
+
+SEAS MOUNTAINS HIGH.
+
+It was on the 7th of March, as has been already observed, that we passed
+Straits le Maire, and were immediately afterwards driven to the eastward
+by a violent storm and the force of the current which set that way. For
+the four or five succeeding days we had hard gales of wind from the same
+quarter, with a most prodigious swell; so that though we stood, during
+all that time, towards the south-west, yet we had no reason to imagine we
+had made any way to the westward. In this interval we had frequent
+squalls of rain and snow, and shipped great quantities of water; after
+which for three or four days, though the seas ran mountains high, yet the
+weather was rather more moderate. But on the 18th we had again strong
+gales of wind with extreme cold. From hence to the 23rd the weather was
+more favourable, though often intermixed with rain and sleet, and some
+hard gales; but as the waves did not subside, the ship, by labouring in
+this lofty sea, was now grown so loose in her upper works that she let in
+the water at every seam; so that every part within board was constantly
+exposed to the sea-water, and scarcely any of the officers ever lay in
+dry beds. Indeed, it was very rare that two nights ever passed without
+many of them being driven from their beds by the deluge of water that
+came upon them.
+
+On the 23rd we had a most violent storm of wind, hail, and rain, with a
+very great sea; and though we handed the main-topsail before the height
+of the squall, yet we found the yard sprung; and soon after, the
+foot-rope of the mainsail breaking, the mainsail itself split instantly
+to rags, and in spite of our endeavours to save it, much the greater part
+of it was blown overboard. On this the Commodore made the signal for the
+squadron to bring to; and, the storm at length flattening to a calm, we
+had an opportunity of getting down our main-topsail yard to put the
+carpenters at work upon it, and of repairing our rigging; after which,
+having bent a new mainsail, we got under sail again with a moderate
+breeze. But in less than twenty-four hours we were attacked by another
+storm still more furious than the former; for it proved a perfect
+hurricane, and reduced us to the necessity of lying to under our bare
+poles.
+
+
+As our ship kept the wind better any of the rest, we were obliged in the
+afternoon to wear ship, in order to join the squadron to the leeward,
+which otherwise we should have been in danger of losing in the night;
+and as we dared not venture any sail abroad, we were obliged to make use
+of an expedient which answered our purpose; this was putting the helm
+a-weather and manning the fore-shrouds. But though this method proved
+successful for the end intended, yet in the execution of it one of our
+ablest seaman was canted overboard; and notwithstanding the prodigious
+agitation of the waves, we perceived that he swam very strong, and it was
+with the utmost concern that we found ourselves incapable of assisting
+him; and we were the more grieved at his unhappy fate, since we lost
+sight of him struggling with the waves, and conceived from the manner in
+which he swam that he might continue sensible for a considerable time
+longer of the horror attending his irretrievable situation.
+
+It was this incident that inspired Cowper's 'Castaway,' and called forth
+the touching verse given below--a verse so eloquent in its testimony to
+that gentler side of Anson's nature, which won for him the affection and
+regard not only of his own sailors, but even of his Spanish prisoners.
+
+Of this poor sailor, and of the page in the ship's books that bore his
+name, Cowper wrote:
+
+No poet wept him; but the page
+Of narrative sincere,
+That tells his name, his worth, his age,
+Is wet with Anson's tear.
+And tears by bards or heroes shed
+Alike immortalise the dead.
+
+From hence we had an interval of three or four days less tempestuous than
+usual, but accompanied with a thick fog, in which we were obliged to fire
+guns almost every half-hour to keep our squadron together.
+
+On the first of April the weather returned again to its customary bias,
+the sky looked dark and gloomy, and the wind began to freshen and to blow
+in squalls; however, it was not yet so boisterous as to prevent our
+carrying our topsails close reefed; but its appearance was such as
+plainly prognosticated that a still severer tempest was at hand. And
+accordingly, on the 3rd of April, there came on a storm which both in its
+violence and continuation (for it lasted three days) exceeded all that we
+had hitherto encountered. In its first onset we received a furious shock
+from the sea which broke upon our larboard quarter, where it stove in the
+quarter gallery, and rushed into the ship like a deluge; our rigging,
+too, suffered extremely, so that to ease the stress upon the masts and
+shrouds we lowered both our main and fore yards, and furled all our
+sails, and in this posture we lay to for three days, when, the storm
+somewhat abating, we ventured to make sail under our courses only. But
+even this we could not do long, for the next day, which was the 7th, we
+had another hard gale of wind, with lightning and rain, which obliged us
+to lie to again all night.
+
+And now, after all our solicitude, and the numerous ills of every kind to
+which we had been incessantly exposed for near forty days, we had great
+consolation in the flattering hopes we entertained, that our fatigues
+were drawing to a period, and that we should soon arrive in a more
+hospitable climate, where we should be amply repaid for all our past
+sufferings. For, towards the latter end of March, we were advanced by our
+reckoning near 10 degrees to the westward of the westernmost point of
+Tierra del Fuego, and this allowance being double what former navigators
+have thought necessary to be taken in order to compensate the drift of
+the eastern current, we esteemed ourselves to be well advanced within the
+limits of the southern ocean, and had therefore been ever since standing
+to the northward with as much expedition as the turbulence of the weather
+and our frequent disasters permitted. And, on the 13th of April, we were
+but a degree in latitude to the southward of the west entrance of the
+straits of Magellan, so that we fully expected, in a very few days, to
+have experienced the celebrated tranquillity of the Pacific Ocean.
+
+AN UNEXPECTED DANGER.
+
+But these were delusions which only served to render our disappointment
+more terrible; for the next morning, between one and two, as we were
+standing to the northward, and the weather, which had till then been
+hazy, accidentally cleared up, the pink made a signal for seeing land
+right ahead and it being but two miles distant, we were all under the
+most dreadful apprehensions of running on shore; which, had either the
+wind blown from its usual quarter with its wonted vigour, or had not the
+moon suddenly shone out, not a ship amongst us could possibly have
+avoided. But the wind, which some few hours before blew in squalls from
+the south-west, having fortunately shifted to west-north-west, we were
+enabled to stand to the southward, and to clear ourselves of this
+unexpected danger; so that by noon we had gained an offing of near twenty
+leagues.
+
+By the latitude of this land we fell in with, it was agreed to be a part
+of Tierra del Fuego, near the southern outlet of the Straits of Magellan.
+It was indeed most wonderful that the currents should have driven us to
+the eastward with such strength; for the whole squadron esteemed
+themselves upwards of ten degrees more westerly than this land. And now,
+instead of having our labours and anxieties relieved by approaching a
+warmer climate and more tranquil seas, we were to steer again to the
+southward, and again to combat those western blasts which had so often
+terrified us; and this, too, when we were weakened by our men falling
+sick and dying apace, and when our spirits, dejected by a long
+continuance at sea, and by our late disappointment, were much less
+capable of supporting us in the various difficulties which we could not
+but expect in this new undertaking. Add to all this, too, the
+discouragement we received by the diminution of the strength of the
+squadron; for three days before this we lost sight of the Severn and the
+Pearl in the morning; and though we spread our ships, and beat about for
+some time, yet we never saw them more; whence we had apprehensions that
+they too might have fallen in with this land in the night, and, being
+less favoured by the wind and the moon than we were, might have run on
+shore and have perished.
+
+After the mortifying disappointment of falling in with the coast of
+Tierra del Fuego, when we esteemed ourselves 10 degrees to the westward
+of it, we stood away to the south-west till the 22nd of April, when we
+were in upwards of 60 degrees south, and by our account near 6 degrees to
+the westward of Cape Noir.* And in this run we had a series of as
+favourable weather as could well be expected in that part of the world,
+even in a better season; so that this interval, setting the inquietude of
+our thoughts aside, was by far the most eligible of any we enjoyed from
+Straits le Maire to the west coast of America. This moderate weather
+continued with little variation till the 24th; but on the 24th in the
+evening the wind began to blow fresh, and soon increased to a prodigious
+storm; and the weather being extremely thick, about midnight we lost
+sight of the other ships of the squadron, which, notwithstanding the
+violence of the preceding storms, had hitherto kept in company with us.
+
+(*Note. Part of Tierra del Fuego near the southern outlet of the Straits
+of Magellan.)
+
+On the 25th, about noon, the weather became more moderate, but still we
+had no sight of the rest of the squadron, nor indeed were we joined by
+any of them again till after our arrival at Juan Fernandez, nor did any
+two of them, as we have since learned, continue in company together.
+
+The remaining part of this month of April we had generally hard gales,
+although we had been every day since the 22nd edging to the northward.
+However, on the last day of the month we flattered ourselves with the
+hopes of soon terminating all our sufferings, for we that day found
+ourselves in the latitude of 52 degrees 13 minutes, which, being to the
+northward of the Straits of Magellan we were assured that we had
+completed our passage, and had arrived in the confines of the Southern
+Ocean; and this ocean being nominated Pacific,* from the equability of
+the seasons which are said to prevail there, and the facility and
+security with which navigation is there carried on, we doubted not but we
+should be speedily cheered with the moderate gales, the smooth water, and
+the temperate air, for which that tract of the globe has been so
+renowned. And under the influence of these pleasing circumstances we
+hoped to experience some kind of compensation for the complicated
+miseries which had so constantly attended us for the last eight weeks.
+But here we were again disappointed; for in the succeeding month of May
+our sufferings rose to a much higher pitch than they had ever yet done,
+whether we consider the violence of the storms, the shattering of our
+sails and rigging, or the diminishing and weakening of our crew by deaths
+and sickness, and the probable prospect of our total destruction.
+
+(*Note. Peace-making. So named by Magellan from the fine weather he
+experienced there in 1520 and 1521. He was the first European to enter
+that ocean. The name was scarcely deserved.)
+
+
+CHAPTER 7.
+OUTBREAK OF SCURVY*--DANGER OF SHIPWRECK.
+
+(*Note. 'Scurvy.' The nature of the disease and the proper method of
+treatment were not fully understood in Anson's day. It is caused by
+improper diet and particularly by the want of fresh vegetables. Lemon and
+lime juice are the best protectives against it and they were made an
+essential element in nautical diet in 1795. The disease which used to
+cause dreadful mortality on long voyages has since that time gradually
+disappeared and is now very rarely met with.)
+
+THE PACIFIC.
+
+Soon after our passing Straits le Maire the scurvy began to make its
+appearance amongst us; and our long continuance at sea, the fatigue we
+underwent, and the various disappointments we met with, had occasion its
+spreading to such a degree, that at the latter end of April there were
+but few on board who were not in some degree afflicted with it; and in
+that month no less than forty-three died of it on board the Centurion.
+But though we thought that the distemper had then risen to an
+extraordinary height, and were willing to hope that as we advanced to the
+northward its malignant would abate, yet we found, on the contrary, that
+in the month of May we lost nearly double that number. And as we did not
+get to land till the middle of June, the mortality went on increasing,
+and the disease extended itself so prodigiously that after the loss of
+above two hundred men we could not at last muster more than six foremast
+men in a watch capable of duty.
+
+This disease, so frequently attending all long voyages, and so
+particularly destructive to us, is usually attended with a strange
+dejection of the spirits, and with shiverings, tremblings, and a
+disposition to be seized with the most dreadful terrors on the slightest
+accident. Indeed, it was most remarkable, in all our reiterated
+experience of this malady, that whatever discouraged our people, or at
+any time damped their hopes, never failed to add new vigour to the
+distemper, for it usually killed those who were in the last stage of it,
+and confined those to their hammocks who were before capable of some kind
+of duty; so that it seemed as if alacrity of mind and sanguine thoughts
+were no contemptible preservatives from its fatal malignity.
+
+A most extraordinary circumstance, and what would be scarcely credible
+upon any single evidence, is, that the scars of wounds which had been for
+many years healed were forced open again by this virulent distemper. Of
+this there was a remarkable instance in one of the invalids on board the
+Centurion, who had been wounded above fifty years before at the battle of
+the Boyne;* for though he was cured soon after, and had continued well
+for a great number of years past, yet, on his being attacked by the
+scurvy, his wounds, in the progress of his disease, broke out afresh, and
+appeared as if they had never been healed. Nay, what is still more
+astonishing, the callous of a broken bone, which had been completely
+formed for a long time, was found to be hereby dissolved, and the
+fracture seemed as if it had never been consolidated. Indeed, the effects
+of this disease were in almost every instance wonderful; for many of our
+people, though confined to their hammocks, appeared to have no
+inconsiderable share of health, for they ate and drank heartily, were
+cheerful, and talked with much seeming vigour, and with a loud, strong
+tone of voice; and yet on their being the least moved, though it was only
+from one part of the ship to the other, and that in their hammocks, they
+have immediately expired; and others who have confided in their seeming
+strength, and have resolved to get out of their hammocks, have died
+before they could well reach the deck. And it was no uncommon thing for
+those who were able to walk the deck, and to do some kind of duty, to
+drop down dead in an instant, on any endeavours to act with their utmost
+vigour, many of our people having perished in this manner during the
+course of this voyage.
+
+(*Note. William III defeated James II and his army of Irish and French
+troops July 12th, 1690.)
+
+THE ISLAND OF SOCORO.
+
+With this terrible disease we struggled the greatest part of the time of
+our beating round Cape Horn. We entertained hopes that when we should
+have once secured our passage round the Cape, we should put a period to
+this and all the other evils which had so constantly pursued us. But it
+was our misfortune to find that the Pacific Ocean was to us less
+hospitable than the turbulent neighbourhood of Tierra del Fuego and Cape
+Horn; for being arrived, on the 8th of May, off the island of Socoro,
+which was the first rendezvous appointed for the squadron, and where we
+hoped to have met with some of our companions, we cruised for them in
+that station several days. And here we were not only disappointed in our
+hopes of being joined by our friends, and thereby induced to favour the
+gloomy suggestions of their having all perished, but we were likewise
+perpetually alarmed with the fears of being driven on shore upon this
+coast, which appeared too craggy and irregular to give us the least hopes
+that in such a case any of us could possibly escape immediate
+destruction. For the land had indeed a most tremendous aspect; the most
+distant part of it, and which appeared far within the country, being the
+mountains usually called the Andes or Cordilleras, was extremely high,
+and covered with snow; and the coast itself seemed quite rocky and
+barren, and the water's edge skirted with precipices. As we were utterly
+ignorant of the coast, had we been driven ashore by the western winds,
+which blew almost constantly there, we did not expect to have avoided the
+loss of our ship and of our lives.
+
+And this continued peril, which lasted for about a fortnight, was greatly
+aggravated by the difficulties we found in working the ship; as the
+scurvy had by this time destroyed so great a part of our hands, and had
+in some degree affected almost the whole crew. Nor did we, as we hoped,
+find the winds less violent as we advanced to the northward; for we had
+often prodigious squalls, which split our sails, greatly damaged our
+rigging, and endangered our masts.
+
+
+CHAPTER 8.
+JUAN FERNANDEZ--THE TRIAL REJOINS.
+
+THE SEARCH FOR JUAN FERNANDEZ.
+
+It were endless to recite minutely the various disasters, fatigues, and
+terrors which we encountered on this coast; all these went on increasing
+till the 22nd of May, at which time the fury of all the storms which we
+had hitherto encountered seemed to be combined, and to have conspired our
+destruction. In this hurricane almost all our sails were split, and great
+part of our standing rigging broken; and, about eight in the evening, a
+mountainous overgrown sea took us upon our starboard quarter, and gave us
+so prodigious a shock that several of our shrouds broke with the jerk, by
+which our masts were greatly endangered. Our ballast and stores, too,
+were so strangely shifted that the ship heeled afterwards two streaks to
+port. Indeed, it was a most tremendous blow, and we were thrown into the
+utmost consternation from the apprehension of instantly foundering. This
+was the last effort of that stormy climate, for in a day or two we found
+the weather more moderate than we had yet experienced since our passing
+Straits le Maire. And now having cruised in vain for more than a
+fortnight in quest of the other ships of the squadron, it was resolved to
+take advantage of the present favourable season and the offing we had
+made from this terrible coast, and to make the best of our way for the
+island of Juan Fernandez.* For though our next rendezvous was appointed
+off the harbour of Baldivia, yet as we had hitherto seen none of our
+companions at this first rendezvous, it was not to be supposed that any
+of them would be found at the second; indeed, we had the greatest reason
+to suspect that all but ourselves had perished. Besides, we were by this
+time reduced to so low a condition that, instead of attempting to attack
+the places of the enemy, our utmost hopes could only suggest to us the
+possibility of saving the ship, and some part of the remaining enfeebled
+crew, by our speedy arrival at Juan Fernandez; for this was the only road
+in that part of the world where there was any probability of our
+recovering our sick or refitting our vessel, and consequently our getting
+thither was the only chance we had left to avoid perishing at sea.
+
+(*Note. 'Juan Fernandez.' This island which is 13 miles long by 4 miles
+broad, now belongs to Chili. It was discovered in 1563 by Juan Fernandez.
+As it was unoccupied it was a favourite resort of the buccaneers
+throughout the seventeenth century, as well as of English squadrons
+despatched like those of Dampier and Anson, to prey on Spanish commerce,
+and needing to refit and water after the long voyage round Cape Horn. The
+Spaniards at last occupied it in 1750, in self-defence. It was here that
+Alexander Selkirk was put ashore in 1704.)
+
+Our deplorable situation, then, allowing no room for deliberation, we
+stood for the island of Juan Fernandez. On the 28th of May, being nearly
+in the parallel upon which it is laid down, we had great expectations of
+seeing it; but not finding it in the position in which the charts had
+taught us to expect it, we began to fear that we had got too far to the
+westward; and therefore, though the Commodore himself was strongly
+persuaded that he saw it on the morning of the 28th, yet his officers
+believing it to be only a cloud, to which opinion the haziness of the
+weather gave some kind of countenance, it was on a consultation resolved
+to stand to the eastward in the parallel of the island; as it was certain
+that by this course we should either fall in with the island, if we were
+already to the westward of it, or should at least make the mainland of
+Chili, whence we might take a new departure, and assure ourselves, by
+running to the westward afterwards, of not missing the island a second
+time.
+
+On the 30th of May we had a view of the continent of Chili, distant
+about twelve or thirteen leagues. It gave us great uneasiness to find
+that we had so needlessly altered our course when we were, in all
+probability, just upon the point of making the island; for the mortality
+amongst us was now increased to a most dreadful degree, and those who
+remained alive were utterly dispirited by this new disappointment and the
+prospect of their longer continuance at sea. Our water, too, began to
+grow scarce, so that a general dejection prevailed amongst us, which
+added much to the virulence of the disease, and destroyed numbers of our
+best men; and to all these calamities there was added this vexatious
+circumstance that when, after having got sight of the main, we tacked and
+stood to the westward in quest of the island, we were so much delayed by
+calms and contrary winds that it cost us nine days to regain the westing
+which, when we stood to the eastward, we ran down in two. In this
+desponding condition, with a crazy ship, a great scarcity of water, and a
+crew so universally diseased that there were not above ten foremast men
+in a watch capable of doing duty, and even some of these lame and unable
+to go aloft; under these disheartening circumstances, I say, we stood to
+the westward; and on the 9th of June, at daybreak, we at last discovered
+the long-wished-for island of Juan Fernandez.
+
+It appeared to be a mountainous place, extremely ragged and irregular;
+yet as it was land and, the land we sought for, it was to us a most
+agreeable sight. For at this place only we could hope to put a period to
+those terrible calamities we had so long struggled with, which had
+already swept away above half our crew, and which, had we continued a few
+days longer at sea, would inevitably have completed our destruction. For
+we were by this time reduced to so helpless a condition, that out of two
+hundred and odd men who remained alive, we could not, taking all our
+watches together, muster hands enough to work the ship on an emergency,
+though we included the officers, their servants, and the boys.
+
+The wind being northerly when we first made the island, we kept plying
+all that day and the next night, in order to get in with the land; and
+wearing the ship in the middle watch, we had a melancholy instance of the
+most incredible debility of our people; for the lieutenant could muster
+no more than two quarter-masters and six foremast men capable of working;
+so that without the assistance of the officers, servants, and boys, it
+might have proved impossible for us to have reached the island after we
+had got sight of it; and even with this assistance they were two hours in
+trimming the sails. To so wretched a condition was a 60-gun ship reduced,
+which had passed Straits le Maire but three months before, with between
+four hundred and five hundred men, almost all of them in health and
+vigour.
+
+EVEN GRASS A DAINTY.
+
+However, on the 10th, in the afternoon, we got under the lee of the
+island, and kept ranging along it at about two miles' distance, in order
+to look out for the proper anchorage, which was described to be in a bay
+on the north side. But at last the night closed upon us before we had
+satisfied ourselves which was the proper bay to anchor in, and therefore
+we resolved to send our boat next morning to discover the road. At four
+in the morning the cutter was despatched with our third lieutenant to
+find out the bay we were in search of, who returned again at noon with
+the boat laden with seals and grass; for though the island abounded with
+better vegetables, yet the boat's crew, in their short stay, had not met
+with them; and they well knew that even grass would prove a dainty, and,
+indeed, it was all soon and eagerly devoured. The seals, too, were
+considered as fresh provision, but as yet were not much admired, though
+they grew afterwards into more repute; for what rendered them less
+valuable at this juncture was the prodigious quantity of excellent fish
+which the people on board had taken during the absence of the boat.
+
+The cutter, in this expedition, had discovered the bay where we intended
+to anchor, which we found was to the westward of our present station; and
+the next morning we steered along shore till we came abreast of the point
+that forms the eastern part of the bay. On opening the bay, the wind,
+that had befriended us thus far, shifted, and blew from thence in
+squalls; but by means of the headway we had got, we luffed close in, till
+the anchor brought us up in fifty-six fathoms. Soon after we had thus got
+to our new berth, we discovered a sail, which we made no doubt was one of
+our squadron; and on its nearer approach, we found it to be the Trial
+sloop. We immediately sent some of our hands on board her, by whose
+assistance she was brought to an anchor between us and the land. We soon
+found that the sloop had not been exempted from those calamities which we
+had so severely felt; for her commander, Captain Saunders, waiting on the
+Commodore, informed him that out of his small complement he had buried
+thirty-four of his men; and those that remained were so universally
+afflicted with the scurvy that only himself, his lieutenant, and three of
+his men were able to stand by the sails.
+
+
+CHAPTER 9.
+THE SICK LANDED--ALEXANDER SELKIRK*--SEALS AND SEA-LIONS.
+
+(*Note. Alexander Selkirk (1676 to 1721) was an adventurous sailor who
+joined Dampier's privateering expedition to the South Seas in 1703. He
+quarrelled with his captain, Stradling, and requested to be landed on the
+uninhabited island of Juan Fernandez. He immediately repented of his
+request, and begged to be taken off; but his prayers were disregarded,
+and he remained on the island from September, 1704, until he was picked
+up in 1709 by Dampier's new expedition. An account of his adventures was
+published, which apparently gave Defoe his idea of Robinson Crusoe.)
+
+We were now extremely occupied in sending on shore materials to raise
+tents for the reception of the sick, who died apace on board. But we had
+not hands enough to prepare the tents for their reception before the
+16th. On that and the two following days we sent them all on shore,
+amounting to a hundred and sixty-seven persons, besides at least a dozen
+who died in the boats on their being exposed to the fresh air. The
+greatest part of our sick were so infirm that we were obliged to carry
+them out of the ship in their hammocks, and to convey them afterwards in
+the same manner from the waterside to their tents, over a stony beach.
+This was a work of considerable fatigue to the few who were healthy; and
+therefore the Commodore, with his accustomed humanity, not only assisted
+herein with his own labour, but obliged his officers, without
+distinction, to give their helping hand.
+
+The excellence of the climate and the looseness of the soil render this
+place extremely proper for all kinds of vegetation; for if the ground be
+anywhere accidentally turned up, it is immediately overgrown with turnips
+and Sicilian radishes; and therefore, Mr. Anson having with him garden
+seeds of all kinds, and stones of different sorts of fruits, he, for the
+better accommodation of his countrymen who should hereafter touch here,
+sowed both lettuces, carrots, and other garden plants, and set in the
+woods a great variety of plum, apricot, and peach stones. And these last,
+he has been informed, have since thriven to a very remarkable degree; for
+some gentlemen, who in their passage from Lima to old Spain were taken
+and brought to England, having procured leave to wait upon Mr. Anson to
+thank him for his generosity and humanity to his prisoners, some of whom
+were their relations, they in casual discourse with him about his
+transactions in the South Seas, particularly asked him if he had not
+planted a great number of fruit-stones on the island of Juan Fernandez;
+for they told him their late navigators had discovered there numbers of
+peach trees and apricot trees, which being fruits before unobserved in
+that place, they concluded them to be produced from kernels set by him.
+
+ALEXANDER SELKIRK.
+
+Former writers have related that this island abounded with vast numbers
+of goats; and their accounts are not to be questioned, this place being
+the usual haunt of the buccaneers* and privateers who formerly frequented
+those seas. And there are two instances--one of a Mosquito Indian, and
+the other of Alexander Selkirk, a Scotchman, who were left by their
+respective ships, and lived alone upon this island for some years, and
+consequently were no strangers to its produce. Selkirk, who was the last,
+after a stay of between four and five years, was taken off the place by
+the Duke and Duchess privateers, of Bristol, as may be seen at large in
+the journal of their voyage. His manner of life during his solitude was
+in most particulars very remarkable; but there is one circumstance he
+relates which was so strangely verified by our own observation that I
+cannot help reciting it. He tells us, among other things, as he often
+caught more goats than he wanted, he sometimes marked their ears and let
+them go. This was about thirty-two years before our arrival at the
+island. Now it happened that the first goat that was killed by our people
+at their landing had his ears slit; whence we concluded that he had
+doubtless been formerly under the power of Selkirk. This was indeed an
+animal of a most venerable aspect, dignified with an exceeding majestic
+beard, and with many other symptoms of antiquity. During our stay on the
+island we met with others marked in the same manner, all the males being
+distinguished by an exuberance of beard and every other characteristic of
+extreme age. But the great numbers of goats, which former writers
+described to have been found upon this island, are at present very much
+diminished. For the Spaniards being informed of the advantages which the
+buccaneers and privateers drew from the provisions which goats' flesh
+here furnished them with, they have endeavoured to extirpate the breed,
+thereby to deprive their enemies of this relief. For this purpose they
+have put on shore great numbers of large dogs, who have increased apace,
+and have destroyed all the goats in the accessible part of the country;
+so that there now remain only a few among the crags and precipices where
+the dogs cannot follow them.
+
+(Note. 'The buccaneers.' The name "buccaneer" originally meant one who
+dried or smoked flesh on a "boucan," a kind of hurdle used for this
+purpose by the natives of Central and South America. The English, French,
+and Dutch smugglers who, in spite of the monopoly so jealously guarded by
+the Spaniards (see Introduction above) traded in the Caribbean seas, used
+to provision at St. Domingo largely with beef, jerked or sun-dried on the
+boucans. These men formed an organised body, under a chief chosen by
+themselves, and, under the name of the buccaneers, were for
+three-quarters of a century the terror of the Spaniards. In 1655 they
+were powerful enough to give material assistance to the English fleet
+which conquered Jamaica. In 1671 they raised a force of 2,000 men,
+marched across the isthmus, and besieged and took Panama; their success,
+as usual, being marked by horrible atrocities. In 1685 a Spanish fleet of
+fourteen sail, which had been fitted out to put them down, found ten
+buccaneer ships in the bay of Panama, but dared not give them battle. The
+war between France and England after 1688 dissolved the alliance between
+the French and English buccaneers; and the last conspicuous event in
+their history was the capture of Cartagena in 1697. Soon after this date
+they disappeared as an organised body, though for many years members of
+the band remained as pirates in the South Seas.)
+
+Goats' flesh being scarce, we rarely being able to kill above one a day,
+and our people growing tired of fish (which abounds at this place), they
+at last condescended to eat seals, which by degrees they came to relish,
+and called it lamb. But there is another amphibious creature to be met
+with here, called a sea-lion, that bears some resemblance to a seal,
+though it is much larger. This, too, we ate, under the denomination of
+beef. In general there was no difficulty in killing them, for they were
+incapable either of escaping or resisting, their motion being the most
+unwieldy that can be conceived, their blubber, all the time they were
+moving, being agitated in large waves under their skins. However, a
+sailor one day being carelessly employed in skinning a young sea-lion,
+the female from which he had taken it came upon him unperceived, and
+getting his head in her mouth, she with her teeth scored his skull in
+notches in many places, and thereby wounded him so desperately that
+though all possible care was taken of him, he died in a few days.
+
+
+CHAPTER 10.
+REAPPEARANCE OF THE GLOUCESTER--DISTRESS ON BOARD--HER EFFORTS TO
+   ENTER THE BAY.
+
+The arrival of the Trial sloop at this island so soon after we came there
+ourselves gave us great hopes of being speedily joined by the rest of the
+squadron; and we were for some days continually looking out in
+expectation of their coming in sight. But near a fortnight being elapsed
+without any of them having appeared, we began to despair of ever meeting
+them again.
+
+RETURN OF THE GLOUCESTER.
+
+But on the 21st of June some of our people, from an eminence on shore,
+discerned a ship to leeward, with her courses even with the horizon.
+However, after viewing her for a short time, the weather grew thick and
+hazy, and they lost sight of her. On the 26th, towards noon, we discerned
+a sail in the north-east quarter, which we conceived to be the very same
+ship that had been seen before, and our conjectures proved true; and
+about one o'clock she approached so near that we could distinguish her to
+be the Gloucester. As we had no doubt of her being in great distress, the
+Commodore immediately ordered his boat to her assistance, laden with
+fresh water, fish, and vegetables, which was a very seasonable relief to
+them; for perhaps there never was a crew in a more distressed situation.
+They had already thrown overboard two-thirds of their complement, and of
+those that remained alive scarcely any were capable of doing duty except
+the officers and their servants. They had been a considerable time at the
+small allowance of a pint of fresh water to each man for twenty-four
+hours, and yet they had so little left that, had it not been for the
+supply we sent them, they must soon have died of thirst.
+
+The ship plied in within three miles of the bay, but, the winds and
+currents being contrary, she could not reach the road. However she
+continued in the offing the next day, but had no chance of coming to an
+anchor unless the wind and current shifted; and therefore the Commodore
+repeated his assistance, sending to her the Trial's boat manned with the
+Centurion's people, and a further supply of water and other refreshments.
+Captain Mitchel, the captain of the Gloucester, was under a necessity of
+detaining both this boat and that sent the preceding day; for without the
+help of their crews he had no longer strength enough to navigate the
+ship. In this tantalising situation the Gloucester continued for near a
+fortnight, without being able to fetch the road, though frequently
+attempting it, and at some times bidding very fair for it. On the 9th of
+July we observed her stretching away to the eastward at a considerable
+distance, which we supposed was with a design to get to the southward of
+the island; but as we soon lost sight of her and she did not appear for
+near a week, we were prodigiously concerned, knowing that she must be
+again in extreme distress for want of water. After great impatience about
+her, we discovered her again on the 16th, endeavouring to come round the
+eastern point of the island; but the wind, still blowing directly from
+the bay, prevented her getting nearer than within four leagues of the
+land. On this captain Mitchel made signals of distress, and our long-boat
+was sent to him with a store of water and plenty of fish and other
+refreshments; and the long-boat being not to be spared, the coxswain had
+positive orders from the Commodore to return again immediately; but the
+weather proving stormy the next day, and the boat not appearing, we much
+feared she was lost, which would have proved an irretrievable misfortune
+to us all. But the third day after we were relieved from this anxiety by
+the joyful sight of the long-boat's sails upon the water, and we sent the
+cutter immediately to her assistance, which towed her alongside in a few
+hours. The crew of our long-boat had taken in six of the Gloucester's
+sick men to bring them on shore, two of whom had died in the boat. And
+now we learned that the Gloucester was in a most dreadful condition,
+having scarcely a man in health on board, except those they received from
+us; and numbers of their sick dying daily, we found that, had it not been
+for the last supply sent by our long-boat, both the healthy and diseased
+must have all perished together for want of water. And these calamities
+were the more terrifying, as they appeared to be without remedy, for the
+Gloucester had already spent a month in her endeavours to fetch the bay,
+and she was now no farther advanced than at the first moment she made the
+island; on the contrary, the people on board her had worn out all their
+hopes of ever succeeding in it by the many experiments they had made of
+its difficulty. Indeed, the same day her situation grew more desperate
+than ever, for after she had received our last supply of refreshments, we
+again lost sight of her, so that we in general despaired of her ever
+coming to an anchor.
+
+Thus was this unhappy vessel bandied about within a few leagues of her
+intended harbour, whilst the neighbourhood of that place, and of those
+circumstances which could alone put an end to the calamities they
+laboured under, served only to aggravate their distress by torturing them
+with a view of the relief it was not in their power to reach.
+
+THE GLOUCESTER COMES TO ANCHOR.
+
+But she was at last delivered from this dreadful situation, at a time
+when we least expected it, for, after having lost sight of her for
+several days, we were pleasingly surprised, on the morning of the 23rd of
+July, to see her open the north-west point of the bay with a flowing
+sail; when we immediately despatched what boats we had to her assistance,
+and in an hour's time from our first perceiving her she anchored safe
+within us in the bay.
+
+
+CHAPTER 11.
+TRACES OF SPANISH CRUISERS--ARRIVAL OF THE ANNA PINK.
+
+During the interval of the Gloucester's frequent and ineffectual attempts
+to reach the island, our employment was cleansing our ship and filling
+our water. The first of these measures was indispensably necessary to our
+future health, as the numbers of sick and the unavoidable negligence
+arising from our deplorable situation at sea, had rendered the decks most
+intolerably loathsome; and the filling of our water was a caution that
+appeared not less essential to our future security, as we had reason to
+apprehend that accidents might oblige us to quit the island at a very
+short warning. For some appearances, which we had discovered on shore
+upon our first landing, gave us grounds to believe that there were
+Spanish cruisers in these seas, which had left the island but a short
+time before our arrival, and might possibly return there again in search
+of us; for we knew that this island was the likeliest place, in their own
+opinion, to meet with us. The circumstances which gave rise to these
+reflections were our finding on shore several pieces of earthen jars,
+made use of in those seas for water and other liquids, which appeared to
+be fresh broken. We saw, too, many heaps of ashes, and near them
+fish-bones and pieces of fish, besides whole fish scattered here and
+there, which plainly appeared to have been but a short time out of the
+water, as they were but just beginning to decay. These appearances were
+certain indications that there had been ships at this place but a short
+time before we came there; and as all Spanish merchantmen are instructed
+to avoid the island on account of its being the common rendezvous of
+their enemies, we concluded those who had touched here to be ships of
+force; and not knowing that Pizarro was returned to Buenos Ayres, and
+ignorant what strength might have been fitted out at Calla, we were under
+some concern for our safety, being in so wretched and enfeebled a
+condition that, notwithstanding the rank of our ship and the sixty guns
+she carried on board, which would only have aggravated our dishonour,
+there was scarcely a privateer sent to sea that was not an overmatch for
+us. However, our fears on this head proved imaginary, and we were not
+exposed to the disgrace which might have been expected to have befallen
+us had we been necessitated to fight our sixty-gun ship with no more than
+thirty hands.
+
+After the Gloucester's arrival we were employed in earnest in examining
+and repairing our rigging.
+
+Towards the middle of August our men being indifferently recovered, they
+were permitted to quit their sick tents and to build separate huts for
+themselves; as it was imagined that by living apart they would be much
+cleanlier, and consequently likely to recover their strength the sooner;
+but at the same time particular orders were given that on the firing of a
+gun from the ship they should instantly repair to the waterside.
+
+I should have mentioned that the Trial sloop at her arrival had informed
+us that on the 9th of May she had fallen in with our victualler not far
+distant from the continent of Chili, and had kept company with her for
+four days, when they were parted in a hard gale of wind. This gave us
+some room to hope that she was safe, and that she might soon join us; but
+all June and July being past without any news of her, we suspected she
+was lost, and at the end of July the Commodore ordered all the ships to a
+short allowance of bread.* And it was not in our bread only that we
+feared a deficiency, for since our arrival at this island we discovered
+that our former purser had neglected to take on board large quantities of
+several kinds of provisions which the Commodore had expressly ordered him
+to receive; so that the supposed loss of our victualler was on all
+accounts a mortifying consideration.
+
+THE ANNA PINK.
+
+However, on Sunday, the 16th of August, about noon, we espied a sail in
+the northern quarter, and a gun was immediately fired from the Centurion
+to call off the people from shore, who readily obeyed the summons and
+repaired to the beach, where the boats waited to carry them on board. And
+now being prepared for the reception of this ship in view whether friend
+or enemy, we had various speculations about her; but about three in the
+afternoon our disputes were ended by unanimous persuasion that it was our
+victualler, the Anna pink. This ship, though, like the Gloucester, she
+had fallen in to the northward of the island, had yet the good fortune to
+come to an anchor in the bay at five in the afternoon. Her arrival gave
+us all the sincerest joy, for each ship's company was now restored to its
+full allowance of bread, and we were now freed from the apprehensions of
+our provisions falling short before we could reach some amicable port--a
+calamity which, in these seas, is of all others the most irretrievable.
+This was the last ship that joined us.
+
+(*Note. The flour was on board the Anna pink.)
+
+
+CHAPTER 12.
+THE WRECK OF THE WAGER--A MUTINY.
+
+The remaining ships of the squadron were the Severn, the Pearl, and the
+Wager, store-ship. The Severn and Pearl parted company with the squadron
+off Cape Noir and, as we afterwards learned, put back to the Brazils, so
+that of all the ships which came into the South Seas the Wager, Captain
+Cheap, was the only one that was missing. This ship had on board some
+field-pieces mounted for land service, together with some Cohorn mortars,
+and several kinds of artillery, stores, and tools, intended for the
+operations on shore; and therefore, as the enterprise on Baldivia had
+been resolved on for the first undertaking of the squadron, Captain Cheap
+was extremely solicitous that these materials, which were in his custody,
+might be ready before Baldivia, that if the squadron should possibly
+rendezvous there, no delay nor disappointment might be imputed to him.
+
+But whilst the Wager, with these views, was making the best of her way to
+her first rendezvous off the island of Socoro, she made the land on the
+14th of May, about the latitude of 47 degrees south, and the captain,
+exerting himself on this occasion in order to get clear of it, he had the
+misfortune to fall down the after-ladder, and thereby dislocated his
+shoulder, which rendered him incapable of acting. This accident, together
+with the crazy condition of the ship, which was little better than a
+wreck, prevented her from getting off to sea, and entangled her more and
+more with the land, so that the next morning at daybreak she struck on a
+sunken rock, and soon after bilged and grounded between two small islands
+at about a musket-shot from the shore.
+
+DISORDER AND ANARCHY.
+
+In this situation the ship continued entire a long time, so that all the
+crew had it in their power to get safe on shore, but a general confusion
+taking place, numbers of them, instead of consulting their safety or
+reflecting on their calamitous condition, fell to pillaging the ship,
+arming themselves with the first weapons that came to hand and
+threatening to murder all who should oppose them. This frenzy was greatly
+heightened by the liquors they found on board, with which they got so
+extremely drunk that some of them, tumbling down between decks, were
+drowned as the water flowed in, being incapable of getting up and
+retreating to other places where the water had not yet entered, and the
+captain, having done his utmost to get the whole crew on shore, was at
+last obliged to leave these mutineers behind him and to follow his
+officers and such as he had been able to prevail on; but he did not fail
+to send back the boats to persuade those who remained to have some regard
+to their preservation, though all his efforts were for some time without
+success. However the weather next day proving stormy, and there being
+great danger of the ship's parting, they began to be alarmed with the
+fears of perishing, and were desirous of getting to land; but it seems
+their madness had not yet left them, for the boat not appearing to fetch
+them off as soon as they expected, they at last pointed a four-pounder
+which was on the quarter-deck against the hut where they knew the captain
+resided on shore, and fired two shots, which passed but just over it.
+
+From this specimen of the behaviour of part of the crew it will not be
+difficult to frame some conjecture of the disorder and anarchy which took
+place when they at last got all on shore.
+
+There was another important point which set the greatest part of the
+people at variance with the captain: this was their differing with him in
+opinion on the measures to be pursued in the present exigency, for the
+captain was determined, if possible, to fit up the boats in the best
+manner he could and to proceed with them to the northward; for having
+with him above a hundred men in health, and having got some firearms and
+ammunition from the wreck, he did not doubt that they could master any
+Spanish vessel they should meet with in those seas, and he thought he
+could not fail of meeting with one in the neighbourhood of Chiloe or
+Baldivia, in which, when he had taken her, he intended to proceed to the
+rendezvous at Juan Fernandez; and he further insisted, that should they
+meet with no prize by the way, yet the boats alone would easily carry
+them there. But this was a scheme that, however prudent, was no ways
+relished by the generality of his people, for, being quite jaded with the
+distresses and dangers they had already run through, they could not think
+of prosecuting an enterprise further which had hitherto proved so
+disastrous, and, therefore, the common resolution was to lengthen the
+long-boat, and with that and the rest of the boats to steer to the
+southward, to pass through the Straits of Magellan, and to range along
+the east side of South America till they should arrive at Brazil, where
+they doubted not to be well received, and to procure a passage to Great
+Britain. This project was at first sight infinitely more hazardous and
+tedious than what was proposed by the captain, but as it had the air of
+returning home, and flattered them with the hopes of bringing them once
+more to their native country, this circumstance alone rendered them
+inattentive to all its inconveniences, and made them adhere to it with
+insurmountable obstinacy, so that the captain himself, though he never
+changed his opinion, was yet obliged to give way to the torrent, and in
+appearance to acquiesce in this resolution, whilst he endeavoured
+underhand to give it all the obstruction he could, particularly in the
+lengthening of the long-boat, which he contrived should be of such a size
+that, though it might serve to carry them to Juan Fernandez, would yet,
+he hoped, appear incapable of so long a navigation as that to the coast
+of Brazil.
+
+AN UNHAPPY ACCIDENT.
+
+But the captain, by his steady opposition at first to this favourite
+project, had much embittered the people against him, to which, likewise,
+the following unhappy accident greatly contributed. There was a
+midshipman whose name was Cozens, who had appeared the foremost in all
+the refractory proceedings of the crew. He had involved himself in brawls
+with most of the officers who had adhered to the captain's authority, and
+had even treated the captain himself with great abuse and insolence. As
+his turbulence and brutality grew every day more and more intolerable, it
+was not in the least doubted but there were some violent measures in
+agitation in which Cozens was engaged as the ringleader, for which reason
+the captain and those about him constantly kept themselves on their
+guard. But at last the purser having, by the captain's order, stopped the
+allowance of a fellow who would not work, Cozens, though the man did not
+complain to him, intermeddled in the affair with great eagerness, and
+grossly insulting the purser, who was then delivering our provisions just
+by the captain's tent, and was himself sufficiently violent, the purser,
+enraged by his scurrility, and perhaps piqued by former quarrels, cried
+out--"A mutiny!" adding "that the dog had pistols," and then himself
+fired a shot at Cozens, which, however, missed him. But the captain, on
+this outcry and the report of the pistol, rushed out of his tent, and,
+not doubting but it had been fired by Cozens as the commencement of a
+mutiny, he immediately shot him in the head without further deliberation,
+and though he did not kill him on the spot, yet the wound proved mortal,
+and he died about fourteen days after.
+
+This incident, however displeasing to the people, did yet for a
+considerable time awe them to their duty, and rendered them more
+submissive to the captain's authority. But at last, when towards the
+middle of October the long-boat was nearly completed and they were
+preparing to put to sea, the additional provocation he gave them by
+covertly traversing their project of proceeding through the Straits of
+Magellan, and their fears that he might at length engage a party
+sufficient to overturn this favourite measure, made them resolve to make
+use of the death of Cozens as a reason for depriving him of his command,
+under pretence of carrying him a prisoner to England to be tried for
+murder, and he was accordingly confined under a guard. But they never
+intended to carry him with them, as they too well knew what they had to
+apprehend on their return to England if their commander should be present
+to confront them, and therefore, when they were just ready to put to sea,
+they set him at liberty, leaving him and the few who chose to take their
+fortunes with him no other embarkation but the yawl, to which the barge
+was afterwards added by the people on board her being prevailed on to
+return back.
+
+
+CHAPTER 13.
+THE WRECK OF THE WAGER (CONTINUED)--THE ADVENTURES OF THE CAPTAIN'S PARTY.
+
+When the ship was wrecked there remained alive on board the Wager near a
+hundred and thirty persons; of these, above thirty died during their stay
+upon the place, and near eighty went off in the long-boat and the cutter
+to the southward; so that there remained with the captain, after their
+departure, no more than nineteen persons, which, however, was as many as
+the barge and the yawl--the only embarkations left them--could well carry
+off. It was on the 13th of October, five months after the shipwreck, that
+the long-boat, converted into a schooner, weighed and stood to the
+southward, giving the captain who, with Lieutenant Hamilton, of the land
+forces, and the surgeon, was then on the beach, three cheers at their
+departure. It was the 29th of January following before they arrived at
+Rio Grande, on the coast of Brazil; and having by various accidents, left
+about twenty of their people on shore at the different places they
+touched at, and a greater number having perished by hunger during the
+course of their navigation, there were no more than thirty of them left
+when they arrived in that port. Indeed, the undertaking of itself was a
+most extraordinary one, for, not to mention the length of the run, the
+vessel was scarcely able to contain the number that first put to sea in
+her; and their stock of provisions (being only what they had saved out of
+the ship) was extremely slender; and the cutter, the only boat they had
+with them, soon broke away from the stern and was staved to pieces; so
+that when their provision and their water failed them, they had
+frequently no means of getting on shore to search for a fresh supply.
+
+When the long-boat and cutter were gone, the captain and those who were
+left with him proposed to pass to the northward in the barge and yawl;
+but the weather was so bad, and the difficulty of subsisting so great,
+that it was two months after the departure of the long-boat before he was
+able to put to sea. It seems the place where the Wager was cast away was
+not a part of the continent, as was first imagined, but an island at some
+distance from the main, which afforded no other sorts of provision but
+shellfish and a few herbs; and as the greatest part of what they had got
+from the ship was carried off in the long-boat, the captain and his
+people were often in great necessity, especially as they chose to
+preserve what little sea-provisions remained for their store when they
+should go to the northwards.
+
+Upon the 14th of December the captain and his people embarked in the
+barge and the yawl in order to proceed to the northward, taking on board
+with them all the provisions they could amass from the wreck of a ship;
+but they had scarcely been an hour at sea when the wind began to blow
+hard, and the sea ran so high that they were obliged to throw the
+greatest part of their provisions overboard to avoid immediate
+destruction.
+
+STRUGGLING WITH DISASTER.
+
+This was a terrible misfortune in a part of the world where food is so
+difficult to be got; however, they still persisted in their design,
+putting on shore as often as they could to seek subsistence. But, about a
+fortnight after, another dreadful accident befell them, for the yawl sank
+at an anchor, and one of the men in her was drowned; and as the barge was
+incapable of carrying the whole company, they were now reduced to the
+hard necessity of leaving four marines behind them on that desolate
+shore. But they still kept on their course to the northward, struggling
+with their disasters, and greatly delayed by the perverseness of the
+winds and frequent interruptions which their search after food
+occasioned; till at last, about the end of January, having made three
+unsuccessful attempts to double a headland which they supposed to be what
+the Spaniards called Cape Tres Montes, it was unanimously resolved to
+give over this expedition, the difficulties of which appeared
+insuperable, and to return again to Wager Island, where they got back
+about the middle of February, quite disheartened and dejected with their
+reiterated disappointments and almost perishing with hunger and fatigue.
+
+However, on their return they had the good luck to meet with several
+pieces of beef which had been washed out of the ship and were swimming in
+the sea. This was a most seasonable relief to them after the hardships
+they had endured; and to complete their good fortune, there came in a
+short time two canoes of Indians, amongst whom was a native of Chiloe who
+spoke a little Spanish; and the surgeon who was with Captain Cheap
+understanding that language, he made a bargain with the Indian, that if
+he would carry the captain and his people to Chiloe in the barge, he
+should have her and all that belonged to her for his pains. Accordingly,
+on the 6th of March, the eleven persons, to which the company was now
+reduced, embarked in the barge on this new expedition; but after having
+proceeded for a few days, the captain and four of his principal officers
+being on shore, the six, who together with an Indian remained in the
+barge, put off with her to sea and did not return.
+
+By this means there were left on shore Captain Cheap, Mr. Hamilton,
+lieutenant of marines; the Honourable Mr. Byron and Mr. Campbell,
+midshipman; and Mr. Elliot, the surgeon. One would have thought their
+distresses had long before this time been incapable of augmentation, but
+they found, on reflection, that their present situation was much more
+dismaying than anything they had yet gone through, being left on a
+desolate coast without any provisions or the means of procuring any, for
+their arms, ammunition, and every conveniency they were masters of,
+except the tattered habits they had on, were all carried away in the
+barge. But when they had sufficiently revolved in their own minds the
+various circumstances of this unexpected calamity, and were persuaded
+that they had no relief to hope for, they perceived a canoe at a
+distance, which proved to be that of the Indian who had undertaken to
+carry them to Chiloe, he and his family being then on board it. He made
+no difficulty of coming to them, for it seems he had left Captain Cheap
+and his people a little before to go a-fishing, and had in the meantime
+committed them to the care of the other Indian, whom the sailors had
+carried to sea in the barge. But when he came on shore and found the
+barge gone and his companion missing, he was extremely concerned, and
+could with difficulty be persuaded that the other Indian was not
+murdered; but being at last satisfied with the account that was given
+him, he still undertook to carry them to the Spanish settlements, and (as
+the Indians are well skilled in fishing and fowling) to procure them
+provisions by the way.
+
+CHILOE.
+
+About the middle of March, Captain Cheap and the four who were left with
+him set out for Chiloe, the Indian having procured a number of canoes,
+and got many of his neighbours together for that purpose. Soon after they
+embarked, Mr. Elliot, the surgeon, died, so that there now remained only
+four of the whole company. At last, after a very complicated passage by
+land and water, Captain Cheap, Mr. Byron, and Mr. Campbell arrived, in
+the beginning of June, at the island of Chiloe, where they were received
+by the Spaniards with great humanity; but, on account of some quarrel
+among the Indians, Mr. Hamilton did not get thither till two months
+after. Thus, above a twelvemonth after the loss of the Wager, ended this
+fatiguing peregrination, which by a variety of misfortunes had diminished
+the company from twenty to no more than four, and those, too, brought so
+low that had their distresses continued but a few days longer, in all
+probability none of them would have survived. For the captain himself was
+with difficulty recovered and the rest were so reduced by the severity of
+the weather, their labour, and their want of all kinds of necessaries,
+that it was wonderful how they supported themselves so long. After some
+stay at Chiloe, the captain and the three who were with him were sent to
+Valparaiso, and thence to Santiago, the capital of Chile where they
+continued above a year; but on the advice of a cartel being settled
+betwixt Great Britain and Spain, Captain Cheap, Mr. Byron, and Mr.
+Hamilton were permitted to return to Europe on board a French ship. The
+other midshipman, Mr. Campbell, having changed his religion whilst at
+Santiago, chose to go back overland to Buenos Ayres with Pizarro and his
+officers, with whom he went afterwards to Spain on board the Asia; and
+there having failed in his endeavours to procure a commission from the
+Court of Spain, he returned to England, and attempted to get reinstated
+in the British Navy, and has since published a narration of his
+adventures, in which he complains of the injustice that had been done him
+and strongly disavows his ever being in the Spanish service. But as the
+change of his religion and his offering himself to the Court of Spain
+(though not accepted) are matters, which he is conscious, are capable of
+being incontestably proved, on these two heads he has been entirely
+silent. And now, after this account of the catastrophe of the Wager, I
+shall again resume the thread of our own story.
+
+
+CHAPTER 14.
+THE LOSSES FROM SCURVY--STATE AND PROSPECTS OF THE SQUADRON.
+
+EXTRAORDINARY MORTALITY.
+
+Our people by the beginning of September were so far recovered of the
+scurvy that there was little danger of burying any more at present; and
+therefore I shall now sum up the total of our loss since our departure
+from England, the better to convey some idea of our past sufferings and
+of our present strength. We had buried on board the Centurion since our
+leaving St. Helens 292, and had now remaining on board 214. This will
+doubtless appear a most extraordinary mortality; but yet on board the
+Gloucester it had been much greater, for out of a much smaller crew than
+ours they had buried the same number, and had only eighty-two remaining
+alive. It might be expected that on board the Trial the slaughter would
+have been the most terrible, as her decks were almost constantly
+knee-deep in water; but it happened otherwise, for she escaped more
+favourably than the rest, since she only buried forty-two, and had now
+thirty-nine remaining alive. The havoc of this disease had fallen still
+severer on the invalids and marines than on the sailors; for on board the
+Centurion, out of fifty invalids and seventy-nine marines there remained
+only four invalids, including officers, and eleven marines; and on board
+the Gloucester every invalid perished, and out of forty-eight marines
+only two escaped. From this account it appears that the three ships
+together departed from England with 961 men on board, of whom 626 were
+dead before this time; so that the whole of our remaining crews, which
+were now to be distributed among three ships, amounted to no more than
+335 men and boys, a number greatly insufficient for manning the Centurion
+alone, and barely capable of navigating all the three with the utmost
+exertion of their strength and vigour. This prodigious reduction of our
+men was still the more terrifying as we were hitherto uncertain of the
+fate of Pizarro's squadron, and had reason to suppose that some part of
+it at least had got round into these seas. Indeed we were satisfied from
+our own experience that they must have suffered greatly in their passage;
+but then every port in the South Seas was open to them, and the whole
+power of Chile and Peru would doubtless be united in refreshing and
+refitting them, and recruiting the numbers they had lost. Besides, we had
+some obscure knowledge of a force to be fitted out at Callao; and,
+however contemptible the ships and sailors of this part of the world may
+have been generally esteemed, it was scarcely possible for anything
+bearing the name of a ship of force to be feebler or less considerable
+than ourselves. And had there been nothing to be apprehended from the
+naval power of the Spaniards in this part of the world, yet our enfeebled
+condition would nevertheless give us the greatest uneasiness, as we were
+incapable of attempting any of their considerable places; for the risking
+of twenty men, weak as we then were, was risking the safety of the whole.
+So that we conceived we should be necessitated to content ourselves with
+what few prizes we could pick up at sea before we were discovered, after
+which we should in all probability be obliged to depart with
+precipitation, and esteem ourselves fortunate to regain our native
+country, leaving our enemies to triumph on the inconsiderable mischief
+they had received from a squadron whose equipment had filled them with
+such dreadful apprehensions. It is true the final event proved more
+honourable than we had foreboded; but the intermediate calamities did
+likewise greatly surpass our most gloomy apprehensions, and could they
+have been predicted to us at this island of Juan Fernandez, they would
+doubtless have appeared insurmountable.
+
+
+CHAPTER 15.
+A PRIZE--SPANISH PREPARATIONS--A NARROW ESCAPE.
+
+A CHASE.
+
+In the beginning of September, as has been already mentioned, our men
+were tolerably well recovered; and now the time of navigation in this
+climate drawing near, we exerted ourselves in getting our ships in
+readiness for the sea. On the 8th, about eleven in the morning, we espied
+a sail to the north-east, which continued to approach us till her courses
+appeared even with the horizon. In this interval we all had hopes she
+might prove one of our own squadron; but at length, finding she steered
+away to the eastward without hauling in for the island, we concluded she
+must be a Spaniard. It was resolved to pursue her; and the Centurion
+being in the greatest forwardness, we immediately got all our hands on
+board, set up our rigging, bent our sails, and by five in the afternoon
+got under sail. We had at this time very little wind, so that all the
+boats were employed to tow us out of the bay; and even what wind there
+was lasted only long enough to give us an offing of two or three leagues,
+when it flattened to a calm. The night coming on, we lost sight of the
+chase, and were extremely impatient for the return of daylight, in hopes
+to find that she had been becalmed as well as we, though I must confess
+that her greater distance from the land was a reasonable ground for
+suspecting the contrary, as we indeed found in the morning, to our great
+mortification; for though the weather continued perfectly clear, we had
+no sight of the ship from the mast-head. But as we were now satisfied
+that it was an enemy, and the first we had seen in these seas, we
+resolved not to give over the search lightly; and a small breeze
+springing up from the west-north-west, we got up our top-gallant masts
+and yards, set all the sails, and steered to the south-east, in hopes of
+retrieving our chase, which we imagined to be bound to Valparaiso. We
+continued on this course all that day and the next; and then, not getting
+sight of our chase, we gave over the pursuit, conceiving that by that
+time she must in all probability have reached her port.
+
+And now we prepared to return to Juan Fernandez, and hauled up to the
+south-west with that view, having but very little wind till the 12th,
+when, at three in the morning, there sprang up a fresh gale from the
+west-south-west, and we tacked and stood to the north-west; and at
+daybreak we were agreeably surprised with the sight of a sail on our
+weather-bow, between four and five leagues distant. On this we crowded
+all the sail we could, and stood after her, and soon perceived it not to
+be the same ship we originally gave chase to. She at first bore down upon
+us, showing Spanish colours, and making a signal as to her consort; but
+observing that we did not answer her signal, she instantly luffed close
+to the wind and stood to the southward. Our people were now all in
+spirits, and put the ship about with great alacrity; and as the chase
+appeared to be a large ship, and had mistaken us for her consort, we
+conceived that she was a man-of-war, and probably one of Pizarro's
+squadron. This induced the Commodore to order all the officers' cabins to
+be knocked down and thrown overboard, with several casks of water and
+provisions which stood between the guns; so that we had soon a clear
+ship, ready for an engagement. About nine o'clock we had thick, hazy
+weather, and a shower of rain, during which we lost sight of the chase;
+and we were apprehensive, if the weather should continue, that by going
+upon the other tack, or by some other artifice, she might escape us; but
+it clearing up in less than an hour, we found that we had both weathered
+and forereached upon her considerably, and now we were near enough
+discover that she was only a merchantman, without so much as a single
+tier of guns. About half an hour after twelve, being then within a
+reasonable distance of her, we fired four shot amongst her rigging, on
+which they lowered their topsails and bore down to us, but in very great
+confusion, their top-gallant-sails and stay-sails all fluttering in the
+wind. This was owing to their having let run their sheets and halyards
+just as we fired at them, after which not a man amongst them had courage
+enough to venture aloft (for there the shot had passed but just before)
+to take them in.
+
+As soon as the vessel came within hail of us, the Commodore ordered them
+to bring to under his lee-quarter, and then hoisted out the boat and sent
+Mr. Suamarez, his first lieutenant, to take possession of the prize, with
+directions to send all the prisoners on board the Centurion, but first
+the officers and passengers.
+
+A TERRIFIED CREW.
+
+When Mr. Suamarez came on board them, they received him at the side with
+the strongest tokens of the most abject submission, for they were all of
+them (especially the passengers, who were twenty-five in number),
+extremely terrified and under the greatest apprehensions of meeting with
+very severe and cruel usage. But the lieutenant endeavoured with great
+courtesy to dissipate their fright, assuring them that their fears were
+altogether groundless, and that they would find a generous enemy in the
+Commodore, who was not less remarkable for his lenity and humanity than
+for his resolution and courage. The passengers who were first sent on
+board the Centurion informed us that our prize was called "Nuestra Senora
+del Monte Carmelo", and was commanded by Don Manuel Zamorra. Her cargo
+consisted chiefly of sugar, and great quantities of blue cloth made in
+the province of Quito, somewhat resembling our English coarse
+broad-cloths, but inferior to them. They had, besides, several bales of a
+coarser sort of cloth, of different colours, called by them Pannia da
+Tierra, with a few bales of cotton and tobacco, which though strong was
+not ill-flavoured. These were the principal goods on board her; but we
+found, besides, what was to us much more valuable than the rest of the
+cargo. This was some trunks of wrought plate, and twenty-three serons of
+dollars, each weighing upwards of 200 pounds avoirdupois. The ship's
+burthen was about 450 tons; she had fifty-three sailors on board, both
+whites and blacks; she came from Callao, and had been twenty-seven days
+at sea before she fell into our hands. She was bound to the port of
+Valparaiso, in the kingdom of Chili, and proposed to have returned thence
+loaded with corn and Chili wine, some gold, dried beef, and small
+cordage, which at Callao they convert into larger rope. The prisoners
+informed us that they left Callao in company with two other ships, which
+they had parted with some days before, and that at first they conceived
+us to be one of their company; and by the description we gave them of the
+ship we had chased from Juan Fernandez, they assured us she was of their
+number, but that the coming in sight of that island was directly
+repugnant to the merchants' instructions, who had expressly forbid it, as
+knowing that if any English squadron was in those seas, the island of
+Fernandez was most probably the place of their rendezvous.
+
+And now it is necessary that I should relate the important intelligence
+which we met with on board her, partly from the information of the
+prisoners, and partly from the letters and papers which fell into our
+hands. We here first learned with certainty the force and destination of
+that squadron which cruised off Madeira at our arrival there, and
+afterwards chased the Pearl in our passage to Port St. Julian. And we
+had, at the same time, the satisfaction to find that Pizarro, after his
+utmost endeavours to gain his passage into these seas, had been forced
+back again into the River of Plate, with the loss of two of his largest
+ships; and besides this disappointment of Pizarro, which considering our
+great debility, was no unacceptable intelligence, we further learned that
+an embargo had been laid upon all shipping in these seas by the Viceroy
+of Peru, in the month of May preceding, on a supposition that about that
+time we might arrive upon the coast. But on the account sent overland by
+Pizarro of his own distresses, part of which they knew we must have
+encountered, as we were at sea during the same time, and on their having
+no news of us in eight months after we were known to set sail from St.
+Catherine's, they were fully persuaded that we were either shipwrecked,
+or had perished at sea, or at least had been obliged to put back again;
+for it was conceived impossible for any ships to continue at sea during
+so long an interval, and, therefore, on the application of the merchants
+and the firm persuasion of our having miscarried, the embargo had been
+lately taken off.
+
+A NARROW ESCAPE.
+
+This last article made us flatter ourselves that, as the enemy was still
+a stranger to our having got round Cape Horn, and the navigation of these
+seas was restored, we might meet with some considerable captures, and
+might thereby indemnify ourselves for the incapacity we were now under of
+attempting any of their considerable settlements on shore. And thus much
+we were certain of, from the information of our prisoners, that whatever
+our success might be as to the prizes we might light on, we had nothing
+to fear, weak as we were, from the Spanish force in this part of the
+world; though we discovered that we had been in most imminent peril from
+the enemy when we least apprehended it, and when our other distresses
+were at the greatest height. For we learned from the letters on board
+that Pizarro, in the express he dispatched to the Viceroy of Peru after
+his return to the River of Plate, had intimated to him that it was
+possible some part at least of the English squadron might get round, but
+that, as he was certain from his own experience that if they did arrive
+in those seas it must be in a very weak and defenceless condition, he
+advised the Viceroy, in order to be secure at all events, to fit out what
+ships of force he had, and send them to the southward, where in all
+probability they would intercept us singly and before we had an
+opportunity of touching anywhere for refreshment, in which case he
+doubted not but we should prove an easy conquest. The Viceroy of Peru
+approved of this advice, and immediately fitted out four ships of force
+from Callao, one of 50 guns, two of 40 guns, and one of 24 guns. Three of
+them were stationed off the port of Concepcion,* and one of them at the
+Island of Juan Fernandez; and in these stations they continued cruising
+for us till the 6th of June, when, not seeing anything of us, and
+conceiving it to be impossible that we could have kept the seas so long,
+they quitted their cruise and returned to Callao, fully satisfied that we
+had either perished or at least had been driven back. As the time of
+their quitting their station was but a few days before our arrival at the
+island of Fernandez, it is evident that had we made that island on our
+first search for it on the 28th of May, when we first expected to see it,
+and were in reality very near it, we had doubtless fallen in with some
+part of the Spanish squadron; and in the distressed condition we were
+then in the meeting with a healthy, well-provided enemy was an incident
+that could not but have been perplexing and might perhaps have proved
+fatal. I shall only add that these Spanish ships sent out to intercept us
+had been greatly shattered by a storm during their cruise, and that,
+after their arrival at Callao, they had been laid up. And our prisoners
+assured us that whenever intelligence was received at Lima of our being
+in these seas, it would be at least two months before this armament could
+be again fitted out.
+
+(*Note. La Concepcion in Chili, about 270 miles south of Valparaiso.)
+
+The whole of this intelligence was as favourable as we in our reduced
+circumstances could wish for; and now we were fully satisfied as to the
+broken jars, ashes, and fish-bones which we had observed at our first
+landing at Juan Fernandez, these things being doubtless the relics of the
+cruisers stationed off that port. Having thus satisfied ourselves in the
+material articles, and having got on board the Centurion most of the
+prisoners and all the silver, we, at eight in the same evening, made sail
+to the northward, in company with our prize, and at six the next morning
+discovered the island of Juan Fernandez, where the next day both we and
+our prize came to an anchor. And here I cannot omit one remarkable
+incident which occurred when the prize and her crew came into the bay
+where the rest of the squadron lay. The Spaniards in the Carmelo had been
+sufficiently informed of the distresses we had gone through, and were
+greatly surprised that we had ever surmounted them; but when they saw the
+Trial sloop at anchor they were still more astonished, and it was with
+great difficulty they were prevailed on to believe that she came from
+England with the rest of the squadron, they at first insisting that it
+was impossible such a bauble as that could pass round Cape Horn when the
+best ships of Spain were obliged to put back.
+
+
+CHAPTER 16.
+THE COMMODORE'S PLANS--ANOTHER PRIZE--THE TRIAL DESTROYED.
+
+By the time we arrived at Juan Fernandez the letters found on board our
+prize were more minutely examined; and it appearing from them and from
+the accounts of our prisoners that several other merchantmen were bound
+from Callao to Valparaiso, Mr. Anson despatched the Trial sloop the very
+next morning to cruise off the last-mentioned port, reinforcing her with
+ten hands from on board his own ship. Mr. Anson likewise resolved, on the
+intelligence recited above, to separate the ships under his command and
+employ them in distinct cruises, as he thought that by this means we
+should not only increase our chance for prizes, but that we should
+likewise run less risk of alarming the coast and of being discovered.
+
+THE LAST LEAVE OF JUAN FERNANDEZ.
+
+And now, the spirits of our people being greatly raised and their
+despondency dissipated by this earnest of success, they forgot all their
+past distresses and resumed their wonted alacrity, and laboured
+indefatigably in completing our water, receiving our lumber, and
+preparing to take our farewell of the island. But as these occupations
+took us up four or five days, with all our industry, the Commodore in
+that interval directed that the guns belonging to the Anna pink*, being
+four 6-pounders, four 4-pounders, and two swivels, should be mounted on
+board the Carmelo, our prize; and having sent on board the Gloucester six
+passengers and twenty-three seaman to assist in navigating the ship, he
+directed Captain Mitchel to leave the island as soon as possible, the
+service requiring the utmost despatch, ordering him to proceed to the
+latitude of 5 degrees south, and there to cruise off the high land of
+Paita, at such a distance from shore as should prevent his being
+discovered. On this station he was to continue till he should be joined
+by the Commodore, which would be whenever it should be known that the
+Viceroy had fitted out the ships at Callao, or on Mr. Anson's receiving
+any other intelligence that should make it necessary to unite our
+strength. These orders being delivered to the captain of the Gloucester,
+and all our business completed, we on the Saturday following, being the
+19th of September, weighed our anchor in company with our prize, and got
+out of the bay, taking our last leave of the island of Juan Fernandez,
+and steering to the eastward, with an intention of joining the Trial
+sloop in her station off Valparaiso.
+
+(*Note. The Anna pink being no longer seaworthy, was broken up at Juan
+Fernandez.)
+
+On the 24th, a little before sunset, we saw two sail to the eastward, on
+which our prize stood directly from us, to avoid giving any suspicion of
+our being cruisers; whilst we in the meantime made ourselves ready for an
+engagement, and steered towards the two ships we had discovered with all
+our canvas. We soon perceived that one of these which had the appearance
+of being a very stout ship made directly for us, whilst the other kept at
+a very great distance. By seven o'clock we were within pistol-shot of the
+nearest, and had a broadside ready to pour into her, the gunners having
+their matches in their hands, and only waiting for orders to fire; but as
+we knew it was now impossible for her to escape us, Mr. Anson, before he
+permitted them to fire, ordered the master to hail the ship in Spanish,
+on which the commanding officer on board her, who proved to be Mr.
+Hughes, lieutenant of the Trial, answered us in English, and informed us
+that she was a prize taken by the Trial a few days before, and that the
+other sail at a distance was the Trial herself, disabled in her masts. We
+were soon after joined by the Trial and Captain Saunders, her commander,
+came on board the Centurion. He informed the Commodore that he had taken
+this ship the 18th instant, that she was a prime sailer, and had cost him
+thirty-six hours' chase before he could come up with her; that for some
+time he gained so little upon her that he began to despair of taking her;
+and the Spaniards, though alarmed at first with seeing nothing but a
+cloud of sail in pursuit of them, the Trial's hull being so low in the
+water that no part of it appeared, yet knowing the goodness of their
+ship, and finding how little the Trial neared them, they at length laid
+aside their fears, and recommending themselves to the blessed Virgin for
+protection, began to think themselves secure. And indeed, their success
+was very near doing honour to their Ave Marias;* for altering their
+course in the night and shutting up their windows to prevent any of their
+lights from being seen, they had some chance of escaping. But a small
+crevice in one of the shutters rendered all their invocations
+ineffectual, for through this crevice the people on board the Trial
+perceived a light, which they chased till they arrived within gun shot,
+and then Captain Saunders alarmed them unexpectedly with a broadside when
+they flattered themselves they were got out of his reach. However, for
+some time after, they still kept the same sail abroad,  and it was not
+observed that this first salute had made any impression on them; but just
+as the Trial was preparing to repeat her broadside, the Spaniards crept
+from their holes, lowered their sails, and submitted without any
+opposition. She was one of the largest merchantmen employed in those
+seas, being about six hundred tons burthen, and was called the
+"Arranzazu". She was bound from Callao to Valparaiso, and had much the
+same cargo with the Carmelo we had taken before, except that her silver
+amounted only to about 5000 pounds sterling.
+
+(*Note. Ave Maria (Hail Mary!) are the opening words of a Roman Catholic
+prayer to the Virgin Mary.)
+
+THE TRIAL DISABLED.
+
+But to balance this success we had the misfortune to find that the Trial
+had sprung her mainmast, and that her maintopmast had come by the board;
+and as we were all of us standing to the eastward the next morning, with
+a fresh gale at south, she had the additional ill-luck to spring her
+foremast; so that now she had not a mast left on which she could carry
+sail. These unhappy incidents were still further aggravated by the
+impossibility we were just then under of assisting her; for the wind blew
+so hard, and raised such a hollow sea, that we could not venture to hoist
+out our boat, and consequently could have no communication with her; so
+that we were obliged to lie to for the greatest part of forty-eight hours
+to attend her.
+
+The weather proving somewhat more moderate on the 27th, we sent our boat
+for the captain of the Trial, who, when he came on board us, produced an
+instrument, signed by himself and all his officers, representing that the
+sloop, besides being dismasted, was so very leaky in her hull that even
+in moderate weather it was necessary to keep the pumps constantly at
+work, and that they were then scarcely sufficient to keep her free; so
+that in the late gale, though they had all been engaged at the pumps by
+turns, yet the water had increased upon them; and, upon the whole, they
+apprehended her to be at present so very defective that if they met with
+much bad weather they must all inevitably perish, and therefore they
+petitioned the Commodore to take some measures for their future safety.
+But the refitting of the Trial and the repairing of her defects was an
+undertaking that in the present conjuncture greatly exceeded his power;
+and besides, it would have been extreme imprudence in so critical a
+juncture to have loitered away so much time as would have been necessary
+for these operations. The Commodore, therefore, had no choice left him
+but that of taking out her people and destroying her; but at the same
+time, as he conceived it necessary for His Majesty's Service to keep up
+the appearance of our force, he appointed the Trial's prize (which had
+been often employed by the Viceroy of Peru as a man-of-war) to be a
+frigate in His Majesty's Service, manning her with the Trial's crew and
+giving new commissions to the captain and all the inferior officers
+accordingly. This new frigate, when in the Spanish service, had mounted
+thirty-two guns, but she was now to have only twenty, which were the
+twelve that were on board the Trial, and eight that had belonged to the
+Anna pink. When this affair was thus far regulated, Mr. Anson gave orders
+to Captain Saunders to put it in execution, directing him to take out of
+the sloop the arms, stores, ammunition, and everything that could be of
+any use to the other ships, and then to scuttle her and sink her. And
+after Captain Saunders had seen her destroyed he was to proceed with his
+new frigate (to be called the Trial's prize) and to cruise off the high
+land of Valparaiso, keeping it from him north-north-west, at the distance
+of twelve or fourteen leagues. For as all ships bound from Valparaiso to
+the northward steer that course, Mr. Anson proposed by this means to stop
+any intelligence that might be despatched to Callao of two of their ships
+being missing, which might give them apprehensions of the English
+squadron being in their neighbourhood. The Trial's prize was to continue
+on this station twenty-four days and if not joined by the Commodore at
+the expiration of that term, she was then to proceed down the coast to
+Pisco, or Nasca, where she would be certain to meet with Mr. Anson. The
+Commodore likewise ordered Lieutenant Suamarez who commanded the
+Centurion's prize, to keep company with Captain Saunders both to assist
+him in unloading the sloop, and also that, by spreading in their cruise,
+there might be less danger of any of the enemy's ships slipping by
+unobserved. These orders being despatched, the Centurion parted from them
+at eleven in the evening on the 27th of September, directing her course
+to the southward, with a view of cruising for some days to the windward
+of Valparaiso.
+
+
+CHAPTER 17.
+MORE CAPTURES--ALARM OF THE COAST--PAITA.
+
+DISAPPOINTMENT.
+
+Though, after leaving Captain Saunders, we were very expeditious in
+regaining our station, where we got the 29th at noon, yet in plying on
+and off till the 6th of October we had not the good fortune to discover a
+sail of any sort, and then, having lost all hopes of making any advantage
+by a longer stay, we made sail to the leeward of the port in order to
+join our prizes; but when we arrived on the station appointed for them we
+did not meet with them, though we continued there four or five days. We
+supposed that some chase had occasioned their leaving the station, and
+therefore we proceeded down the coast to the high land of Nasca, where
+Captain Saunders was directed to join us. Here we arrived on the 21st,
+and were in great expectation of meeting with some of the enemy's ships
+on the coast, as both the accounts of former voyages and the information
+of our prisoners assured us that all ships bound to Callao constantly
+make this land, to prevent the danger of running to the leeward of the
+port. But notwithstanding the advantages of this station we saw no sail
+till the 2nd of November, when two ships appeared in sight together. We
+immediately gave them chase, but soon perceived that they were the
+Trial's and Centurion's prizes. We found they had not been more fortunate
+in their cruise than we were, for they had seen no vessel since they
+separated from us.
+
+We bore away the same afternoon, taking particular care to keep at such a
+distance from the shore that there might be no danger of our being
+discovered from thence.
+
+By the 5th of November, at three in the afternoon, we were advanced
+within view of the high land of Barranca, and an hour and a half
+afterwards we had the satisfaction we had so long wished for, of seeing a
+sail. She first appeared to leeward, and we all immediately gave her
+chase; but the Centurion so much out sailed the two prizes that we soon
+ran them out of sight, and gained considerably on the chase. However,
+night coming on before we came up to her, we about seven o'clock lost
+sight of her, and were in some perplexity what course to steer; but at
+last Mr. Anson resolved, as we were then before the wind, to keep all his
+sails set and not to change his course. For though we had no doubt but
+the chase would alter her course in the night, yet, as it was uncertain
+what tack she would go upon, it was thought more prudent to keep on our
+course, as we must by this means unavoidably near her, than to change it
+on conjecture, when, if we should mistake, we must infallibly lose her.
+Thus, then, we continued the chase about an hour and a half in the dark,
+someone or other on board us constantly imagining they discerned her
+sails right ahead of us; but at last Mr. Brett, then our second
+lieutenant, did really discover her about four points on the
+larboard-bow, steering off to the seaward. We immediately clapped the
+helm a-weather and stood for her, and in less than an hour came up with
+her, and having fired fourteen shots at her, she struck. Our third
+lieutenant, Mr. Dennis, was sent in the boat with sixteen men to take
+possession of the prize and to return the prisoners to our ship. This
+ship was named the "Santa Teresa de Jesus", built at Guayaquil, of about
+three hundred tons burthen, and was commanded by Bartolome Urrunaga, a
+Biscayer. She was bound from Guayaquil to Callao; her loading consisted
+of timber, cacao, cocoa-nuts, tobacco, hides, Pito thread (which is very
+strong and is made of a species of grass) Quito cloth, wax, etc. The
+specie on board her was inconsiderable, being principally small silver
+money and not amounting to more than 170 pounds sterling. It is true her
+cargo was of great value, could we have disposed of it, but the Spaniards
+having strict orders never to ransom their ships, all the goods that we
+took in these seas, except what little we had occasion for ourselves,
+were of no advantage to us. Indeed, though we could make no profit
+thereby ourselves, it was some satisfaction to us to consider that it was
+so much really lost to the enemy, and that the despoiling them was no
+contemptible branch of that service in which we were now employed by our
+country.
+
+I have before observed that at the beginning of this chase the Centurion
+ran her two consorts out of sight, for which reason we lay by all the
+night, after we had taken the prize, for Captain Saunders and Lieutenant
+Suamarez to join us, firing guns and making false fires every half-hour
+to prevent their passing us unobserved; but they were so far astern that
+they neither heard nor saw any of our signals and were not able to come
+up with us till broad daylight. When they had joined us we proceeded
+together to the northward, being now four sail in company.
+
+DESPOILING THE SPANIARDS.
+
+On the 10th of November we were three leagues south of the southernmost
+island of Lobos, lying in the latitude of 6 degrees 27 minutes south. We
+were now drawing near to the station appointed to the Gloucester, for
+which reason, fearing to miss her, we made an easy sail all night. The
+next morning at daybreak, we saw a ship in shore, and to windward, plying
+up to the coast. She had passed by us with the favour of the night, and
+we, soon perceiving her not to be the Gloucester, gave her chase; but it
+proving very little wind, so that neither of us could make much way, the
+Commodore ordered the barge, his pinnace, and the Trial's pinnace to be
+manned and armed, and to pursue the chase and board her. Lieutenant
+Brett, who commanded the barge, came up with her first, about nine
+o'clock, and running alongside of her, he fired a volley of small shot
+between the masts, just over the heads of the people on board, and then
+instantly entered with the greatest part of his men; but the enemy made
+no resistance, being sufficiently frightened by the dazzling of the
+cutlasses, and the volley they had just received. Lieutenant Brett
+ordered the sails to be trimmed, and bore down to the Commodore, taking
+up in his way the two pinnaces. When he was arrived within about four
+miles of us, he put off in the barge, bringing with him a number of
+prisoners who had given him some material intelligence, which he was
+desirous the Commodore should be acquainted with as soon as possible. On
+his arrival we learned that the prize was called "Nuestra Senora del
+Carmen", of about two hundred and seventy tons burthen; she was commanded
+by Marcos Morena, a native of Venice, and had on board forty-three
+mariners. She was deep laden with steel, iron, wax, pepper, cedar, plank,
+snuff, rosaries, European bale goods, powder-blue, cinnamon, Romish
+indulgences, and other species of merchandise. And though this cargo, in
+our present circumstances was but of little value to us, yet with respect
+to the Spaniards it was the most considerable capture that fell into our
+hands in this part of the world; for it amounted to upwards of 400,000
+dollars prime cost at Panama. This ship was bound to Callao, and had
+stopped at Paita in her passage to take in a recruit of water and
+provisions, and had not left that place above twenty-four hours before
+she fell into our hands.
+
+IMPORTANT INTELLIGENCE.
+
+I have mentioned that Mr. Brett had received some important intelligence
+from the prisoners, which he endeavoured to acquaint the Commodore with
+immediately. The first person he received it from (though upon further
+examination it was confirmed by the other prisoners) was one John
+Williams, an Irishman, whom he found on board the Spanish vessel.
+Williams was a Papist, who worked his passage from Cadiz, and had
+travelled over all the kingdom of Mexico as a pedlar. He pretended that
+by this business he got 4,000 or 5,000 dollars; but that he was
+embarrassed by the priests, who knew he had money, and was at last
+stripped of all he had. He was, indeed, at present all in rags, being but
+just got out of Paita gaol, where he had been confined for some
+misdemeanour; he expressed great joy upon seeing his countrymen, and
+immediately informed them that a few days before a vessel came into
+Paita, where the master of her informed the Governor that he had been
+chased in the offing by a very large ship, which, from her size and the
+colour of her sails, he was persuaded must be one of the English
+squadron. This we then conjectured to have been the Gloucester, as we
+afterwards found it was. The Governor, upon examining the master, was
+fully satisfied of his relation, and immediately sent away an express to
+Lima to acquaint the Viceroy therewith; and the royal officer residing at
+Paita, being apprehensive of a visit from the English, was busily
+employed in removing the King's treasure and his own to Piura, a town
+within land about fourteen leagues distant. We further learned from our
+prisoners that there was a very considerable sum of money, belonging to
+some merchants at Lima, that was now lodged at the custom-house at Paita;
+and that this was intended to be shipped on board a vessel which was then
+in the port of Paita, and was preparing to sail with the utmost
+expedition, being bound for the Bay of Sonsonnate, on the coast of
+Mexico, in order to purchase a part of the cargo of the Manila ship.*
+This vessel at Paita was esteemed a prime sailer, and had just received a
+new coat of tallow on her bottom; and, in the opinion of the prisoners,
+she might be able to sail the succeeding morning.
+
+(*Note. A full account of the Manila ship will be found in Chapter 22
+below.)
+
+The character they gave us of this vessel, on which the money was to be
+shipped, left us little reason to believe that our ship, which had been
+in the water near two years, could have any chance of coming up with her,
+if we once suffered her to escape out of the port. And therefore, as we
+were now discovered, and the coast would be soon alarmed, and as our
+cruising in these parts any longer would answer no purpose, the Commodore
+resolved to surprise the place, having first minutely informed himself of
+its strength and condition, and being fully satisfied that there was
+little danger of losing many of our men in the attempt.
+
+
+CHAPTER 18.
+THE ATTACK ON PAITA.
+
+The town of Paita is situated in the latitude of 5 degrees 12 minutes
+south, in a most barren soil, composed only of sand and slate; the extent
+of it is but small, containing in all less than two hundred families. The
+houses are only ground floors, the walls built of split cane and mud, and
+the roofs thatched with leaves. These edifices, though extremely slight,
+are abundantly sufficient for a climate where rain is considered as a
+prodigy, and is not seen in many years; so that it is said that a small
+quantity of rain falling in this country in the year 1728, it ruined a
+great number of buildings, which mouldered away, and, as it were, melted
+before it. The inhabitants of Paita are principally Indians and black
+slaves, or at least a mixed breed, the whites being very few. The port of
+Paita, though in reality little more than a bay, is esteemed the best on
+that part of the coast, and is indeed a very secure and commodious
+anchorage. It is greatly frequented by all vessels coming from the north,
+since it is here only that the ships from Acapulco, Sonsonnate, Realejo
+and Panama can touch and refresh in their passage to Callao; and the
+length of these voyages (the wind for the greatest part of the year being
+full against them) renders it impossible to perform them without calling
+upon the coast for a recruit of fresh water. It is true, Paita is
+situated on so parched a spot that it does not itself furnish a drop of
+fresh water, or any kind of greens or provisions, except fish and a few
+goats; but there is an Indian town called Colan, about two or three
+leagues distant to the northward, whence water, maize, greens, fowls,
+etc., are brought to Paita on balsas, or floats, for the convenience of
+the ships that touch here; and cattle are sometimes brought from Piura, a
+town which lies about fourteen leagues up in the country. The town of
+Paita is itself an open place; its sole protection and defence is a small
+fort near the shore of the bay. It was of consequence to us to be well
+informed of the fabric and strength of this fort; and by the examination
+of our prisoners we found that there were eight pieces of cannon mounted
+in it, but that it had neither ditch nor outwork, being only surrounded
+by a plain brick wall; and that the garrison consisted of only one weak
+company, but the town itself might possibly arm three hundred men more.
+
+PREPARING FOR A NIGHT ATTACK.
+
+Mr. Anson having informed himself of the strength of the place, resolved
+to attempt it that very night. We were then about twelve leagues distant
+from the shore, far enough to prevent our being discovered, yet not so
+far but that, by making all the sail we could, we might arrive in the bay
+with our ships in the night. However, the Commodore prudently considered
+that this would be an improper method of proceeding, as our ships, being
+such large bodies, might be easily discovered at a distance even in the
+night, and might thereby alarm the inhabitants and give them an
+opportunity of removing their valuable effects. He therefore, as the
+strength of the place did not require our whole force, resolved to
+attempt it with our boats only, ordering the eighteen-oared barge and our
+own and the Trial's pinnaces on that service; and having picked out
+fifty-eight men to man them, well provided with arms and ammunition, he
+gave the command of the expedition to Lieutenant Brett, and gave him his
+necessary orders. And the better to prevent the disappointment and
+confusion which might arise from the darkness of the night and the
+ignorance of the streets and passages of the place, two of the Spanish
+pilots were ordered to attend the lieutenant and to conduct him to the
+most convenient landing-place, and were afterwards to be his guides on
+shore. And that we might have the greater security for their faithful
+behaviour on this occasion, the Commodore took care to assure all our
+prisoners that if the pilots acted properly they should all of them be
+released and set on shore at this place; but in case of any misconduct or
+treachery, he threatened them that the pilots should be instantly shot
+and that he would carry all the rest of the Spaniards who were on board
+him prisoners to England.
+
+During our preparations the ships themselves stood towards the port with
+all the sail they could make, being secure that we were yet at too great
+a distance to be seen. But about ten o'clock at night, the ships being
+then within five leagues of the place, Lieutenant Brett, with the boats
+under his command, put off, and arrived at the mouth of the bay without
+being discovered; but no sooner had he entered it than some of the people
+on board a vessel riding at anchor there perceived him, who instantly put
+off in their boat, rowing towards the fort, shouting and crying, "The
+English! the English dogs!" by which the whole town was suddenly alarmed;
+and our people soon observed several lights hurrying backwards and
+forwards in the fort and other marks of the inhabitants being in great
+motion. Lieutenant Brett on this encouraged his men to pull briskly up to
+the shore, that they might give the enemy as little time as possible to
+prepare for their defence. However, before our boats could reach the
+shore, the people in the fort had got ready some of their cannon and
+pointed them towards the landing-place; and though in the darkness of the
+night it might be well supposed that chance had a greater share than
+skill in their direction, yet the first shot passed extremely near one of
+the boats, whistling just over the heads of the crew. This made our
+people redouble their efforts, so that they had reached the shore, and
+were in part disembarked by the time the second gun fired. As soon as our
+men landed they were conducted by one of the Spanish pilots to the
+entrance of a narrow street, not above fifty yards distant from the
+beach, where they were covered from the fire of the fort; and being
+formed in the best manner the shortness of the time would allow, they
+immediately marched for the parade, which was a large square at the end
+of this street, the fort being one side of the square and the Governor's
+house another. In this march (though performed with tolerable regularity)
+the shouts and clamours of three-score sailors who had been confined so
+long on ship-board, and were now for the first time on shore in an
+enemy's country--joyous as they always are when they land, and animated
+besides in the present case with the hopes of an immense pillage--the
+huzzahs, I say, of this spirited detachment, joined with the noise of
+their drums and favoured by the night, had augmented their numbers, in
+the opinion of the enemy, to at least three hundred; by which persuasion
+the inhabitants were so greatly intimidated that they were much more
+solicitous about the means of their flight than of their resistance. So
+that though upon entering the parade our people received a volley from
+the merchants who owned the treasure then in the town, and who, with a
+few others, had ranged themselves in a gallery that ran round the
+Governor's house, yet that post was immediately abandoned upon the first
+fire made by our people, who were thereby left in quiet possession of the
+parade.
+
+A SMART PIECE OF WORK.
+
+On this success Lieutenant Brett divided his men into two parties,
+ordering one of them to surround the Governor's house, and, if possible,
+to secure the Governor, whilst he himself with the other marched to the
+fort with an intent to force it. But, contrary to his expectation, he
+entered it without opposition; for the enemy, on his approach, abandoned
+it, and made their escape over the walls. By this means the whole place
+was mastered in less than a quarter of an hour's time from the first
+landing, with no other loss than that of one man killed on the spot and
+two wounded, one of whom was the Spanish pilot of the Teresa, who
+received a slight bruise by a ball which grazed on his wrist. Indeed,
+another of the company, the Honourable Mr. Keppel, son to the Earl of
+Albemarle, had a very narrow escape; for having on a jockey cap, one side
+of the peak was shaved off close to his temple by a ball, which, however,
+did him no other injury. And now Lieutenant Brett, after this success,
+placed a guard at the fort, and another at the Governor's house, and
+appointed sentinels at all the avenues of the town, both to prevent any
+surprise from the enemy, and to secure the effects in the place from
+being embezzled. And this being done, his next care was to seize on the
+custom-house where the treasure lay, and to examine if any of the
+inhabitants remained in the town, that he might know what further
+precautions it was necessary to take. But he soon found that the numbers
+left behind were no ways formidable; for the greatest part of them (being
+in bed when the place was surprised) had run away with so much
+precipitation that they had not given themselves time to put on their
+clothes. And in this precipitate rout the Governor was not the last to
+secure himself for he fled betimes, half-naked. The few inhabitants who
+remained were confined in one of the churches under a guard, except some
+stout Negroes who were found in the place. These, instead of being shut
+up, were employed the remaining part of the night to assist in carrying
+the treasure from the custom-house and other places to the fort. However,
+there was care taken that they should be always attended by a file of
+musketeers.
+
+The transporting the treasure from the custom-house to the fort was the
+principal occupation of Mr. Brett's people after he had got possession of
+the place. But the sailors, while they were thus employed, could not be
+prevented from entering the houses which lay near them in search of
+private pillage. And the first things which occurred to them being the
+clothes which the Spaniards in their flight had left behind them, and
+which, according to the custom of the country, were most of them either
+embroidered or laced, our people eagerly seized these glittering habits,
+and put them on over their own dirty trousers and jackets; not
+forgetting, at the same time, the tie or bag-wig, and laced hat, which
+were generally found with the clothes. When this practice was once begun
+there was no preventing the whole detachment from imitating it; and those
+who came latest into the fashion, not finding men's clothes sufficient to
+equip themselves, were obliged to take up with women's gowns and
+petticoats, which (provided there was finery enough) they made no scruple
+of putting on and blending with their own greasy dress. So that, when a
+party of them thus ridiculously metamorphosed first appeared before Mr.
+Brett, he was extremely surprised at their appearance and could not
+immediately be satisfied they were his own people.
+
+
+CHAPTER 19.
+THE ATTACK ON PAITA (CONTINUED)--KIND TREATMENT AND RELEASE OF THE
+   PRISONERS--THEIR GRATITUDE.
+
+These were the transactions of our detachment on shore at Paita the first
+night; and now to return to what was done on board the Centurion in that
+interval. I must observe that after the boats were gone off we lay by
+till one o'clock in the morning, and then, supposing our detachment to be
+near landing, we made an easy sail for the bay. About seven in the
+morning we began to open the bay, and soon after we had a view of the
+town; and though we had no reason to doubt of the success of the
+enterprise, yet it was with great joy that we first discovered an
+infallible signal of the certainty of our hopes: this was by means of our
+perspectives, for through them we saw an English flag hoisted on the
+flagstaff of the fort, which to us was an incontestable proof that our
+people had got possession of the town. We plied into the bay with as much
+expedition as the wind, which then blew off shore, would permit us, and
+at eleven the Trial's boat came on board us, laden with dollars and
+church-plate; and the officer who commanded her informed us of the
+preceding night's transactions, such as we have already related them.
+About two in the afternoon we came to an anchor in ten fathoms and a
+half, at a mile and a half distance from the town, and were consequently
+near enough to have a more immediate intercourse with those on shore.
+
+COLLECTING THE TREASURE.
+
+And now we found that Mr. Brett had hitherto gone on in collecting and
+removing the treasure without interruption; but that the enemy had
+rendezvoused from all parts of the country on a hill at the back of the
+town, where they made no inconsiderable appearance; for, amongst the rest
+of their force, there were two hundred horse, seemingly very well armed
+and mounted, and, as we conceived, properly trained and regimented, being
+furnished with trumpets, drums, and standards. These troops paraded about
+the hill with great ostentation, sounding their military music and
+practising every art to intimidate us (as our numbers on shore were by
+this time not unknown to them), in hopes that we might be induced by our
+fears to abandon the place before the pillage was completed. But we were
+not so ignorant as to believe that this body of horse, which seemed to be
+what the enemy principally depended on, would dare to venture in streets
+and among houses, even had their numbers been three times as great; and
+therefore, notwithstanding their menaces, we went on, as long as the
+daylight lasted, calmly, in sending off the treasure and in employing the
+boats to carry on board the refreshments such as hogs, fowls, etc., which
+we found here in great abundance. But at night, to prevent any surprise,
+the Commodore sent on shore a reinforcement, who posted themselves in all
+the streets leading to the parade; and for their greater security they
+traversed the streets with barricades six feet high; and the enemy
+continuing quiet all night, we at daybreak returned again to our labour
+of loading the boats and sending them off.
+
+On the second day of our being in possession of the place, several negro
+slaves deserted from the enemy on the hill, and coming into the town,
+voluntarily entered into our service. One of these was well known to a
+gentleman on board, who remembered him formerly at Panama. And the
+Spaniards without the town being in extreme want of water, many of their
+slaves crept into the place by stealth and carried away several jars of
+water to their masters on the hill; and though some of them were seized
+by our men in the attempt, yet the thirst amongst the enemy was so
+pressing that they continued this practice till we left the place. And
+now, on this second day, we were assured, both by the deserters and by
+these prisoners we took, that the Spaniards on the hill, who were by this
+time increased to a formidable number, had resolved to storm the town and
+fort the succeeding night, and that one Gordon, a Scotch Papist and
+captain of a ship in those seas, was to have the command of this
+enterprise. But we, notwithstanding, continued sending off our boats, and
+prosecuted our work without the least hurry or precipitation till the
+evening; and then a reinforcement was again sent on shore by the
+Commodore, and Lieutenant Brett doubled his guards at each of the
+barricades; and our posts being connected by means of sentinels placed
+within call of each other, and the whole being visited by frequent
+rounds, attended with a drum, these marks of our vigilance cooled their
+resolution and made them forget the vaunts of the preceding day; so that
+we passed the second night with as little molestation as we had done the
+first.
+
+We had finished sending the treasure on board the Centurion the evening
+before, so that the third morning, being the 15th of November, the boats
+were employed in carrying off the most valuable part of the effects that
+remained in the town. And the Commodore intending to sail this day, he
+about ten o'clock, pursuant to his promise, sent all his prisoners,
+amounting to eighty-eight, on shore, giving orders to Lieutenant Brett to
+secure them in one of the churches under a strict guard till he was ready
+to embark his men.
+
+THE BURNING OF PAITA.
+
+Mr. Brett was at the same time ordered to set the whole town on fire,
+except the two churches (which by good fortune stood at some distance
+from the other houses), and then he was to abandon the place and to come
+on board. These orders were punctually complied with, for Mr. Brett
+immediately set his men to work to distribute pitch, tar, and other
+combustibles (of which great quantities were found here) into houses
+situated in different streets of the town, so that, the place being fired
+in many quarters at the same time, the destruction might be more violent
+and sudden, and the enemy, after our departure, might not be able to
+extinguish it. These preparations being made, he in the next place
+ordered the cannon which he found in the fort to be nailed up; and then,
+setting fire to those houses which were most windward, he collected his
+men and marched towards the beach, where the boats waited to carry them
+off. And the part of the beach where he intended to embark being an open
+place without the town, the Spaniards on the hill, perceiving he was
+retreating, resolved to try if they could not precipitate his departure.
+For this purpose a small squadron of their horse, consisting of about
+sixty, picked out as I suppose for this service, marched down the hill
+with much seeming resolution; so that, had we not been prepossessed with
+a juster opinion of their prowess, we might have suspected that, now we
+were on the open beach with no advantage of situation, they would
+certainly have charged us. But we presumed (and we were not mistaken)
+that this was mere ostentation; for, notwithstanding the pomp and parade
+they advanced with, Mr. Brett had no sooner ordered his men to halt and
+face about, but the enemy stopped their career and never dared to advance
+a step farther.
+
+Our detachment under Lieutenant Brett having safely joined the squadron,
+the Commodore prepared to leave the place the same evening.
+
+ENGLISH HUMANITY.
+
+There remains, before I take leave of this place, another particularity
+to be mentioned, which, on account of the great honour which our national
+character in those parts has thence received, and the reputation which
+our Commodore in particular has thereby acquired, merits a distinct and
+circumstantial discussion. It has been already related that all the
+prisoners taken by us in our preceding prizes were put on shore and
+discharged at this place; amongst which there were some persons of
+considerable distinction, particularly a youth of about seventeen years
+of age, son of the Vice-President of the Council of Chili. As the
+barbarity of the buccaneers, and the artful use the ecclesiastics had
+made of it, had filled the natives of those countries with the most
+terrible ideas of the English cruelty, we always found our prisoners at
+their first coming on board us, to be extremely dejected and under great
+horror and anxiety. In particular, this youth whom I last mentioned,
+having never been from home before, lamented his captivity in the most
+moving manner, regretting in very plaintive terms his parents, his
+brothers, his sisters, and his native country, of all which he was fully
+persuaded he had taken his last farewell, believing that he was now
+devoted for the remaining part of his life to an abject and cruel
+servitude; nore was he singular in his fears, for his companions on
+board, and indeed all the Spaniards that came into our power, had the
+same desponding opinion of their situation. Mr. Anson constantly exerted
+his utmost endeavours to efface these inhuman impressions they had
+received of us, always taking care that as many of the principal people
+among them as there was room for should dine at his table by turns, and
+giving the strictest orders, too, that they should at all times and in
+every circumstance be treated with the utmost decency and humanity. But,
+notwithstanding this precaution, it was generally observed that for the
+first day or two they did not quit their fears, but suspected the
+gentleness of their usage to be only preparatory to some unthought-of
+calamity. However, being confirmed by time, they grew perfectly easy in
+their situation and remarkably cheerful, so that it was often disputable
+whether or no they considered their being detained by us as a misfortune.
+For the youth I have above mentioned, who was near two months on board
+us, had at last so far conquered his melancholy surmises, and had taken
+such an affection to Mr. Anson, and seemed so much pleased with the
+manner of life, totally different from all he had ever seen before, that
+it is doubtful to me whether if his opinion had been taken, he would not
+have preferred a voyage to England in the Centurion to the being set on
+shore at Paita, where he was at liberty to return to his country and his
+friends.
+
+This conduct of the Commodore to his prisoners, which was continued
+without interruption or deviation, gave them all the highest idea of his
+humanity and benevolence, and induced them likewise (as mankind are fond
+of forming general opinions) to entertain very favourable thoughts of the
+whole English nation.
+
+All the prisoners left us with the strongest assurances of their grateful
+remembrance of his uncommon treatment. A Jesuit, in particular, whom the
+Commodore had taken, and who was an ecclesiastic of some distinction,
+could not help expressing himself with great thankfulness for the
+civilities he and his countrymen had found on board, declaring that he
+should consider it as his duty to do Mr. Anson justice at all times.
+
+
+CHAPTER 20.
+A CLEVER TRICK. WATERING AT QUIBO. CATCHING THE TURTLE.
+
+When we got under sail from the road of Paita we stood to the westward,
+and in the morning the Commodore gave orders that the whole squadron
+should spread themselves, in order to look out for the Gloucester; for we
+now drew near to the station where Captain Mitchel had been directed to
+cruise, and hourly expected to get sight of him, but the whole day passed
+without seeing him.
+
+DOLLARS AMONGST THE COTTON.
+
+At night having no sight of the Gloucester, the Commodore ordered the
+squadron to bring to, that we might not pass her in the dark. The next
+morning we again looked out for her, and at ten we saw a sail, to which
+we gave chase, and at two in the afternoon we came near enough her to
+discover her to be the Gloucester, with a small vessel in tow. About an
+hour after we were joined by them, and then we learned that Captain
+Mitchel in the whole time of his cruise, had only taken two prizes, one
+of them being a small snow, whose cargo consisted chiefly of wine,
+brandy, and olives in jars, with about 7,000 pounds in specie; and the
+other a large boat or launch which the Gloucester's barge came up with
+near the shore. The prisoners on board this vessel alleged that they were
+very poor and that their loading consisted only of cotton, though the
+circumstances in which the barge surprised them seemed to insinuate that
+they were more opulent than they pretended to be, for the Gloucester's
+people found them at dinner upon pigeon-pie served up in silver dishes.
+However, the officer who commanded the barge having opened several of the
+jars on board to satisfy his curiosity, and finding nothing in them but
+cotton, he was inclined to believe the account the prisoners gave him;
+but the cargo being taken into the Gloucester, and there examined more
+strictly, they were agreeably surprised to find that the whole was a very
+extraordinary piece of false package, and that there was concealed
+amongst the cotton, in every jar, a considerable quantity of double
+doubloons and dollars to the amount, in the whole, of near 12,000 pounds.
+This treasure was going to Paita, and belonged to the same merchants who
+were the proprietors of the greatest part of the money we had taken
+there; so that, had this boat escaped the Gloucester, it is probable her
+cargo would have fallen into our hands. Besides these two prizes which we
+have mentioned, the Gloucester's people told us that they had been in
+sight of two or three other ships of the enemy, which had escaped them;
+and one of them, we had reason to believe from some of our intelligence,
+was of an immense value.
+
+Being now joined by the Gloucester and her prize, it was resolved that we
+should stand to the northwards, and get as soon as possible to the
+southern parts of California, or to the adjacent coast of Mexico, there
+to cruise for the Manila galleon, which we knew was now at sea, bound to
+the port of Acapulco. And we doubted not to get on that station time
+enough to intercept her, for this ship does not usually arrive at
+Acapulco till towards the middle of January, and we were now but in the
+middle of November, and did not conceive that our passage thither would
+cost us above a month or five weeks; so that we imagined we had near
+twice as much time as was necessary for our purpose. Indeed there was a
+business which we foresaw would occasions some delay, but we flattered
+ourselves that it would be despatched in four or five days, and therefore
+could not interrupt our project. This was the recruiting of our water. It
+was for some time a matter of deliberation where we should take in this
+necessary article, but by consulting the accounts of former navigators,
+and examining our prisoners, we at last resolved for the island of Quibo,
+situated at the mouth of the Bay of Panama.
+
+Having determined, therefore, to go to Quibo, we directed our course to
+the northward.
+
+On the 25th we had a sight of the island of Gallo, and hence we crossed
+the Bay of Panama. Being now in a rainy climate, which we had been long
+disused to, we found it necessary to caulk the sides of the Centurion, to
+prevent the rain-water from running into her. On the 3rd of December we
+had a view of the island of Quibo, and at seven in the evening of the 5th
+we came to an anchor in thirty-three fathoms.
+
+The next morning, after our coming to an anchor, an officer was
+despatched on shore to discover the watering-place, who having found it,
+returned before noon; and then we sent the long-boat for a load of water.
+This island of Quibo is extremely convenient for wooding and watering;
+for the trees grow close to the high-water mark and a large rapid stream
+of fresh water runs over the sandy beach into the sea, so that we were
+little more than two days in laying in all the wood and water we wanted.
+
+CATCHING THE TURTLE.
+
+The sea at this place furnished us with turtle in the greatest plenty and
+perfection. The green turtle is generally esteemed, by the greatest part
+of those who are acquainted with its taste, to be the most delicious of
+all eatables; and that it is a most wholesome food we are amply convinced
+by our own experience. For we fed on it for near four months, and
+consequently, had it been in any degree noxious, its ill effects could
+not possibly have escaped us.
+
+At this island we took what quantity we pleased with great facility; for
+as they are an amphibious animal, and get on shore to lay their eggs,
+which they generally deposit in a large hole in the sand, just above the
+high-water mark, covering them up and leaving them to be hatched by the
+heat of the sun, we usually dispersed several of our men along the beach,
+whose business it was to turn them on their backs when they came to land;
+and the turtle being thereby prevented from getting away, we carried them
+off at our leisure. By this means we not only secured a sufficient stock
+for the time we stayed on the island, but we took a number of them with
+us to sea, which proved of great service both in lengthening out our
+store of provision, and in heartening the whole crew with an almost
+constant supply of fresh and palatable food. For the turtle being large,
+they generally weighing about 200 pounds weight each, those we took with
+us lasted us near a month, and by that time we met with a fresh recruit
+on the coast of Mexico, where we often saw them in the heat of the day
+floating in great numbers on the surface of the water fast asleep. When
+we discovered them, we usually sent out our boat with a man in the bow,
+who was a dexterous diver, and when the boat came within a few yards of
+the turtle, the diver plunged into the water, and took care to rise close
+upon it, seizing the shell near the tail, and pressing down the hinder
+parts. The turtle, when awakened, began to strike with its claws, which
+motion supported both it and the diver, till the boat came up and took
+them in. By this management we never wanted turtle for the succeeding
+four months in which we continued at sea.
+
+
+CHAPTER 21.
+DELAY AND DISAPPOINTMENT--CHASING A HEATH FIRE--ACAPULCO--THE Manila
+GALLEON--FRESH HOPES.
+
+On the 12th of December we stood from Quibo to the westward. We had
+little doubt of arriving soon upon our intended station,* as we expected,
+upon increasing our offing from Quibo, to fall in with the regular trade
+wind. But, to our extreme vexation, we were baffled for near a month,
+either with tempestuous weather from the western quarter, or with dead
+calms and heavy rains, attended with a sultry air. As our hopes were so
+long baffled, and our patience quite exhausted, we began at length to
+despair of succeeding in the great purpose we had in view, that of
+intercepting the Manila galleon; and this produced a general dejection
+amongst us, as we had at first considered this project as almost
+infallible, and had indulged ourselves in the most boundless hopes of the
+advantages we should thence receive. However, our despondency was at last
+somewhat alleviated by a favourable change of the wind; for on the 9th of
+January a gale for the first time sprang up from the north-east. As we
+advanced apace towards our station our hopes began to revive, for though
+the customary season of the arrival of the galleon at Acapulco was
+already elapsed, yet we were by this time unreasonable enough to flatter
+ourselves that some accidental delay might, for our advantage, lengthen
+out her passage beyond its usual limits. On the 26th of January, being
+then to the northward of Acapulco, we tacked and stood to the eastward,
+with a view of making the land.
+
+(*Note. Off Cape Corrientes (20 degrees 20 minutes north). Anson hoped to
+intercept the Manila galleon here.)
+
+A MORTIFYING DELUSION.
+
+We expected by our reckonings to have fallen in with it on the 28th; but
+though the weather was perfectly clear, we had no sight of it at sunset,
+and therefore we continued on our course, not doubting but we should see
+it by the next morning. About ten at night we discovered a light on the
+larboard-bow, bearing from us north-north-east. The Trial's prize, too,
+which was about a mile ahead of us, made a signal at the same time for
+seeing a sail; and as we had none of us any doubt but what we saw was a
+ship's light, we were all extremely animated with a firm persuasion that
+it was the Manila galleon, which had been so long the object of our
+wishes. And what added to our alacrity was our expectation of meeting
+with two of them instead of one, for we took it for granted that the
+light in view was carried in the top of one ship for a direction to her
+consort. We chased the light, keeping all our hands at their respective
+quarters, under an expectation of engaging in the next half-hour, as we
+sometimes conceived the chase to be about a mile distant, and at other
+times to be within reach of our guns; and some on board us positively
+averred that besides the light they could plainly discern her sails. The
+Commodore himself was so fully persuaded that we should be soon alongside
+of her, that he sent for his first Lieutenant, who commanded between
+decks, and directed him to see all the great guns loaded with two
+round-shot for the first broadside, and after that with one round-shot
+and one grape, strictly charging him at the same time not to suffer a gun
+to be fired till he, the Commodore, should give orders, which he informed
+the Lieutenant would not be till we arrived within pistol-shot of the
+enemy. In this constant and eager attention we continued all night,
+always presuming that another quarter of an hour would bring us up with
+this Manila ship, whose wealth, with that of her supposed consort, we
+now estimated by round millions. But when the morning broke and daylight
+came on, we were most strangely and vexatiously disappointed by finding
+that the light which had occasioned all this bustle and expectancy was
+only a fire on the shore. And yet I believe there was no person on board
+who doubted of its being a ship's light, or of its being near at hand. It
+was, indeed, upon a very high mountain, and continued burning for several
+days afterwards. It was not a volcano, but, rather, as I suppose, stubble
+or heath set on fire for some purpose of agriculture.
+
+At sun-rising, after this mortifying delusion, we found ourselves about
+nine leagues off the land. On this land we observed two remarkable
+hummocks, such as are usually called paps; these a Spanish pilot and two
+Indians, who were the only persons amongst us that pretended to have
+traded in this part of the world, affirmed to be over the harbour of
+Acapulco. Indeed, we very much doubted their knowledge of the coast, for
+we found these paps to be in the latitude of 17 degrees 56 minutes,
+whereas those over Acapulco are said to be in 17 degrees only, and we
+afterwards found our suspicions of their skill to be well grounded.
+
+And now, being in the track of the Manila galleon, it was a great doubt
+with us (as it was near the end of January) whether she was or was not
+arrived. And as we now began to want a harbour to refresh our people, the
+uncertainty of our present situation gave us great uneasiness, and we
+were very solicitous to get some positive intelligence, which might
+either set us at liberty to consult our necessities, if the galleon was
+arrived, or might animate us to continue on our present cruise with
+cheerfulness if she was not. With this view the Commodore, after
+examining our prisoners very particularly, resolved to send a boat, under
+colour of the night, into the harbour of Acapulco to see if the Manila
+ship was there or not. To execute this project, the barge was despatched
+the 6th of February. She did not return to us again till the 11th, when
+the officers acquainted Mr. Anson, that, agreeable to our suspicion,
+there was nothing like a harbour in the place where the Spanish pilots
+had at first asserted Acapulco to lie; that, when they had satisfied
+themselves in this particular, they steered to the eastward in hopes of
+discovering it, and had coasted along shore thirty-two leagues; that in
+this whole range they met chiefly with sandy beaches of a great length,
+over which the sea broke with so much violence that it was impossible for
+a boat to land; that at the end of their run they could just discover two
+paps at a very great distance to the eastward, which from their
+appearance and their latitude they concluded to be those in the
+neighbourhood of Acapulco, but that, not having a sufficient quantity of
+fresh water and provision for their passage thither and back again, they
+were obliged to return to the Commodore to acquaint him with their
+disappointment. On this intelligence we all made sail to the eastward, in
+order to get into the neighbourhood of that port, the Commodore resolving
+to send the barge a second time upon the same enterprise when we were
+arrived within a moderate distance. And the next day, which was the 12th
+of February, we being by that time considerably advanced, the barge was
+again despatched, and particular instructions given to the officers to
+preserve themselves from being seen from the shore. On the 19th of
+February she returned, and we found that we were indeed disappointed in
+our expectation of intercepting the galleon before her arrival at
+Acapulco; but we learned other circumstances which still revived our
+hopes, and which, we then conceived, would more than balance the
+opportunity we had already lost. For though our negro prisoners* informed
+us that the galleon arrived at Acapulco on our 9th of January, which was
+about twenty days before we fell in with this coast, yet they at the same
+time told us that the galleon had delivered her cargo and was taking in
+water and provisions for her return, and that the Viceroy of Mexico had
+by proclamation fixed her departure from Acapulco to the 14th of March,
+New Style.
+
+(*Note. Three negroes in a fishing canoe had been captured by the
+Centurion's barge off Acapulco harbour.)
+
+This last news was most joyfully received by us, as we had no doubt but
+she must certainly fall into our hands, and as it was much more eligible
+to seize her on her return than it would have been to have taken her
+before her arrival, as the specie for which she had sold her cargo, and
+which she would now have on board, would be prodigiously more to be
+esteemed by us than the cargo itself, great part of which would have
+perished on our hands, and no part of it could have been disposed of by
+us at so advantageous a mart as Acapulco.
+
+Thus we were a second time engaged in an eager expectation of meeting
+with this Manila ship, which, by the fame of its wealth, we had been
+taught to consider as the most desirable prize that was to be met with in
+any part of the globe.
+
+
+CHAPTER 22.
+THE Manila* TRADE.
+
+(*Note. The capital of Luzon, the chief island of the Philippine group.
+The Philippines were discovered in 1521 by Magellan, who was killed there
+by the natives. They were annexed by Spain in 1571 and were ceded to the
+United States of America in 1898, together with Cuba, after the brave but
+futile attempt of the Spaniards to preserve what were almost the last
+relics of their colonial dominions.)
+
+The trade carried on from Manila to China, and different parts of India,
+is principally for such commodities as are intended to supply the
+kingdoms of Mexico and Peru. These are spices; all sorts of Chinese silks
+and manufactures, particularly silk stockings, of which I have heard that
+no less than 50,000 pairs were the usual number shipped on board the
+annual ship; vast quantities of Indian stuffs--as calicoes and chintzes,
+which are much worn in America; together with other minuter articles--as
+goldsmith's work, etc., which is principally done at the city of Manila
+itself by the Chinese, for it is said there are at least 20,000 Chinese
+who constantly reside there, either as servants, manufacturers, or
+brokers. All these different commodities are collected at Manila, thence
+to be transported annually in one or more ships to the port of Acapulco.
+
+THE Manila SHIP.
+
+This trade from Manila to Acapulco and back again is usually carried on
+in one or at most two annual ships, which set sail from Manila about
+July, arrive at Acapulco in the December, January, or February following,
+and, having there disposed of their effects, return for Manila some time
+in March, where they generally arrive in June, so that the whole voyage
+takes up very near an entire year. For this reason, though there is often
+no more than one ship employed at a time, yet there is always one ready
+for the sea when the other arrives, and therefore the commerce at Manila
+are provided with three or four stout ships that, in case of any
+accident, the trade may not be suspended. The largest of these ships,
+whose name I have not learned, is described as little less than one of
+our first-rate men-of-war, and indeed she must be of an enormous size,
+for it is known that when she was employed with other ships from the same
+port to cruise for our China trade, she had no less than 1,200 men on
+board. Their other ships, though far inferior in bulk to this, are yet
+stout, large vessels, of the burthen of 1,200 tons and upwards, and
+usually carry from 350 to 600 hands, passengers included, with fifty odd
+guns. As these are all King's ships, commissioned and paid by him, there
+is usually one of the captains who is styled the "General," and who
+carries the royal standard of Spain at the main-topgallant masthead.
+
+The ship having received her cargo on board and being fitted for the sea,
+generally weighs from the mole of Cabite about the middle of July, taking
+advantage of the westerly monsoon which then sets in to carry them to
+sea. When they are clear of the islands they stand to the northward of
+the east, in order to get into the latitude of thirty odd degrees, when
+they expect to meet with westerly winds, before which they run away for
+the coast of California. It is most remarkable that, by the concurrent
+testimony of all the Spanish navigators, there is not one port, nor even
+a tolerable road, as yet found out betwixt the Philippine Islands and the
+coast of California and Mexico,* so that from the time the Manila ship
+first loses sight of land she never lets go her anchor till she arrives
+on the coast of California, and very often not till she gets to its
+southernmost extremity.
+
+(*Note. The Sandwich Islands were discovered by Captain Cook in 1779. The
+Spanish ships had usually crossed the Pacific 9 or 10 degrees south of
+them.)
+
+ACAPULCO.
+
+The most usual time of the arrival of the galleon at Acapulco is towards
+the middle of January, but this navigation is so uncertain that she
+sometimes gets in a month sooner, and at other times has been detained at
+sea above a month longer. The port of Acapulco is by much the securest
+and finest in all the northern parts of the Pacific Ocean, being as it
+were, a basin surrounded with very high mountains, but the town is a most
+wretched place and extremely unhealthy, for the air about it is so pent
+up by the hills that it has scarcely any circulation. The place is,
+besides, destitute of fresh water, except what is brought from a
+considerable distance, and is in all respects so inconvenient that except
+at the time of the mart, whilst the Manila galleon is in the port, it is
+almost deserted. When the galleon arrives in this port she is generally
+moored on its western side, and her cargo is delivered with all possible
+expedition; and now the town of Acapulco, from almost a solitude, is
+immediately thronged with merchants from all parts of the kingdom of
+Mexico. The cargo being landed and disposed of, the silver and the goods
+intended for Manila are taken on board, together with provisions and
+water, and the ship prepares to put to sea with the utmost expedition.
+There is indeed no time to be lost, for it is an express order to the
+captain to be out of the port of Acapulco on his return before the first
+day of April, New Style.
+
+And having mentioned the goods intended for Manila, I must observe that
+the principal return is always made in silver, and consequently the rest
+of the cargo is but of little account; the other articles, besides the
+silver, being some cochineal and a few sweetmeats, the produce of the
+American settlements, together with European millinery ware for the women
+at Manila, and some Spanish wines. And this difference in the cargo of
+the ship to and from Manila occasions a very remarkable variety in the
+manner of equipping the ship for these two different voyages. For the
+galleon, when she sets sail from Manila, being deep laden with a variety
+of bulky goods, has not the conveniency of mounting her lower tier of
+guns, but carries them in her hold till she draws near Cape St. Lucas and
+is apprehensive of an enemy. Her hands, too, are as few as is consistent
+with the safety of the ship, that she may be less pestered with the
+stowage of provisions. But on her return from Acapulco, as her cargo lies
+in less room, her lower tier is, or ought to be, always mounted before
+she leaves the port, and her crew is augmented with a supply of sailors
+and with one or two companies of foot, which are intended to reinforce
+the garrison at Manila. And there being, besides, many merchants who
+take their passage to Manila on board the galleon, her whole number of
+hands on her return is usually little short of six hundred, all which are
+easily provided for by reason of the small stowage necessary for the
+silver.
+
+The galleon being thus fitted for her return, the captain, on leaving the
+port of Acapulco, steers for the latitude of 13 or 14 degrees, and runs
+on that parallel till he gets sight of the island of Guam, one of the
+Ladrones. The captain is told in his instructions that, to prevent his
+passing the Ladrones in the dark, there are orders given that thorough
+all the month of June fires shall be lighted every night on the highest
+part of Guam and Rota, and kept in till the morning. At Guam there is a
+small Spanish garrison, purposely intended to secure that place for the
+refreshment of the galleon and to yield her all the assistance in their
+power. However, the danger of the road at Guam is so great, that though
+the galleon is ordered to call there, yet she rarely stays above a day or
+two, but getting her water and refreshments on board as soon as possible,
+she steers away directly for Cape Espiritu Santo, on the island of
+Samal.*
+
+TELEGRAPHY BY BEACON.
+
+Here the captain is again ordered to look out for signals, and he is told
+that sentinels will be posted, not only on that cape, but likewise in
+Catanduanas, Butusan, Birriborongo, and on the island of Batan. These
+sentinels are instructed to make a fire when they discover the ship,
+which the captain is carefully to observe; for if after this first fire
+is extinguished he perceives that four or more are lighted up again, he
+is then to conclude that there are enemies on the coast, and on this he
+is immediately to endeavour to speak with the sentinel on shore, and to
+procure from him more particular intelligence of their force and of the
+station they cruise in, pursuant to which he is to regulate his conduct,
+and to endeavour to gain some secure port amongst those islands without
+coming in sight of the enemy; and in case he should be discovered when in
+port, and should be apprehensive of an attack, he is then to land his
+treasure and to take some of his artillery on shore for its defence, not
+neglecting to send frequent and particular accounts to the city of
+Manila of all that passes. But if after the first fire on shore the
+captain observes that two others only are made by the sentinels, he is
+then to conclude that there is nothing to fear, and he is to pursue his
+course without interruption, and to make the best of his way to the port
+of Cabite, which is the port to the city of Manila, and the constant
+station for all the ships employed in this commerce to Acapulco.
+
+(*Note. Samal or Samar is an island about the centre of the Philippines,
+north of Mindanao.)
+
+
+CHAPTER 23.
+WAITING FOR THE GALLEON--DISAPPOINTMENT--CHEQUETAN.
+
+On the 1st of March we made the highlands over Acapulco, and got with all
+possible expedition into the situation prescribed by the Commodore's
+orders.*
+
+(*Note. The two men-of-war and the three prizes were arranged out of
+sight of the land in "a circular line," the two extremities of which were
+thirty-six miles apart. Within this line, and much nearer to the port,
+especially at night, were two cutters, whose duty it was to watch the
+mouth of the harbour and signal to the ships outside them.)
+
+And now we expected with the utmost impatience the 3rd of March, the day
+fixed for her departure. And on that day we were all of us most eagerly
+engaged in looking out towards Acapulco; and we were so strangely
+prepossessed with the certainty of our intelligence, and with an
+assurance of her coming out of port, that some or other on board us were
+constantly imagining that they discovered one of our cutters returning
+with a signal. But to our extreme vexation, both this day and the
+succeeding night passed over without any news of the galleon. However, we
+did not yet despair, but were all heartily disposed to flatter ourselves
+that some unforeseen accident had intervened which might have put off her
+departure for a few days; and suggestions of this kind occurred in
+plenty, as we knew that the time fixed by the Viceroy for her sailing was
+often prolonged on the petition of the merchants of Mexico. Thus we kept
+up our hopes, and did not abate of our vigilance; and as the 7th of March
+was Sunday, the beginning of Passion Week, which is observed by the
+Papists with great strictness and a total cessation from all kinds of
+labour, so that no ship is permitted to stir out of port during the whole
+week, this quieted our apprehensions for some days, and disposed us not
+to expect the galleon till the week following. On the Friday in this week
+our cutters returned to us, and the officers on board them were very
+confident that the galleon was still in port, for that she could not
+possibly have come out but they must have seen her. On the Monday morning
+succeeding Passion Week--that is, on the 15th of March--the cutters were
+again despatched to their old station, and our hopes were once more
+indulged in as sanguine prepossessions as before; but in a week's time
+our eagerness was greatly abated, and a general dejection and despondency
+took place in its room. For we were persuaded that the enemy had by some
+accident discovered our being upon the coast, and had therefore laid an
+embargo on the galleon till the next year. And indeed this persuasion was
+but too well founded; for we afterwards learned that our barge, when sent
+on the discovery of the port of Acapulco, had been seen from the shore,
+and that this circumstance (no embarkations but canoes ever frequenting
+that coast) was to them a sufficient proof of the neighbourhood of our
+squadron, on which they stopped the galleon till the succeeding year.
+
+SHORT OF WATER.
+
+When we had taken up the cutters, all the ships being joined, the
+Commodore made a signal to speak with their commanders, and upon enquiry
+into the stock of fresh water remaining on board the squadron, it was
+found to be so very slender that we were under necessity of quitting our
+station to procure a fresh supply. And consulting what place was the
+properest for this purpose, it was agreed that the harbour of Seguataneo,
+or Chequetan, being the nearest to us, was on that account the most
+eligible, and it was therefore immediately resolved to make the best of
+our way thither. By the 1st of April we were so far advanced towards
+Seguataneo that we thought it expedient to send out two boats, that they
+might range along the coast and discover the watering-place. They were
+gone some days, and our water being now very short, it was a particular
+felicity to us that we met with daily supplies of turtle; for had we been
+entirely confined to salt provisions, we must have suffered extremely in
+so warm a climate. Indeed, our present circumstances were sufficiently
+alarming, and gave the most considerate amongst us as much concern as any
+of the numerous perils we had hitherto encountered; for our boats, as we
+conceived by their not returning, had not as yet discovered a place
+proper to water at, and by the leakage of our casks and other accidents
+we had not ten days' water on board the whole squadron; so that, from the
+known difficulty of procuring water on this coast, and the little
+reliance we had on the buccaneer writers (the only guides we had to trust
+to), we were apprehensive of being soon exposed to a calamity, the most
+terrible of any in the long, disheartening catalogue of the distresses of
+a seafaring life.
+
+But these gloomy suggestions were soon happily ended, for our boats
+returned on the 5th of April, having discovered a place proper for our
+purpose about seven miles to the westward of the rocks of Seguataneo,
+which by the description they gave of it, appeared to be the port called
+by Dampier* the harbour of Chequetan. On the 7th we stood in, and that
+evening came to an anchor in eleven fathoms. Thus, after a four months'
+continuance at sea from the leaving of Quibo, and having but six days'
+water on board, we arrived in the harbour of Chequetan.
+
+(*Note. Dampier (1652 to 1715), the son of a tenant farmer, near Yeovil,
+played many parts in his time. He was a buccaneer, a pirate, a
+circumnavigator, an author, a captain in the navy and an hydrographer.
+His 'Voyage Round the World', published in 1697, procured him a command
+in the navy; but though an excellent seaman, he proved an incapable
+commander, as his buccaneer comrades had doubtless foreseen, for he had
+never been entrusted with any command among them.)
+
+
+CHAPTER 24.
+THE PRIZES SCUTTLED--NEWS OF THE SQUADRON REACHES ENGLAND--BOUND FOR CHINA.
+
+The next morning after our coming to an anchor in the harbour of
+Chequetan, we sent about ninety of our men well armed on shore, forty of
+whom were ordered to march into the country, and the remaining fifty were
+employed to cover the watering-place and to prevent any interruption from
+the natives. Here it was agreed after a mature consultation to destroy
+the Trial's prize, as well as the Carmelo and Carmen, whose fate had been
+before resolved on. Indeed, the ship was in good repair and fit for the
+sea; but as the whole number on board our squadron did not amount to the
+complement of a fourth-rate man-of-war, we found it was impossible to
+divide them into three ships without rendering them incapable of
+navigating in safety in the tempestuous weather we had reason to expect
+on the coast of China, where we supposed we should arrive about the time
+of the change of the monsoons. These considerations determined the
+Commodore to destroy the Trial's prize and to reinforce the Gloucester
+with the greatest part of her crew. And in consequence of this resolve,
+all the stores on board the Trial's prize were removed into the other
+ships, and the prize herself, with the Carmelo and Carmen, were prepared
+for scuttling with all the expedition we were masters of. But the great
+difficulties we were under in laying in a store of water, together with
+the necessary repairs of our rigging and other unavoidable occupations,
+took us up so much time, and found us such unexpected employment, that it
+was near the end of April before we were in a condition to leave the
+place.
+
+During our stay here there happened an incident which proved the means of
+convincing our friends in England of our safety, which for some time they
+had despaired of and were then in doubt about. From this harbour of
+Chequetan there was but one pathway, which led through the woods into the
+country. This we found much beaten, and were thence convinced that it was
+well known to the inhabitants. As it passed by the spring-head, and was
+the only avenue by which the Spaniards could approach us, we, at some
+distance beyond the spring-head, felled several large trees and laid them
+one upon the other across the path, and at this barricade we constantly
+kept a guard, and we, besides, ordered our men employed in watering to
+have their arms ready and, in case of any alarm, to march instantly to
+this spot; and though our principal intention was to prevent our being
+disturbed by any sudden attack of the enemy's horse, yet it answered
+another purpose which was not in itself less important, this was to
+hinder our own people from straggling singly into the country, where we
+had reason to believe they would be surprised by the Spaniards, who would
+doubtless be extremely solicitous to pick up some of them in hopes of
+getting intelligence of our future designs. To avoid this inconvenience,
+the strictest orders were given to the sentinels to let no person
+whatever pass beyond their post.
+
+THE COMMODORE'S COOK.
+
+But, notwithstanding this precaution, we missed one Lewis Leger, who was
+the Commodore's cook, and as he was a Frenchman, and suspected to be a
+Papist, it was by some imagined that he had deserted with a view of
+betraying all that he knew to the enemy; but this appeared by the event
+to be an ill-grounded surmise, for it was afterwards known that he had
+been taken by some Indians, who carried him prisoner to Acapulco, whence
+he was transferred to Mexico and then to Vera Cruz, where he was shipped
+on board a vessel bound to Old Spain; and the vessel being obliged by
+some accident to put into Lisbon, Leger escaped on shore, and was by the
+British consul sent thence to England, where he brought the first
+authentic account of the safety of the Commodore, and of what he had done
+in the South Seas. The relation he gave of his own seizure was that he
+had rambled into the woods at some distance from the barricade, where he
+had first attempted to pass, but had been stopped and threatened to be
+punished; that his principal view was to get a quantity of limes for his
+master's store, and that in this occupation he was surprised unawares by
+four Indians, who stripped him naked and carried him in that condition to
+Acapulco, exposed to the scorching heat of the sun, which at that time of
+the year shone with its greatest violence. And afterwards at Mexico his
+treatment in prison was sufficiently severe, and the whole course of his
+captivity was a continued instance of the hatred which the Spaniards bear
+to all those who endeavour to disturb them in the peaceable possession of
+the coasts of the South Seas. Indeed, Leger's fortune was, upon the
+whole, extremely singular, for after the hazards he had run in the
+Commodore's squadron, and the severities he had suffered in his long
+confinement amongst the enemy, a more fatal disaster attended him on his
+return to England; for though, when he arrived in London, some of Mr.
+Anson's friends interested themselves in relieving him from the poverty
+to which his captivity had reduced him, yet he did not long enjoy the
+benefit of their humanity, for he was killed in an insignificant night
+brawl, the cause of which could scarcely be discovered.
+
+On the 28th of April the Centurion and the Gloucester weighed anchor.
+Being now in the offing of Chequetan, bound across the vast Pacific Ocean
+in our way to China, we were impatient to run off the coast as soon as
+possible, as the stormy season was approaching apace, and we had no
+further views in the American seas.
+
+The sending away our prisoners* was our last transaction on the American
+coast, for no sooner had we parted with them than we and the Gloucester
+made sail to the south-west, proposing to get a good offing from the
+land, where we hoped in a few days to meet with the regular trade-wind.
+It has been esteemed no uncommon passage to run from hence to the
+easternmost parts of Asia in two months, and we flattered ourselves that
+we were as capable of making an expeditious passage as any ship that had
+ever run this course before us; so that we hoped soon to gain the coast
+of China. On the 6th of May we for the last time lost sight of the
+mountains of Mexico, persuaded that in a few weeks we should arrive at
+the river of Canton in China, where we expected to meet with many English
+ships, and numbers of our countrymen, and hoped to enjoy the advantages
+of an amicable, well-frequented spot, inhabited by a polished people, and
+abounding with the conveniences and indulgences of a civilised
+life--blessings which now for nearly twenty months had never been once in
+our power.
+
+(*Note. Before leaving the American coast for China, Anson released
+fifty-seven of his prisoners, including all the Spaniards, and sent them
+to Acapulco. A certain number of natives were retained to assist in
+working the ships. There had been some previous attempt at correspondence
+between Anson and the Spanish governor of Acapulco. The latter, with
+Spanish courtesy, when answering Anson's letter, despatched with his
+answer "a present of two boats laden with the choicest refreshments and
+provisions which were to be found in Acapulco." Unfortunately the boats
+were unable to find Anson, and he never received either the letter or the
+present.)
+
+
+CHAPTER 25.
+DELAYS AND ACCIDENTS--SCURVY AGAIN--A LEAK--THE GLOUCESTER ABANDONED.
+
+When on the 6th of May, 1742, we left the coast of America, we stood to
+the south-west with a view of meeting with the north-east trade wind,
+which the accounts of former writers made us expect at seventy or eighty
+leagues distance from the land. We had, besides, another reason for
+standing to the southward, which was the getting into the latitude of 13
+or 14 degrees north, that being the parallel where the Pacific Ocean is
+most usually crossed, and consequently where the navigation is esteemed
+the safest. This last purpose we had soon answered, being in a day or two
+sufficiently advanced to the south. At the same time we were also farther
+from the shore than we had presumed was necessary for falling in with the
+tradewind; but in this particular we were most grievously disappointed,
+for the wind still continued to the westward, or at best variable. As the
+getting into the north-east trade was to us a matter of the last
+consequence, we stood more to the southward, and made many experiments to
+meet with it, but all our efforts were for a long time unsuccessful, so
+that it was seven weeks from our leaving the coast before we got into the
+true trade wind.
+
+CONTRARY AND VARIABLE WINDS.
+
+This was an interval in which we believed we should well-nigh have
+reached the easternmost parts of Asia, but we were so baffled with the
+contrary and variable winds which for all that time perplexed us, that we
+were not as yet advanced above a fourth part of the way. The delay alone
+would have been a sufficient mortification, but there were other
+circumstances attending it which rendered this situation not less
+terrible, and our apprehensions perhaps still greater, than in any of our
+past distresses, for our two ships were by this time extremely crazy, and
+many days had not passed before we discovered a spring in the foremast of
+the Centurion, which rounded about twenty-six inches of its
+circumference, and which was judged to be at least four inches deep; and
+no sooner had our carpenters secured this with fishing it but the
+Gloucester made a signal of distress, and we learned that she had a
+dangerous spring in her mainmast, so that she could not carry any sail
+upon it. Our carpenters, on a strict examination of this mast, found it
+so very rotten and decayed that they judged it necessary to cut it down
+as low as it appeared to have been injured, and by this it was reduced to
+nothing but a stump, which served only as a step to the topmast. These
+accidents augmented our delay and occasioned us great anxiety about our
+future security, for on our leaving the coast of Mexico the scurvy had
+begun to make its appearance again amongst our people, though from our
+departure from Juan Fernandez we had till then enjoyed a most
+uninterrupted state of health. We too well knew the effects of this
+disease from our former fatal experience to suppose that anything but a
+speedy passage could secure the greater part of our crew from perishing
+by it, and as, after being seven weeks at sea, there did not appear any
+reasons that could persuade us we were nearer the trade wind than when we
+first set out, there was no ground for us to suppose but our passage
+would prove at least three times as long as we at first expected, and
+consequently we had the melancholy prospect either of dying by the scurvy
+or perishing with the ship for want of hands to navigate her.
+
+SLOW PROGRESS.
+
+When we reached the trade wind, and it settled between the north and the
+east, yet it seldom blew with so much strength but the Centurion might
+have carried all her small sails abroad with the greatest safety, so that
+now, had we been a single ship, we might have run down our longitude
+apace, and have reached the Ladrones soon enough to have recovered great
+numbers of our men who afterwards perished. But the Gloucester, by the
+loss of her mainmast, sailed so very heavily that we had seldom any more
+than our topsails set, and yet were frequently obliged to lie to for her,
+and I conceive that in the whole we lost little less than a month by our
+attendance upon her, in consequence of the various mischances she
+encountered. In all this run it was remarkable that we were rarely many
+days together without seeing great numbers of birds, which is a proof
+that there are many islands, or at least rocks, scattered all along at no
+very considerable distance from our track. Some indeed there are marked
+in Spanish charts, but the frequency of the birds seems to evince that
+there are many more than have been hitherto discovered, for the greatest
+part of the birds, we observed, were such as are known to roost on shore,
+and the manner of their appearance sufficiently made out that they came
+from some distant haunt every morning, and returned thither again in the
+evening, for we never saw them early or late, and the hour of their
+arrival and departure gradually varied, which we supposed was occasioned
+by our running nearer their haunts or getting farther from them.
+
+The trade wind continued to favour us without any fluctuation from the
+end of June till towards the end of July, but on the 26th of July, being
+then, as we esteemed, about three hundred leagues distant from the
+Ladrones, we met with a westerly wind, which did not come about again to
+the eastward in four days' time. This was a most dispiriting incident, as
+it at once damped all our hopes of speedy relief, especially, too, as it
+was attended with a vexatious accident to the Gloucester, for in one part
+of those four days the wind flattened to a calm, and the ships rolled
+very deep, by which means the Gloucester's forecap split and her topmast
+came by the board and broke her foreyard directly in the slings. As she
+was hereby rendered incapable of making any sail for some time, we were
+obliged, as soon as a gale sprung up, to take her in tow, and near twenty
+of the healthiest and ablest of our seaman were taken from the business
+of our own ship and were employed for eight or ten days together on board
+the Gloucester in repairing her damages. But these things, mortifying as
+we thought them, were but the beginning of our disasters, for scarce had
+our people finished their business in the Gloucester before we met with a
+most violent storm in the western board, which obliged us to lie to. In
+the beginning of this storm our ship sprung a leak, and let in so much
+water that all our people, officers included, were employed continually
+in working the pumps, and the next day we had the vexation to see the
+Gloucester with her topmast once more by the board, and whilst we were
+viewing her with great concern for this new distress we saw her
+main-topmast, which had hitherto served as a jury mainmast, share the
+same fate. This completed our misfortunes and rendered them without
+resource, for we knew the Gloucester's crew were so few and feeble that
+without our assistance they could not be relieved, and our sick were now
+so far increased, and those that remained in health so continually
+fatigued with the additional duty of our pumps, that it was impossible
+for us to lend them any aid. Indeed, we were not as yet fully apprised of
+the deplorable situation of the Gloucester's crew, for when the storm
+abated (which during its continuance prevented all communication with
+them) the Gloucester bore up under our stern, and Captain Mitchel
+informed the Commodore that besides the loss of his masts, which was all
+that had appeared to us, the ship had then no less than seven feet of
+water in her hold, although his officers and men had been kept constantly
+at the pump for the last twenty-four hours, and that her crew was greatly
+reduced, for there remained alive on board her no more than seventy-seven
+men, eighteen boys, and two prisoners, officers included, and that of
+this whole number only sixteen men and eleven boys were capable of
+keeping the deck, and several of these very infirm.
+
+THUS PERISHED H.M.S. GLOUCESTER.
+
+It plainly appeared that there was no possibility of preserving the
+Gloucester any longer, as her leaks were irreparable, and the united
+hands on board both ships capable of working would not be able to free
+her, even if our own ship should not employ any part of them. The only
+step to be taken was the saving the lives of the few that remained on
+board the Gloucester, and getting out of her as much as was possible
+before she was destroyed; and therefore the Commodore immediately sent an
+order to Captain Mitchel, as the weather was now calm and favourable, to
+send his people on board the Centurion as expeditiously as he could and
+to take out such stores as he could get at whilst the ship could be kept
+above water. And as our leak required less attention whilst the present
+easy weather continued, we sent our boats, with as many men as we could
+spare, to Captain Mitchel's assistance.
+
+It was the 15th of August, in the evening, before the Gloucester was
+cleared of everything that was proposed to be removed; and though the
+hold was now almost full of water, yet as the carpenters were of opinion
+that she might still swim for some time if the calm should continue and
+the water become smooth, she was set on fire; for we knew not how near we
+might now be to the island of Guam, which was in the possession of our
+enemies, and the wreck of such a ship would have been to them no
+contemptible acquisition. When she was set on fire Captain Mitchel and
+his officers left her and came on board the Centurion, and we immediately
+stood from the wreck, not without some apprehensions (as we had now only
+a light breeze) that, if she blew up soon, the concussion of the air
+might damage our rigging; but she fortunately burned, though very
+fierce, the whole night, her guns firing successively as the flames
+reached them. And it was six in the morning, when we were about four
+leagues distant, before she blew up. The report she made upon this
+occasion was but a small one, but there was an exceeding black pillar of
+smoke, which shot up into the air to a very considerable height. Thus
+perished His Majesty's ship the Gloucester.
+
+
+CHAPTER 26.
+THE LADRONES SIGHTED--TINIAN.
+
+The 23rd, at daybreak, we were cheered with the discovery of two islands
+in the western board. This gave us all great joy, and raised our drooping
+spirits, for before this a universal dejection had seized us, and we
+almost despaired of ever seeing land again. The nearest of these islands
+we afterwards found to be Anatacan. The other was the island of Serigan,
+and had rather the appearance of a high rock than a place we could hope
+to anchor at. We were extremely impatient to get in with the nearest
+island, where we expected to meet with anchoring ground and an
+opportunity of refreshing our sick; but the wind proved so variable all
+day, and there was so little of it, that we advanced towards it but
+slowly. However, by the next morning we were got so far to the westward
+that we were in view of a third island, which was that of Paxaros, though
+marked in the chart only as a rock. This was small and very low land, and
+we had passed within less than a mile of it in the night without seeing
+it. And now at noon, being within four miles of the island of Anatacan,
+the boat was sent away to examine the anchoring ground and the produce of
+the place, and we were not a little solicitous for her return, as we then
+conceived our fate to depend upon the report we should receive; for the
+other two islands were obviously enough incapable of furnishing us with
+any assistance, and we knew not then that there were any others which we
+could reach. In the evening the boat came back, and the crew informed us
+that there was no place for a ship to anchor.
+
+This account of the impossibility of anchoring at this island occasioned
+a general melancholy on board, for we considered it as little less than
+the prelude to our destruction; and now the only possible circumstance
+that could secure the few that remained alive from perishing was the
+accidental falling in with some other of the Ladrone Islands better
+prepared for our accommodation, and as our knowledge of these islands was
+extremely imperfect, we were to trust entirely to chance for our
+guidance; only, as they are all of them usually laid down near the same
+meridian, and we had conceived those we had already seen to be part of
+them, we concluded to stand to the southward as the most probable means
+of falling in with the next. Thus, with the most gloomy persuasion of our
+approaching destruction, we stood from the island of Anatacan, having all
+of us the strongest apprehensions either of dying of the scurvy or
+perishing with the ship, which, for want of hands to work her pumps,
+might in a short time be expected to founder.
+
+TINIAN.
+
+It was the 26th of August, 1742, in the morning, when we lost sight of
+Anatacan. The next morning we discovered three other islands to the
+eastward, which were from ten to fourteen leagues from us. These were, as
+we afterwards learned, the islands of Saypan, Tinian and Aguigan. We
+immediately steered towards Tinian, which was the middle-most of the
+three, but had so much of calms and light airs, that though we were
+helped forwards by the currents, yet next day at daybreak we were at
+least five leagues distant from it. However, we kept on our course, and
+about ten in the morning we perceived a proa under sail to the southward,
+between Tinian and Aguigan. As we imagined from hence that these islands
+were inhabited, and knew that the Spaniards had always a force at Guam,
+we took the necessary precautions for our own security and for preventing
+the enemy from taking advantage of our present wretched circumstances, of
+which they would be sufficiently informed by the manner of our working
+the ship. We therefore mustered all our hands who were capable of
+standing to their arms and loaded our upper and quarter-deck guns with
+grapeshot, and that we might the more readily procure some intelligence
+of the state of these islands, we showed Spanish colours and hoisted a
+red flag at the foretop masthead, to give our ship the appearance of the
+Manila galleon, hoping thereby to decoy some of the inhabitants on board
+us. Thus preparing ourselves, and standing towards the land, we were near
+enough at three in the afternoon to send the cutter in shore to find out
+a proper berth for the ship, and we soon perceived that a proa came off
+the shore to meet the cutter, fully persuaded, as we afterwards found,
+that we were the Manila ship. As we saw the cutter returning back with
+the proa in tow, we immediately sent the pinnace to receive the proa and
+the prisoners, and to bring them on board that the cutter might proceed
+on her errand. The pinnace came back with a Spaniard and four Indians,
+who were the people taken in the proa. The Spaniard was immediately
+examined as to the produce and circumstances of this island of Tinian,
+and his account of it surpassed even our most sanguine hopes, for he
+informed us that it was uninhabited, which, in our present defenceless
+condition, was an advantage not to be despised, especially as it wanted
+but few of the conveniences that could be expected in the most cultivated
+country; for he assured us that there was great plenty of very good
+water, and that there were an incredible number of cattle, hogs, and
+poultry, running wild on the island, all of them excellent in their kind;
+that the woods produced sweet and sour oranges, limes, lemons, and
+cocoa-nuts in great plenty, besides a fruit peculiar to these islands
+(called by Dampier breadfruit); that, from the quantity and goodness of
+the provisions produced here, the Spaniards at Guam made use of it as a
+store for supplying the garrison; that he himself was a sergeant of that
+garrison, and was sent here with twenty-two Indians to jerk beef, which
+he was to load for Guam on board a small bark of about fifteen tons which
+lay at anchor near the shore.
+
+PLEASING SCENES.
+
+This account was received by us with inexpressible joy. Part of it we
+were ourselves able to verify on the spot, as we were by this time near
+enough to discover several numerous herds of cattle feeding in different
+places of the island, and we did not anyways doubt the rest of his
+relation, as the appearance of the shore prejudiced us greatly in its
+favour, and made us hope that not only our necessities might be there
+fully relieved and our diseased recovered, but that amidst those pleasing
+scenes which were then in view, we might procure ourselves some amusement
+and relaxation after the numerous fatigues we had undergone.
+
+The Spanish sergeant, from whom we received the account of the island,
+having informed us that there were some Indians on shore under his
+command employed in jerking beef, and that there was a bark at anchor to
+take it on board, we were desirous, if possible, to prevent the Indians
+from escaping, who doubtless would have given the Governor of Guam
+intelligence of our arrival, and we therefore immediately despatched the
+pinnace to secure the bark, which the sergeant told us was the only
+embarkation on the place. And then, about eight in the evening, we let go
+our anchor in twenty-two fathoms.
+
+
+CHAPTER 27.
+LANDING THE SICK. CENTURION DRIVEN TO SEA.
+
+When we had furled our sails, the remaining part of the night was allowed
+to our people for their repose, to recover them from the fatigue they had
+undergone, and in the morning a party was sent on shore well armed, of
+which I myself was one, to make ourselves masters of the landing-place,
+as we were not certain what opposition might be made by the Indians on
+the island. We landed without difficulty, for the Indians having
+perceived by our seizure of the bark the night before, that we were
+enemies, they immediately fled into the woody parts of the island. We
+found on shore many huts which they had inhabited, and which saved us
+both the time and trouble of erecting tents. One of these huts, which the
+Indians made use of for a storehouse, was very large, being twenty yards
+long and fifteen broad; this we immediately cleared of some bales of
+jerked beef which we found in it, and converted it into an hospital for
+our sick, who, as soon as the place was ready to receive them, were
+brought on shore, being in all one hundred and twenty-eight. Numbers of
+these were so very helpless that we were obliged to carry them from the
+boats to the hospital upon our shoulders, in which humane employment (as
+before at Juan Fernandez) the Commodore himself and every one of his
+officers were engaged without distinction; and notwithstanding the great
+debility of the greatest part of our sick, it is almost incredible how
+soon they began to feel the salutary influence of the land. For though we
+buried twenty-one men on this and the preceding day, yet we did not lose
+above ten men more during our whole two months' stay here; and in general
+our diseased received so much benefit from the fruits of the island,
+particularly the fruits of the acid kind, that in a week's time there
+were but few who were not so far recovered as to be able to move about
+without help; and on the 12th of September all those who were so far
+relieved as to be capable of doing duty were sent on board the ship. And
+then the Commodore, who was himself ill of the scurvy, had a tent erected
+for him on shore, where he went with the view of staying a few days for
+the recovery of his health, being convinced, by the general experience of
+his people, that no other method but living on the land was to be trusted
+to for the removal of this dreadful malady. As the crew on board were now
+reinforced by the recovered hands returned from the island, we began to
+send our casks on shore to be fitted up, which till now could not be
+done, for the coopers were not well enough to work. We likewise weighed
+our anchors that we might examine our cables, which we suspected had by
+this time received considerable damage. And as the new moon was now
+approaching, when we apprehended violent gales, the Commodore, for our
+greater security, ordered that part of the cables next to the anchors to
+be armed with the chains of the fire-grapnels, and they were besides
+cackled twenty fathoms from the anchors and seven fathoms from the
+service, with a good rounding of a 4 1/2 inch hawser, and to all these
+precautions we added that of lowering the main and fore yards close down,
+that in case of blowing weather the wind might have less power upon the
+ship to make her ride a-strain.
+
+A FURIOUS STORM.
+
+Thus effectually prepared, as we conceived, we expected the new moon,
+which was the 18th of September; and riding safe that and the three
+succeeding days (though the weather proved very squally and uncertain),
+we flattered ourselves (for I was then on board) that the prudence of our
+measures had secured us from all accidents. But on the 22nd the wind blew
+from the eastward with such fury that we soon despaired of riding out the
+storm; and therefore we should have been extremely glad that the
+Commodore and the rest of our people on shore, which were the greatest of
+our hands, had been on board with us, since our only hopes of safety
+seemed to depend on our putting immediately to sea. But all communication
+with the shore was now effectually cut off, for there was no possibility
+that a boat could live so that we were necessitated to ride it out till
+our cables parted. Indeed, it was not long before this happened, for the
+small bower parted at five in the afternoon, and the ship swung off to
+the best bower; and as the night came on the violence of the wind still
+increased. But, notwithstanding its inexpressible fury, the tide ran with
+so much rapidity as to prevail over it; for the tide, having set to the
+northward in the beginning of the storm, turned suddenly to the southward
+about six in the evening, and forced the ship before it in despite of the
+storm, which blew upon the beam. And now the sea broke most surprisingly
+all round us, and a large tumbling swell threatened to poop us; the
+long-boat, which was at this time moored astern, was on a sudden canted
+so high that it broke the transom of the Commodore's gallery, and would
+doubtless have risen as high as the taffrail had it not been for this
+stroke which stove the boat all to pieces; but the poor boat-keeper,
+though extremely bruised, was saved almost by miracle. About eight the
+tide slackened, but the wind did not abate; so that at eleven the best
+bower cable, by which alone we rode, parted. Our sheet anchor, which was
+the only one we had left, was instantly cut from the bow; but before it
+could reach the bottom we were driven from twenty-two into thirty-five
+fathoms; and after we had veered away one whole cable and two-thirds of
+another, we could not find ground with sixty fathoms of line. This was a
+plain indication that the anchor lay near the edge of the bank, and could
+not hold us long.
+
+In this pressing danger Mr. Suamarez, our first lieutenant, who now
+commanded on board, ordered several guns to be fired and lights to be
+shown, as a signal to the Commodore of our distress; and in a short time
+after, it being then about one o'clock, and the night excessively dark, a
+strong gust, attended with rain and lightning, drove us off the bank and
+forced us out to sea, leaving behind us on the island Mr. Anson, with
+many more of our officers, and great part of our crew, amounting in the
+whole to one hundred and thirteen persons. Thus were we all, both at sea
+and on shore, reduced to the utmost despair by this catastrophe; those on
+shore conceiving they had no means left them ever to leave the island,
+and we on board utterly unprepared to struggle with the fury of the seas
+and winds we were now exposed to, and expecting each moment to be our
+last.
+
+
+CHAPTER 28.
+ANSON CHEERS HIS MEN--PLANS FOR ESCAPE--RETURN OF THE CENTURION.
+
+The storm which drove the Centurion to sea blew with too much turbulence
+to permit of either the Commodore or any of the people on shore hearing
+the guns which she fired as signals of distress, and the frequent glare
+of the lightning had prevented the explosions from being observed; so
+that when at daybreak it was perceived from the shore that the ship was
+missing, there was the utmost consternation amongst them. For much the
+greatest part of them immediately concluded that she was lost, and
+entreated the Commodore that the boat might be sent round the island to
+look for the wreck; and those who believed her safe had scarcely any
+expectation that she would ever be able to make the island again; for the
+wind continued to blow strong at east, and they knew how poorly she was
+manned and provided for struggling with so tempestuous a gale. And if the
+Centurion was lost, or should be incapable of returning, there appeared
+in either case no possibility of their ever getting off the island, for
+they were at least six hundred leagues from Macao, which was their
+nearest port; and they were masters of no other vessel than the small
+Spanish bark, of about fifteen tons, which they seized at their first
+arrival, and which would not even hold a fourth part of their number. And
+the chance of their being taken off the island by the casual arrival of
+any other ship was altogether desperate, as perhaps no European ship had
+ever anchored here before, and it were madness to expect that like
+incidents should send another here in a hundred ages to come; so that
+their desponding thoughts could only suggest to them the melancholy
+prospect of spending the remainder of their days on this island, and
+bidding adieu forever to their country, their friends, their families,
+and all their domestic endearments.
+
+A MELANCHOLY PROSPECT.
+
+Nor was this the worst they had to fear: for they had reason to expect
+that the Governor of Guam, when he should be informed of their situation,
+might send a force sufficient to overpower them and to remove them to
+that island; and then the most favourable treatment they could hope for
+would be to be detained prisoners for life; since, from the known policy
+and cruelty of the Spaniards in their distant settlements, it was rather
+to be expected that the Governor, if he once had them in his power, would
+make their want of commissions (all of them being on board the Centurion)
+a pretext for treating them as pirates, and for depriving them of their
+lives with infamy.
+
+In the midst of these gloomy reflections Mr. Anson had doubtless his
+share of disquietude, but he always kept up his usual composure and
+steadiness; and having soon projected a scheme for extricating himself
+and his men from their present anxious situation, he first communicated
+it to some of the most intelligent persons about him; and having
+satisfied himself that it was practicable, he then endeavoured to animate
+his people to a speedy and vigorous prosecution of it. With this view he
+represented to them how little foundation there was for their
+apprehensions of the Centurion's being lost; that he was not without
+hopes that she might return in a few days, but if she did not, the worst
+that could be supposed was that she was driven so far to the leeward of
+the island that she could not regain it, and that she would consequently
+be obliged to bear away for Macao, on the coast of China; that, as it was
+necessary to be prepared against all events, he had, in this case,
+considered of a method of carrying them off the island and joining their
+old ship the Centurion again at Macao; that this method was to haul the
+Spanish bark on shore, to saw her asunder, and to lengthen her twelve
+feet, which would enlarge her to near forty tons burthen, and would
+enable her to carry them all to China. He added that for his own part he
+would share the fatigue and labour with them, and would expect no more
+from any man than what he, the Commodore himself, was ready to submit to,
+and concluded with representing to them the importance of saving time,
+and that, in order to be the better prepared for all events, it was
+necessary to set to work immediately and to take it for granted that the
+Centurion would not be able to put back (which was indeed the Commodore's
+secret opinion); since, if she did return, they should only throw away a
+few days' application, but, if she did not, their situation and the
+season of the year required their utmost despatch.
+
+These remonstrances, though not without effect, did not immediately
+operate so powerfully as Mr. Anson could have wished. It was some days
+before they were all of them heartily engaged in the project; but at
+last, being in general convinced of the impossibility of the ship's
+return, they set themselves zealously to the different tasks allotted
+them, and were as industrious and as eager as their commander could
+desire, punctually assembling at daybreak at the rendezvous, whence they
+were distributed to their different employments, which they followed with
+unusual vigour till night came on.
+
+And now the work proceeded very successfully. The necessary ironwork was
+in great forwardness, and the timbers and planks (which, though not the
+most exquisite performances of the sawyer's art, were yet sufficient for
+the purpose) were all prepared; so that on the 6th of October, being the
+fourteenth day from the departure of the ship, they hauled the bark on
+shore, and on the two succeeding days she was sawn asunder (though with
+great care not to cut her planks), and her two parts were separated the
+proper distance from each other; and, the materials being all ready
+beforehand, they the next day, being the 9th of October, went on with
+great despatch in their proposed enlargement of her. And by this time
+they had all their future operations so fairly in view, and were so much
+masters of them, that they were able to determine when the whole would be
+finished, and had accordingly fixed the 5th of November for the day of
+their putting to sea.
+
+THE CENTURION RETURNS.
+
+But their projects and labours were now drawing to a speedier and happier
+conclusion, for on the 11th of October, in the afternoon, one of the
+Gloucester's men, being upon a hill in the middle of the island,
+perceived the Centurion at a distance, and running down with his utmost
+speed towards the landing-place, he in the way saw some of his comrades,
+to whom he hallooed out with great ecstasy, "That ship! The ship!" This
+being heard by Mr. Gordon, a lieutenant of marines, who was convinced by
+the fellow's transport that his report was true, Mr. Gordon ran towards
+the place where the Commodore and his people were at work, and being
+fresh and in breath easily out stripped the Gloucester's man, and got
+before him to the Commodore, who, on hearing this happy and unexpected
+news, threw down his axe with which he was then at work, and by his joy
+broke through for the first time the equable and unvaried character which
+he had hitherto preserved. The others who were with him instantly ran
+down to the seaside in a kind of frenzy, eager to feast themselves with a
+sight they had so ardently wished for and of which they had now for a
+considerable time despaired. By five in the evening the Centurion was
+visible in the offing to them all; and, a boat being sent off with
+eighteen men to reinforce her, and with fresh meat and fruits for the
+refreshment of her crew, she the next afternoon happily came to an anchor
+in the road, where the Commodore immediately came on board her, and was
+received by us with the sincerest and heartiest acclamations.
+
+
+CHAPTER 29.
+THE CENTURION AGAIN DRIVEN TO SEA--HER RETURN--DEPARTURE FROM TINIAN.
+
+When the Commodore came on board the Centurion on her return to Tinian as
+already mentioned, he resolved to stay no longer at the island than was
+absolutely necessary to complete our stock of water, a work which we
+immediately set ourselves about. But on the 14th of October, being but
+the third day after our arrival, a sudden gust of wind brought home our
+anchor, forced us off the bank and drove the ship out to sea a second
+time. However, as the weather was favourable, and our crew was now
+stronger than when we were first driven out, we in about five days' time
+returned again to an anchor at Tinian and relieved those we had left
+behind us from their second fears of being deserted by their ship.
+
+On our arrival we found that the Spanish bark, the old object of their
+hopes, had undergone a new metamorphosis, for those we had left on shore
+began to despair of our return, and conceiving that the lengthening the
+bark as formerly proposed was both a toilsome and unnecessary measure,
+considering the small number they consisted of, they had resolved to join
+her again and to restore her to her first state; and in this scheme they
+had made some progress for they had brought the two parts together, and
+would have soon completed her had not our coming back put a period to
+their labours and disquietude.
+
+On our coming to an anchor again after our second driving off to sea, we
+laboured indefatigably in getting in our water; and having by the 20th of
+October completed it to fifty tuns, which we supposed would be sufficient
+for our passage to Macao, we on the next day sent one of each mess on
+shore to gather as large a quantity of oranges, lemons, cocoa-nuts, and
+other fruits of the island as they possibly could, for the use of
+themselves and messmates when at sea. And these purveyors returning on
+board us on the evening of the same day, we then set fire to the bark and
+proa, hoisted in our boats, and got under sail, steering away for the
+south end of the island of Formosa and taking our leave for the third and
+last time of the island of Tinian.
+
+
+CHAPTER 30.
+CHINESE FISHING FLEETS--ARRIVAL AT MACAO.
+
+The eastern monsoon was now, we reckoned, fairly settled, and we had a
+constant gale blowing right upon our stern, so that we generally ran from
+forty to fifty leagues a day. But we had a large hollow sea pursuing us,
+which occasioned the ship to labour much, whence we received great damage
+in our rigging, which was grown very rotten, and our leak was augmented;
+but happily for us our people were now in full health, so that there were
+no complaints of fatigue, but all went through their attendance on the
+pumps, and every other duty of the ship, with ease and cheerfulness.
+
+FORMOSA.
+
+The 3rd of November, about four in the afternoon, we saw the island of
+Botel Tobago Xima, and by eleven the next morning got a sight of the
+southern part of the island of Formosa. In the evening we were surprised
+with a view of what we at first sight conceived to have been breakers,
+but on a stricter examination we found them to be only a great number of
+fires on the island of Formosa. These, we imagined, were intended by the
+inhabitants of that island as signals for us to touch there; but that
+suited not our views, we being impatient to reach the port of Macao as
+soon as possible. From Formosa we steered west-north-west, and sometimes
+still more northerly, and on the 5th of November we at last about
+midnight, got sight of the mainland of China, bearing north by west, four
+leagues distant.
+
+We then brought the ship to, with her head to the sea, proposing to wait
+for the morning; and before sunrise we were surprised to find ourselves
+in the midst of an incredible number of fishing-boats, which seemed to
+cover the surface of the sea as far as the eye could reach. I may well
+style their number incredible, since I cannot believe, upon the lowest
+estimate, that there were so few as 6,000 most of them manned with five
+hands, and none with less than three. Nor was this swarm of fishing
+vessels peculiar to this spot, for, as we ran onto the westward, we found
+them as abundant on every part of the coast. We at first doubted not but
+we should procure a pilot from them to carry us to Macao; but though many
+of them came close to the ship and we endeavoured to tempt them by
+showing them a number of dollars--a most alluring bait for Chinese of all
+ranks and professions--yet we could not entice them on board us; though I
+presume the only difficulty was their not comprehending what we wanted
+them to do, for we could have no communication with them but by signs.
+Indeed we often pronounced the word Macao, but this we had reason to
+suppose they understood in a different sense, for in return they
+sometimes held up fish to us, and we afterwards learned that the Chinese
+name for fish is of a somewhat similar sound. But what surprised us most
+was the inattention and want of curiosity which we observed in this herd
+of fishermen. A ship like ours had doubtless never been in those seas
+before; perhaps there might not be one amongst all the Chinese employed
+in this fishery who had ever seen any European vessel; so that we might
+reasonably have expected to have been considered by them as a very
+uncommon and extraordinary object.
+
+CHINESE INDIFFERENCE.
+
+But though many of their vessels came close to the ship, yet they did not
+appear to be at all interested about us. Nor did they deviate in the
+least from their course to regard us; which insensibility, especially of
+maritime persons about a matter in their own profession, is scarcely to
+be credited, did not the general behaviour of the Chinese in other
+instances furnish us with continual proof of a similar turn of mind.
+
+The next day, about two o'clock, as we were standing to the westward
+within two leagues of the coast, and still surrounded by fishing vessels
+in as great numbers as at first, we perceived that a boat ahead of us
+waved a red flag and blew a horn. This we considered as a signal made to
+us either to warn us of some shoal or to inform us that they would supply
+us with a pilot, and in this belief we immediately sent our cutter to the
+boat to know their intentions; but we were soon made sensible of our
+mistake, and found that this boat was the Commodore of the whole fishery,
+and that the signal she had made was to order them all to leave off
+fishing and to return in shore, which we saw them instantly obey. On this
+disappointment we kept on our course to the westward, and the next day
+being the 7th, we were abreast of a chain of islands which stretched from
+east to west. These, as we afterwards found, were called the islands of
+Lema. These islands we left on the starboard side, passing within four
+miles of them, where we had twenty-four fathoms water. We were still
+surrounded by fishing-boats, and we once more sent the cutter on board
+one of them to endeavour to procure a pilot, but could not prevail.
+However, one of the Chinese directed us by signs to sail round the
+westernmost of the islands or rocks of Lema, and then to haul up. We
+followed this direction, and in the evening came to anchor in eighteen
+fathoms.
+
+After having continued at anchor all night, we on the 9th, at four in the
+morning, sent our cutter to sound the channel where we proposed to pass;
+but before the return of the cutter a Chinese pilot put on board us, and
+told us in broken Portuguese he would carry us to Macao for thirty
+dollars. These were immediately paid him, and we then weighed and made
+sail, and soon after several other pilots came on board us, who, to
+recommend themselves, produced certificates from the captains of several
+ships they had piloted in; but we continued the ship under the management
+of the Chinese who came first on board. By this time we learned that we
+were not far distant from Macao, and that there were in the river of
+Canton, at the mouth of which Macao lies, eleven European ships, of which
+four were English. Our pilot carried us between the islands of Bamboo and
+Cabouce, but the winds hanging in the northern board, and the tides often
+setting strongly against us, we were obliged to come frequently to an
+anchor, so that we did not get through between the two islands till the
+12th of November at two in the morning. At ten o'clock we happily
+anchored in Macao road. Thus, after a fatiguing cruise of above two
+years' continuance, we once more arrived in an amicable port in a
+civilised country, where the conveniences of life were in great plenty;
+where the naval stores, which we now extremely wanted, could be in some
+degree procured; where we expected the inexpressible satisfaction of
+receiving letters from our relations and friends; and where our
+countrymen who were lately arrived from England would be capable of
+answering the numerous enquiries we were prepared to make both about
+public and private occurrences, and to relate to us many particulars
+which, whether of importance or not, would be listened to by us with the
+utmost attention, after the long suspension of our correspondence with
+our country to which the nature of our undertaking had hitherto subjected
+us.
+
+
+CHAPTER 31.
+MACAO--INTERVIEW WITH THE GOVERNOR--A VISIT TO CANTON.
+
+The city of Macao is a Portuguese settlement situated in an island at the
+mouth of the river of Canton. It was formerly a very rich and populous
+city, and capable of defending itself against the power of the adjacent
+Chinese governors, but at present it is much fallen from its ancient
+splendour; for though it is inhabited by the Portuguese and has a
+governor nominated by the King of Portugal, yet it subsists merely by the
+sufferance of the Chinese, who can starve the place and dispossess the
+Portuguese whenever they please. This obliges the Governor of Macao to
+behave with great circumspection, and carefully to avoid every
+circumstance that may give offence to the Chinese. The river of Canton,
+at the mouth of which this city lies, is the only Chinese port frequented
+by European ships, and this river is indeed a more commodious harbour on
+many accounts than Macao. But the peculiar customs of the Chinese, only
+adapted to the entertainment of trading ships, and the apprehensions of
+the Commodore lest he should embroil the East India Company with the
+Regency of Canton if he should insist on being treated upon a different
+footing than the merchantmen, made him resolve to go first to Macao
+before he ventured into the port of Canton. Indeed, had not this reason
+prevailed with him, he himself had nothing to fear, for it is certain
+that he might have entered the port of Canton, and might have continued
+there as long as he pleased, and afterwards have left it again, although
+the whole power of the Chinese Empire had been brought together to oppose
+him.
+
+The Commodore, not to depart from his usual prudence, no sooner came to
+an anchor in Macao road than he despatched an officer with his
+compliments to the Portuguese Governor of Macao, requesting His
+Excellency by the same officer to advise him in what manner it would be
+proper to act to avoid offending the Chinese, which, as there were four
+of our ships in their power at Canton, was a matter worthy of attention.
+The difficulty which the Commodore principally apprehended related to the
+duty usually paid by all ships in the river of Canton, according to their
+tonnage. For as men-of-war are exempted in every foreign harbour from all
+manner of port charges, the Commodore thought it would be derogatory to
+the honour of his country to submit to this duty in China; and therefore
+he desired the advice of the Governor of Macao, who, being a European,
+could not be ignorant of the privileges claimed by a British man-of-war,
+and consequently might be expected to give us the best lights for
+avoiding this perplexity. Our boat returned in the evening with two
+officers sent by the Governor, who informed the Commodore that it was the
+Governor's opinion that if the Centurion ventured into the river of
+Canton, the duty would certainly be demanded; and therefore, if the
+Commodore approved of it, he would send him a pilot who should conduct us
+into another safe harbour, called the Typa, which was every way
+commodious for careening the ship (an operation which we were resolved to
+begin upon as soon as possible), and where the above-mentioned duty would
+in all probability be never asked for.
+
+This proposal the Commodore agreed to, and in the morning we weighed
+anchor, and, under the direction of the Portuguese pilot, steered for the
+intended harbour, where we moored in about five fathoms water. This
+harbour of the Typa is formed by a number of islands, and is about six
+miles distant from Macao. Here we saluted the Castle of Macao with eleven
+guns, which were returned by an equal number.
+
+The next day the Commodore paid a visit in person to the Governor, and
+was saluted at his landing by eleven guns, which were returned by the
+Centurion. Mr. Anson's business in this visit was to solicit the Governor
+to grant us a supply of provisions, and to furnish us with such stores as
+were necessary to refit the ship. The Governor seemed really inclined to
+do us all the service he could, and assured the Commodore, in a friendly
+manner, that he would privately give us all the assistance in his power;
+but he, at the same time, frankly owned that he dared not openly furnish
+us with anything we demanded, unless we first procured an order for it
+from the Viceroy of Canton, for that he neither received provisions for
+his garrison, nor any other necessaries, but by permission from the
+Chinese Government; and as they took care only to furnish him from day to
+day, he was indeed no other than their vassal, whom they could at all
+times compel to submit to their own terms, only by laying an embargo on
+his provisions.
+
+On this declaration of the Governor, Mr. Anson resolved himself to go to
+Canton to procure a license from the Viceroy, and he accordingly hired a
+Chinese boat for himself and his attendants. On his arrival there he
+consulted with the super cargoes and officers of the English ships how to
+procure an order from the Viceroy for the necessaries he wanted. As it is
+the custom with these gentlemen never to apply to the supreme magistrate
+himself, whatever difficulties they labour under, but to transact all
+matters relating to the Government by the mediation of the principal
+Chinese merchants, Mr. Anson was advised to follow the same method upon
+this occasion, the English promising to exert all their interest to
+engage the merchants in his favour.
+
+CHINESE PROMISES.
+
+And when the Chinese merchants were applied to, they readily undertook
+the management of it, and promised to answer for its success; but after
+near a month's delay and reiterated excuses, during which interval they
+pretended to be often upon the point of completing the business, they at
+last threw off the mask, and declared they neither had applied to the
+Viceroy, nor could they, for he was too great a man, they said, for them
+to approach on any occasion.
+
+
+CHAPTER 32.
+A LETTER TO THE VICEROY--A CHINESE MANDARIN--THE CENTURION IS REFITTED
+  AND PUTS TO SEA.
+
+Mr. Anson now saw clearly that if he had at first carried his ship into
+the river of Canton and had immediately applied himself to the mandarins,
+who are the chief officers of State, instead of employing the merchants
+to apply for him, he would in all probability have had all his requests
+granted, and would have been soon despatched. He had already lost a month
+by the wrong measures he had been put upon, but he resolved to lose as
+little more time as possible; and therefore, the 17th of December, being
+the next day after his return from Canton, he wrote a letter to the
+Viceroy of that place acquainting him that he was commander-in-chief of a
+squadron of his Britannic Majesty's ships of war, which had been cruising
+for two years past in the South Seas against the Spaniards, who were at
+war with the King his master; that, in his way back to England, he had
+put into the port of Macao, having a considerable leak in his ship, and
+being in great want of provisions, so that it was impossible for him to
+proceed on his voyage till his ship was repaired, and he was supplied
+with the necessaries he wanted; that he had been at Canton in hopes of
+being admitted to a personal audience of His Excellency, but being a
+stranger to the customs of the country, he had not been able to inform
+himself what steps were necessary to be taken to procure such an
+audience, and therefore was obliged to apply to him in this manner, to
+desire His Excellency to give orders for his being permitted to employ
+carpenters and proper workmen to refit his ship, and to furnish himself
+with provisions and stores, thereby to enable him to pursue his voyage to
+Great Britain with this monsoon;* hoping at the same time that these
+orders would be issued with as little delay as possible, lest it might
+occasion his loss of the season, and he might be prevented from departing
+till the next winter.
+
+(*Note. Anson, of course, had no intention of sailing for England. His
+reason for the deception is given in chapter 33.)
+
+A MANDARIN COMES ON BOARD.
+
+This letter was written on the 17th of December, and on the 19th in the
+morning a mandarin of the first rank, who was Governor of the city of
+Janson, together with two mandarins of an inferior class, and a great
+retinue of officers and servants, having with them eighteen half-galleys
+decorated with a great number of streamers, and furnished with music, and
+full of men, came to grapnel ahead of the Centurion; whence the mandarin
+sent a message to the Commodore, telling him that he (the mandarin) was
+ordered by the Viceroy of Canton to examine the condition of the ship,
+and desiring the ship's boat might be sent to fetch him on board. The
+Centurion's boat was immediately despatched, and preparations were made
+for receiving him; for a hundred of the most sightly of the crew were
+uniformly dressed in the regimentals of the marines, and were drawn up
+under arms on the main-deck, against his arrival. When he entered the
+ship he was saluted by the drums and what other military music there was
+on board; and passing by the new-formed guard, he was met by the
+Commodore on the quarter-deck, who conducted him to the great cabin. Here
+the mandarin explained his commission, declaring that his business was to
+examine all the particulars mentioned in the Commodore's letter to the
+Viceroy; that he was particularly instructed to inspect the leak, and had
+for that purpose brought with him two Chinese carpenters.
+
+This mandarin appeared to be a person of very considerable parts, and
+endowed with more frankness and honesty than is to be found in the
+generality of the Chinese. After the proper inquiries had been made,
+particularly about the leak, which the Chinese carpenters reported to be
+as dangerous as it had been represented, and consequently that it was
+impossible for the Centurion to proceed to sea without being refitted,
+the mandarin expressed himself satisfied with the account given in the
+Commodore's letter. And this magistrate, as he was more intelligent than
+any other person of his nation that came to our knowledge, so likewise
+was he more curious and inquisitive, viewing each part of the ship with
+particular attention, and appearing greatly surprised at the largeness of
+the lower-deck guns, and at the weight and size of the shot. The
+Commodore observing his astonishment thought this a proper opportunity to
+convince the Chinese of the prudence of granting him a speedy and ample
+supply of all he wanted. With this view he told the mandarin and those
+who were with him, that besides the demands he made for a general supply,
+he had a particular complaint against the proceedings of the custom-house
+of Macao; that at his first arrival the Chinese boats had brought on
+board plenty of greens and variety of fresh provisions for daily use, for
+which they had always been paid to their full satisfaction, but that the
+custom-house officers at Macao had soon forbid them, by which means he
+was deprived of those refreshments which were of the utmost consequence
+to the health of his men after their long and sickly voyage; that as
+they, the mandarins, had informed themselves of his wants, and were
+eye-witnesses of the force and strength of his ship, they might be
+satisfied it was not for want of power to supply himself that he desired
+the permission of the Government to purchase what provisions he stood in
+need of; that they must be convinced that the Centurion alone was capable
+of destroying the whole navigation of the port of Canton, or of any other
+port in China, without running the least risk from all the force the
+Chinese could collect; that it was true this was not the manner of
+proceeding between nations in friendship with each other, but it was
+likewise true that it was not customary for any nation to permit the
+ships of their friends to starve and sink in their ports, when those
+friends had money to supply their wants and only desired liberty to lay
+it out; that they must confess he and his people had hitherto behaved
+with great modesty and reserve, but that as his wants were each day
+increasing, hunger would at last prove too strong for any restraint, and
+necessity was acknowledged in all countries to be superior to every other
+law, and therefore it could not be expected that his crew would long
+continue to starve in the midst of that plenty to which their eyes were
+every day witnesses. To this the Commodore added (though perhaps with a
+less serious air) that if by the delay of supplying him with fresh
+provisions his men should be reduced to the necessity of turning
+cannibals, and preying upon their own species, it was easy to be foreseen
+that, independent of their friendship to their comrades, they would in
+point of luxury prefer the plump, well-fed Chinese to their own emaciated
+shipmates. The first mandarin acquiesced in the justness of this
+reasoning, and told the Commodore that he should that night proceed for
+Canton; that on his arrival a council of mandarins would be summoned, of
+which he himself was a member, and that all that was demanded would be
+amply and speedily granted. And with regard to the Commodore's complaint
+of the custom-house of Macao, he undertook to rectify that immediately by
+his own authority; for, desiring a list to be given him of the quantity
+of provision necessary for the expense of the ship for a day, he wrote a
+permit under it, and delivered it to one of his attendants, directing him
+to see that quantity sent on board early every morning; and this order
+from that time forward was punctually complied with.
+
+A DINNER PARTY.
+
+When this weighty affair was thus in some degree regulated, the Commodore
+invited him and his two attendant mandarins to dinner, telling them at
+the same time that if his provision, either in kind or quantity, was not
+what they might expect, they must thank themselves for having confined
+him to so hard an allowance. One of his dishes was beef, which the
+Chinese all dislike, though Mr. Anson was not apprised of it; this seems
+to be derived from the Indian superstition,* which for some ages past has
+made a great progress in China. However, his guests did not entirely
+fast, for the three mandarins completely finished the white part of four
+large fowls. But they were extremely embarrassed with their knives and
+forks, and were quite incapable of making use of them, so that, after
+some fruitless attempts to help themselves, which were sufficiently
+awkward, one of the attendants was obliged to cut their meat in small
+pieces for them. But whatever difficulty they might have in complying
+with the European manner of eating, they seemed not to be novices in
+drinking. The Commodore excused himself in this part of the
+entertainment, under the pretence of illness; but there being another
+gentleman present, of a florid and jovial complexion, the chief mandarin
+clapped him on the shoulder, and told him by the interpreter that
+certainly he could not plead sickness, and therefore insisted on his
+bearing him company; and that gentleman perceiving that after they had
+despatched four or five bottles of Frontiniac, the mandarin still
+continued unruffled, he ordered a bottle of citron-water to be brought
+up, which the Chinese seemed much to relish; and this being near finished
+they arose from table, in appearance cool and uninfluenced by what they
+had drunk. And the Commodore, having, according to custom, made the
+mandarin a present, they all departed in the same vessels that brought
+them.
+
+(*Note. The cow has been held in high honour in India from early times.
+The slaughtering and eating the flesh of kine is considered an abominable
+crime. The connection between India and Chinese has always been close.
+The Buddhist religion was introduced from India during the first century
+of the Christian era, and with it no doubt the veneration of the cow.)
+
+After their departure the Commodore with great impatience expected the
+resolution of the council, and the necessary licences for his refitment.
+For it must be observed that he could neither purchase stores nor
+necessaries with his money, nor did any kind of workman dare to engage
+themselves to work for him, without the permission of the Government
+first obtained.
+
+Some time before this Captain Saunders took his passage to England on
+board a Swedish ship, and was charged with despatches from the Commodore;
+and soon after, in the month of December, Captain Mitchel and Colonel
+Cracherode embarked on board one of our company's ships; and I, having
+obtained the Commodore's leave to return home, embarked with them. I must
+observe, too (having omitted it before), that whilst we lay here at Macao
+we were informed by some of the officers of our Indiamen that the Severn
+and the Pearl, the two ships of our squadron which had separated from us
+off Cape Noir, were safely arrived at Rio Janeiro, on the coast of
+Brazil; and it was with great joy we received the news, after the strong
+persuasion, which had so long prevailed amongst us, of their having both
+perished.
+
+Notwithstanding the favourable disposition of the mandarin Governor of
+Janson at his leaving Mr. Anson, several days had elapsed before he had
+any advice from him, and Mr. Anson was privately informed there were
+great debates in council upon his affair. However, it should seem that
+the representation of the Commodore to the mandarins of the facility with
+which he could right himself, if justice were denied him, had at last its
+effect; for on the 6th of January, in the morning, the Governor of
+Janson, the Commodore's advocate, sent down the Viceroy of Canton's
+warrant for the refitment of the Centurion, and for supplying her people
+with all they wanted; and next day a number of Chinese smiths and
+carpenters went on board.
+
+It was the beginning of April before they had new-rigged the ship, stowed
+their provisions and water on board, and fitted her for the sea; and
+before this time the Chinese grew very uneasy and extremely desirous that
+she should be gone, either not knowing, or pretending not to believe,
+that this was a point the Commodore was as eagerly set on as they could
+be. On the 3rd of April two mandarin boats came on board from Macao to
+urge his departure; and this having been often done before, though there
+had been no pretence to suspect Mr. Anson of any affected delays, he at
+this last message answered them in a determined tone, desiring them to
+give him no further trouble, for he would go when he thought proper and
+not before. On this rebuke the Chinese (though it was not in their power
+to compel him to be gone) immediately prohibited all provisions from
+being carried on board him, and took such care that their injunctions
+should be complied with, that from that time forwards nothing could be
+purchased at any rate whatever.
+
+AT SEA AGAIN.
+
+On the 6th of April the Centurion weighed from the Typa, and warped to
+the southward, and by the 15th she was got into Macao road, completing
+her water as she passed along, so that there remained now very few
+articles more to attend to; and her whole business being finished by the
+19th, she, at three in the afternoon of that day, weighed and made sail,
+and stood to sea.
+
+
+CHAPTER 33.
+WAITING FOR THE Manila GALLEON.
+
+The Commodore was now got to sea, with his ship very well refitted, his
+stores replenished, and an additional stock of provisions on board. His
+crew, too, was somewhat reinforced, for he had entered twenty-three men
+during his stay at Macao, the greatest part of which were Lascars or
+Indian sailors, and some few Dutch. He gave out at Macao that he was
+bound to Batavia, and thence to England; and though the western monsoon
+was now set in, when that passage is considered as impracticable, yet by
+the confidence he had expressed in the strength of his ship and the
+dexterity of his people he had persuaded not only his own crew, but the
+people at Macao likewise, that he proposed to try this unusual
+experiment; so that there were many letters put on board him by the
+inhabitants of Canton and Macao for their friends at Batavia.
+
+But his real design was of a very different nature, for he knew that
+instead of one annual ship from Acapulco to Manila there would be this
+year, in all probability, two, since by being before Acapulco he had
+prevented one of them from putting to sea the preceding season. He
+therefore resolved to cruise for these returning vessels off Cape
+Espiritu Santo, on the island of Samal, which is the first land they
+always make in the Philippine islands. And as June is generally the month
+in which they arrive there, he doubted not but he should get to his
+intended station in time enough to intercept them. It is true they were
+said to be stout vessels, mounting forty-four guns apiece, and carrying
+above 500 hands, and might be expected to return in company; and he
+himself had but 227 hands on board, of which near thirty were boys. But
+this disproportion of strength did not deter him, as he knew his ship to
+be much better fitted for a sea engagement than theirs, and as he had
+reason to expect that his men would exert themselves in the most
+extraordinary manner when they had in view the immense wealth of these
+Manila galleons.
+
+This project the Commodore had resolved on in his own thoughts ever since
+his leaving the coast of Mexico, and the greatest mortification which he
+received from the various delays he had met with in China was his
+apprehension lest he might be thereby so long retarded as to let the
+galleons escape him. Indeed, at Macao, it was incumbent on him to keep
+these views extremely secret, for there being a great intercourse and a
+mutual connection of interests between that port and Manila, he had
+reason to fear that, if his designs were discovered, intelligence would
+be immediately sent to Manila and measures would be taken to prevent the
+galleons from falling into his hands. But being now at sea, and entirely
+clear of the coast, he summoned all his people on the quarter-deck, and
+informed them of his resolution to cruise for the two Manila ships, of
+whose wealth they were not ignorant. He told them he should choose a
+station where he could not fail of meeting with them; and though they
+were stout ships and full-manned, yet, if his own people behaved with
+their accustomed spirit, he was certain he should prove too hard for them
+both, and that one of them at least could not fail of becoming his prize.
+He further added that many ridiculous tales had been propagated about the
+strength of the sides of these ships, and their being impenetrable to
+cannon-shot; that these fictions had been principally invented to
+palliate the cowardice of those who had formerly engaged them; but he
+hoped they were none of those present weak enough to give credit to so
+absurd a story. For his own part he did assure them upon his word that,
+whenever he met with them, he would fight them so near that they should
+find his bullets, instead of being stopped by one of their sides, should
+go through them both.
+
+CONFIDENT OF SUCCESS.
+
+This speech of the Commodore's was received by his people with great joy,
+for no sooner had he ended than they expressed their approbation,
+according to naval custom, by three strenuous cheers, and all declared
+their determination to succeed or perish whenever the opportunity
+presented itself. And now their hopes, which since their departure from
+the coast of Mexico had entirely subsided, were again revived; and they
+all persuaded themselves that, notwithstanding the various casualties and
+disappointments they had hitherto met with, they should yet be repaid the
+price of their fatigues, and should at last return home enriched with the
+spoils of the enemy. For, firmly relying on the assurances of the
+Commodore that they should certainly meet with the vessels, they were all
+of them too sanguine to doubt a moment of mastering them; so that they
+considered themselves as having them already in their possession. And
+this confidence was so universally spread through the whole ship's
+company that, the Commodore having taken some Chinese sheep to sea with
+him for his own provision, and one day enquiring of his butcher why for
+some time past he had seen no mutton at his table, asking him if all the
+sheep were killed, the butcher very seriously replied that there were
+indeed two sheep left, but that if his honour would give him leave, he
+proposed to keep those for the entertainment of the General of the
+galleons.
+
+When the Centurion left the port of Macao she stood for some days to the
+westward, and on the 1st of May they saw part of the island of Formosa,
+and standing thence to the southward, they, on the 4th of May about seven
+in the evening, discovered from the masthead five small islands, which
+were judged to be the Bashees, and they had afterwards a sight of Botel
+Tobago Xima. After getting a sight of the Bashee Islands, they stood
+between the south and south-west for Cape Espiritu Santo, and the 20th of
+May at noon they first discovered that cape, which about four o'clock
+they brought to bear south-south-west, about eleven leagues distant. It
+appeared to be of a moderate height, with several round hummocks on it.
+As it was known that there were sentinels placed upon this cape to make
+signals to the Acapulco ship when she first falls in with the land, the
+Commodore immediately tacked, and ordered the top-gallant sails to be
+taken in to prevent being discovered; and this being the station in which
+it was resolved to cruise for the galleons, they kept the cape between
+the south and west, and endeavoured to confine themselves between the
+latitude of 12 degrees 50 minutes and 13 degrees 5 minutes.
+
+It was the last of May, by the foreign style, when they arrived off this
+cape; and the month of June, by the same style, being that in which the
+Manila ships are usually expected, the Centurion's people were now
+waiting each hour with the utmost impatience for the happy crisis which
+was to balance the account of all their past calamities. As from this
+time there was but small employment for the crew, the Commodore ordered
+them almost every day to be exercised in the management of the great guns
+and in the use of their small arms. This had been his practice, more or
+less, at all convenient seasons during the whole course of his voyage,
+and the advantages which he received from it in his engagement with the
+galleon were an ample recompense for all his care and attention. The men
+were taught the shortest method of loading with cartridges, and were
+constantly trained to fire at a mark, which was usually hung at the
+yard-arm, and some little reward was given to the most expert. The whole
+crew, by this management, were rendered extremely skilful, quick in
+loading, all of them good marksmen, and some of them most extraordinary
+ones, so that I doubt not but, in the use of small arms, they were more
+than a match for double their number who had not been habituated to the
+same kind of exercise.
+
+AN ILL-TIMED DISAGREEMENT.
+
+It was the last of May, New Style, as has been already said, when the
+Centurion arrived off Cape Espiritu Santo, and consequently the next day
+began the month in which the galleons were to be expected. The Commodore
+therefore made all necessary preparations for receiving them. All this
+time, too, he was very solicitous to keep at such a distance from the
+cape as not to be discovered; but it has been since learned that
+notwithstanding his care, he was seen from the land, and advice of him
+was sent to Manila, where it was at first disbelieved; but on reiterated
+intelligence (for it seems he was seen more than once) the merchants were
+alarmed, and the Governor was applied to, who undertook (the commerce
+supplying the necessary sums) to fit out a force consisting of two ships
+of 32 guns, one of 20 guns, and two sloops of 10 guns each, to attack the
+Centurion on her station. And some of these vessels did actually weigh
+with this view, but the principal ship not being ready, and the monsoon
+being against them, the commerce and the Government disagreed, and the
+enterprise was laid aside. This frequent discovery of the Centurion from
+the shore was somewhat extraordinary, for the pitch of the cape is not
+high, and she usually kept from ten to fifteen leagues distant, though
+once, indeed, by an indraught of the tide, as was supposed, they found
+themselves in the morning within seven leagues of the land.
+
+
+CHAPTER 34.
+THE CAPTURE OF THE GALLEON.
+
+As the month of June advanced, the expectancy and impatience of the
+Commodore's people each day increased, and I think no better idea can be
+given of their great eagerness on this occasion than by copying a few
+paragraphs from the journal of an officer who was then on board, as it
+will, I presume, be a more natural picture of the full attachment of
+their thoughts to the business of their cruise than can be given by any
+other means. The paragraphs I have selected, as they occur in order of
+time are as follows:
+
+May 31. Exercising our men at their quarters, in great expectation of
+meeting with the galleons very soon, this being the 11th of June, their
+style.
+
+June 3. Keeping in our stations and looking out for the galleons.
+
+June 5. Begin now to be in great expectations, this being the middle of
+June, their style.
+
+June 11. Begin to grow impatient at not seeing the galleons.
+
+June 13. The wind having blown fresh easterly for the forty-eight hours
+past, gives us great expectations of seeing the galleons soon.
+
+June 15. Cruising on and off and looking out strictly.
+
+June 19. This being the last day of June, New Style, the galleons, if
+they arrive at all, must appear soon.
+
+ ...
+
+From these samples it is sufficiently evident how completely the treasure
+of the galleons had engrossed their imagination, and how anxiously they
+passed the latter part of their cruise, when the certainty of the arrival
+of these vessels was dwindled down to probability only, and that
+probability became each hour more and more doubtful.
+
+THE GALLEON SIGHTED.
+
+However, on the 20th of June, Old Style, being just a month from their
+arrival on their station, they were relieved from this state of
+uncertainty when, at sunrise, they discovered a sail from the masthead in
+the south-east quarter. On this a general joy spread through the whole
+ship, for they had no doubt but this was one of the galleons, and they
+expected soon to see the other. The Commodore instantly stood towards
+her, and at half an hour after seven they were near enough to see her
+from the Centurion's deck, at which time the galleon fired a gun and took
+in her top-gallant sails, which was supposed to be a signal to her
+consort to hasten her up; and therefore the Centurion fired a gun to
+leeward,* to amuse her. The Commodore was surprised to find that in all
+this time the galleon did not change her course, but continued to bear
+down upon him, for he hardly believed, what afterwards appeared to be the
+case, that she knew his ship to be the Centurion and resolved to fight
+him.
+
+(*Note. Probably as a pretended signal to a consort. The two ships were
+endeavouring to deceive each other.)
+
+About noon the Commodore was little more than a league distant from the
+galleon, and could fetch her wake, so that she could not now escape, and
+no second ship appearing, it was concluded that she had been separated
+from her consort. Soon after the galleon hauled up her foresail and
+brought to under topsails, with her head to the northward, hoisting
+Spanish colours and having the standard of Spain flying at the topgallant
+masthead. Mr. Anson in the meantime had prepared all things for an
+engagement on board the Centurion, and had taken all possible care both
+for the most effectual exertion of his small strength, and for avoiding
+the confusion and tumult too frequent in actions of this kind. He picked
+out about thirty of his choicest hands and best marksmen, whom he
+distributed into his tops, and who fully answered his expectation by the
+signal services they performed. As he had not hands enough remaining to
+quarter a sufficient number to each great gun in the customary manner, he
+therefore, on his lower tier, fixed only two men to each gun, who were to
+be solely employed in loading it, whilst the rest of his people were
+divided into different gangs of ten or twelve men each, who were
+constantly moving about the decks to run out and fire such guns as were
+loaded. By this management he was enabled to make use of all his guns,
+and, instead of firing broad sides with intervals between them, he kept
+up a constant fire without intermission, whence he doubted not to procure
+very signal advantages; for it is common with the Spaniards to fall down
+upon the decks when they see a broadside preparing and to continue in
+that posture till it is given; after which they rise again and, presuming
+the danger to be for some time over, work their guns, and fire with great
+briskness till another broadside is ready; but the firing gun by gun in
+the manner directed by the Commodore rendered this practice of theirs
+impossible.
+
+A GALLANT FIGHT.
+
+The Centurion being thus prepared, and nearing the galleon apace, there
+happened, a little after noon, several squalls of wind and rain, which
+often obscured the galleon from their sight; but whenever it cleared up
+they observed her resolutely lying to, and towards one o'clock the
+Centurion hoisted her broad pendant and colours, she being then within
+gun shot of the enemy; and the Commodore, observing the Spaniards to have
+neglected clearing their ship till that time, as he then saw them
+throwing over board cattle and lumber, he gave orders to fire upon them
+with the chase guns to embarrass them in their work, and prevent them
+from completing it, though his general directions had been not to engage
+till they were within pistol-shot. The galleon returned the fire with two
+of her stern-chasers, and the Centurion getting her sprit sail-yard fore
+and aft, that if necessary she might be ready for boarding, the Spaniards
+in a bravado rigged their spritsail-yard fore and aft likewise. Soon
+after the Centurion came abreast of the enemy within pistol-shot, keeping
+to the leeward with a view of preventing them from putting before the
+wind and gaining the port of Jalapay, from which they were about seven
+leagues distant. And now the engagement began in earnest, and for the
+first half-hour Mr. Anson overreached the galleon and lay on her bow,
+where by the great wideness of his ports he could traverse almost all his
+guns upon the enemy, whilst the galleon could only bring a part of hers
+to bear. Immediately on the commencement of the action the mats with
+which the galleon had stuffed her netting took fire and burned violently,
+blazing up half as high as the mizzen top. This accident (supposed to be
+caused by the Centurion's wads) threw the enemy into great confusion, and
+at the same time alarmed the Commodore, for he feared lest the galleon
+should be burned, and lest he himself too might suffer by her driving on
+board him. But the Spaniards at last freed themselves from the fire by
+cutting away the netting, and tumbling the whole mass which was in flames
+into the sea. But still the Centurion kept her first advantageous
+position, firing her cannon with great regularity and briskness, whilst
+at the same time the galleon's decks lay open to her topmen, who having
+at their first volley driven the Spaniards from their tops, made
+prodigious havoc with their small arms, killing or wounding every officer
+but one that ever appeared on the quarter-deck, and wounding in
+particular the General of the galleon himself; and though the Centurion,
+after the first half-hour, lost her original situation and was close
+alongside the galleon, and the enemy continued to fire briskly for near
+an hour longer, yet at last the Commodore's grape-shot swept their decks
+so effectually, and the number of their slain and wounded was so
+considerable, that they began to fall into great disorder, especially as
+the General, who was the life of the action, was no longer capable of
+exerting himself. Their embarrassment was visible from on board the
+Commodore, for the ships were so near that some of the Spanish officers
+were seen running about with great assiduity to prevent the desertion of
+their men from their quarters. But all their endeavours were in vain, for
+after having, as a last effort, fired five or six guns with more judgment
+than usual, they gave up the contest, and the galleon's colours being
+singed off the ensign staff in the beginning of the engagement, she
+struck the standard at her main top-gallant masthead, the person who was
+employed to do it having been in imminent peril of being killed, had not
+the Commodore, who perceived what he was about, given express orders to
+his people to desist from firing.
+
+
+Thus was the Centurion possessed of this rich prize, amounting in value
+to near a million and a half of dollars. She was called the "Nuestra
+Senora de Cabadonga", and was commanded by the General Don Jeronimo de
+Montero, a Portuguese by birth, and the most approved officer for skill
+and courage of any employed in that service. The galleon was much larger
+than the Centurion, and had five hundred and fifty men and thirty-six
+guns mounted for action, besides twenty-eight pidreroes in her gunwale,
+quarters, and tops, each of which carried a four-pound ball. She was very
+well furnished with small arms, and was particularly provided against
+boarding, both by her close quarters and by a strong network of 2-inch
+rope, which was laced over her waist and was defended by half-pikes. She
+had sixty-seven killed in the action and eighty-four wounded, whilst the
+Centurion had only two killed and a lieutenant and sixteen wounded, all
+of whom but one recovered; of so little consequence are the most
+destructive arms in untutored and unpractised hands.
+
+The treasure thus taken by the Centurion having been for at least
+eighteen months the great object of their hopes, it is impossible to
+describe the transport on board when, after all their reiterated
+disappointments, they at last saw their wishes accomplished. But their
+joy was near being suddenly damped by a most tremendous incident, for no
+sooner had the galleon struck than one of the lieutenants, coming to Mr.
+Anson to congratulate him on his prize, whispered him at the same time
+that the Centurion was dangerously on fire near the powder-room. The
+Commodore received this dreadful news without any apparent emotion, and
+taking care not to alarm his people, gave the necessary orders for
+extinguishing it, which was happily done in a short time, though its
+appearance at first was extremely terrible. It seems some cartridges had
+been blown up by accident between decks, whereby a quantity of oakum in
+the after hatchway near the after powder-room was set on fire, and the
+great smother and smoke of the oakum occasioned the apprehension of a
+more extended and mischievous fire. At the same instant, too, the galleon
+fell on board the Centurion on the starboard quarter, but she was cleared
+without doing or receiving any considerable damage.
+
+The Commodore made his first lieutenant, Mr. Suamarez, captain of this
+prize, appointing her a post-ship in His Majesty's service. Captain
+Suamarez, before night, sent on board the Centurion all the Spanish
+prisoners but such as were thought the most proper to be retained to
+assist in navigating the galleon.
+
+WHAT MIGHT HAVE BEEN.
+
+And now the Commodore learned from some of these prisoners that the other
+ship, which he had kept in the port of Acapulco the preceding year,
+instead of returning in company with the present prize, as was expected,
+had set sail from Acapulco alone much sooner than usual, and had in all
+probability got into the port of Manila long before the Centurion
+arrived off Cape Espiritu Santo, so that Mr. Anson, notwithstanding his
+present success, had great reason to regret his loss of time at Macao,
+which prevented him from taking two rich prizes instead of one.
+
+
+CHAPTER 35.
+SECURING THE PRISONERS--MACAO AGAIN--AMOUNT OF THE TREASURE.
+
+The Commodore, when the action was ended, resolved to make the best of
+his way with his prize for the river of Canton, being in the meantime
+fully employed in securing his prisoners, and in removing the treasure
+from on board the galleon into the Centurion. The last of these
+operations was too important to be postponed, for as the navigation to
+Canton was through seas but little known, and where, from the season of
+the year, much bad weather might be expected, it was of great consequence
+that the treasure should be sent on board the Centurion, which ship, by
+the presence of the Commander-in-chief, the greater number of her hands,
+and her other advantages, was doubtless much safer against all the
+casualties of winds and seas than the galleon; and the securing the
+prisoners was a matter of still more consequence, as not only the
+possession of the treasure, but the lives of the captors depended
+thereon. This was indeed an article which gave the Commodore much trouble
+and disquietude, for they were above double the number of his own people,
+and some of them, when they were brought on board the Centurion and had
+observed how slenderly she was manned, and the large proportion which the
+striplings bore to the rest, could not help expressing themselves with
+great indignation to be thus beaten by a handful of boys.
+
+THE SUFFERINGS OF THE PRISONERS.
+
+The method which was taken to hinder them from rising was by placing all
+but the officers and the wounded in the hold, where to give them as much
+air as possible, two hatchways were left open; but then (to avoid all
+danger whilst the Centurion's people should be employed upon the deck)
+there was a square partition of thick planks, made in the shape of a
+funnel, which enclosed each hatchway on the lower deck and reached to
+that directly over it on the upper deck. These funnels served to
+communicate the air to the hold better than could have been done without
+them, and at the same time added greatly to the security of the ship, for
+they being seven or eight feet high, it would have been extremely
+difficult for the Spaniards to have clambered up, and, still to augment
+that difficulty, four swivel-guns loaded with musket bullets were planted
+at the mouth of each funnel, and a sentinel with lighted match constantly
+attended, prepared to fire into the hold amongst them in case of any
+disturbance. Their officers, who amounted to seventeen or eighteen, were
+all lodged in the first lieutenant's cabin, under a constant guard of six
+men, and the General, as he was wounded, lay in the Commodore's cabin
+with a sentinel always with him, and they were all informed that any
+violence or disturbance would be punished with instant death; and that
+the Centurion's people might be at all times prepared, if notwithstanding
+these regulations any tumult should arise, the small arms were constantly
+kept loaded in a proper place, whilst all the men went armed with
+cutlasses and pistols, and no officer ever pulled off his clothes, and
+when he slept had always his arms lying ready by him.
+
+These measures were obviously necessary, considering the hazards to which
+the Commodore and his people would have been exposed had they been less
+careful. Indeed, the sufferings of the poor prisoners though impossible
+to be alleviated, were much to be commiserated, for the weather was
+extremely hot, the stench of the hold loathsome beyond all conception,
+and their allowance of water but just sufficient to keep them alive, it
+not being practicable to spare them more than at the rate of a pint a day
+for each, the crew themselves having only an allowance of a pint and a
+half. All this considered, it was wonderful that not a man of them died
+during their long confinement, except three of the wounded, who died the
+same night they were taken; though it must be confessed that the greatest
+part of them were strangely metamorphosed by the heat of the hold, for
+when they were first taken they were sightly, robust fellows, but when,
+after above a month's imprisonment, they were discharged in the river of
+Canton, they were reduced to mere skeletons, and their air and looks
+corresponded much more to the conception formed of ghosts and spectres
+than to the figure and appearance of real men.
+
+Thus employed in securing the treasure and the prisoners, the Commodore,
+as has been said, stood for the river of Canton, and on the 30th of June,
+at six in the evening, got sight of Cape Delangano, which then bore west
+ten leagues distant, and the next day he made the Bashee Islands, and the
+wind being so far to the northward that it was difficult to weather them,
+it was resolved to stand through between Grafton and Monmouth Islands,
+where the passage seemed to be clear; but in getting through the sea had
+a very dangerous aspect, for it rippled and foamed as if it had been full
+of breakers, which was still more terrible as it was then night. But the
+ships got through very safe, the prize always keeping ahead, and it was
+found that the appearance which had alarmed them had been occasioned only
+by a strong tide, and on the 11th of July, having taken on board two
+Chinese pilots, one for the Centurion and the other for the prize, they
+came to an anchor off the city of Macao.
+
+By this time the particulars of the cargo of the galleon were well
+ascertained, and it was found that she had on board 1,313,843 pieces of
+eight and 35,682 ounces of virgin silver, besides some cochineal and a
+few other commodities, which, however, were but of small account in
+comparison of the specie. And this being the Commodore's last prize, it
+hence appears that all the treasure taken by the Centurion was not much
+short of 400,000 pounds independent of the ships and merchandise which
+she either burnt or destroyed, and which by the most reasonable
+estimation could not amount to so little as 600,000 more; so that the
+whole loss of the enemy by our squadron did doubtless exceed a million
+sterling. To which, if there be added the great expense of the court of
+Spain in fitting out Pizarro, and in paying the additional charges in
+America incurred on our account, together with the loss of their
+men-of-war, the total of all these articles will be a most exorbitant
+sum, and is the strongest conviction of the utility of this expedition,
+which, with all its numerous disadvantages, did yet prove so extremely
+prejudicial to the enemy.
+
+
+CHAPTER 36.
+THE CANTON RIVER--NEGOTIATING WITH THE CHINESE--PRISONERS RELEASED.
+
+The Commodore, having taken pilots on board, proceeded with his prize for
+the river of Canton, and on the 14th of July came to an anchor short of
+the Bocca Tigris, which is a narrow passage forming the mouth of that
+river. This entrance he proposed to stand through the next day, and to
+run up as far as Tiger Island, which is a very safe road, secured from
+all winds.
+
+CHINESE INQUIRIES.
+
+But whilst the Centurion and her prize were thus at anchor, a boat with
+an officer came off from the mandarin commanding the forts at Bocca
+Tigris to examine what the ships were and whence they came. Mr. Anson
+informed the officer that his ship was a ship of war, belonging to the
+King of Great Britain, and that the other in company with him was a prize
+he had taken; that he was going into Canton River to shelter himself
+against the hurricanes which were then coming on; and that as soon as the
+monsoon shifted he should proceed for England. The officer then desired
+an account of what men, guns, and ammunition were on board, a list of all
+which, he said, was to be sent to the Government of Canton. But when
+these articles were repeated to him, particularly when he was told that
+there were in the Centurion four hundred fire locks and between three
+hundred and four hundred barrels of powder, he shrugged up his shoulders
+and seemed to be terrified with the bare recital, saying that no ships
+ever came into Canton River armed in that manner; adding that he durst
+not set down the whole of this force, lest it should too much alarm the
+Regency. After he had finished his enquiries, and was preparing to
+depart, he desired to leave the two custom-house officers behind him, on
+which the Commodore told him that though as a man-of-war he was
+prohibited from trading, and had nothing to do with customs or duties of
+any kind, yet for the satisfaction of the Chinese he would permit two of
+their people to be left on board, who might themselves be witnesses how
+punctually he should comply with his instructions. The officer seemed
+amazed when Mr. Anson mentioned being exempted from all duties, and told
+him that the Emperor's duty must be paid by all ships that came into his
+ports.
+
+On the 16th of July the Commodore sent his second lieutenant to Canton
+with a letter to the Viceroy, informing him of the reason of the
+Centurion's putting into that port, and that the Commodore himself soon
+proposed to repair to Canton to pay a visit to the Viceroy. The
+lieutenant was very civilly received, and was promised that an answer
+should be sent to the Commodore the next day. In the meantime Mr. Anson
+gave leave to several of the officers of the galleon to go to Canton,
+they engaging their parole to return in two days. When these prisoners
+got to Canton the Regency sent for them and examined them, enquiring
+particularly by what means they had fallen into Mr. Anson's power. And on
+this occasion the prisoners were honest enough to declare that as the
+Kings of Great Britain and Spain were at war, they had proposed to
+themselves the taking of the Centurion, and had bore down upon her with
+that view, but that the event had been contrary to their hopes. However,
+they acknowledged that they had been treated by the Commodore much better
+than they believed they should have treated him had he fallen into their
+hands. This confession from an enemy had great weight with the Chinese,
+who till then, though they had revered the Commodore's power, had yet
+suspected his morals, and had considered him rather as a lawless free
+booter than as one commissioned by the State for revenge of public
+injuries. But they now changed their opinion, and regarded him as a more
+important person, to which perhaps the vast treasure of his prize might
+not a little contribute, the acquisition of wealth being a matter greatly
+adapted to the estimation and reverence of the Chinese nation.
+
+In this examination of the Spanish prisoners, though the Chinese had no
+reason in the main to doubt the account which was given them, yet there
+were two circumstances which appeared to them so singular as to deserve a
+more ample explanation. One of them was the great disproportion of men
+between the Centurion and the galleon, the other was the humanity with
+which the people of the galleon were treated after they were taken. The
+mandarins therefore asked the Spaniards how they came to be overpowered
+by so inferior a force, and how it happened, since the two nations were
+at war, that they were not put to death when they came into the hands of
+the English. To the first of these enquiries the Spanish replied that
+though they had more hands than the Centurion, yet she, being intended
+solely for war, had a great superiority in the size of her guns, and in
+many other articles, over the galleon, which was a vessel fitted out
+principally for traffic. And as to the second question, they told the
+Chinese that amongst the nations of Europe it was not customary to put to
+death those who submitted, though they readily owned that the Commodore,
+from the natural bias of his temper, had treated both them and their
+countrymen, who had formerly been in his power, with very unusual
+courtesy, much beyond what they could have expected, or than was required
+by the customs established between nations at war with each other. These
+replies fully satisfied the Chinese, and at the same time wrought very
+powerfully in the Commodore's favour.
+
+A MESSAGE FROM THE VICEROY.
+
+On the 20th of July, in the morning, three mandarins, with a great number
+of boats and a vast retinue, came on board the Centurion and delivered to
+the Commodore the Viceroy of Canton's order for a daily supply of
+provisions, and for pilots to carry the ships up the river as far as the
+second bar; and at the same time they delivered him a message from the
+Viceroy in answer to the letter sent to Canton. The substance of the
+message was that the Viceroy desired to be excused from receiving the
+Commodore's visit during the then excessive hot weather, because the
+assembling the mandarins and soldiers necessary to that ceremony would
+prove extremely inconvenient and fatiguing; but that in September, when
+the weather would be more temperate, he should be glad to see both the
+Commodore himself and the English captain of the other ship that was with
+him. As Mr. Anson knew that an express had been dispatched to the court
+at Peking with an account of the Centurion and her prize being arrived in
+the river of Canton, he had no doubt but the principal motive for putting
+off this visit was that the regency at Canton might gain time to receive
+the Emperor's instructions about their behaviour on this unusual affair.
+
+When the mandarins had delivered their message they began to talk to the
+Commodore about the duties to be paid by his ships, but he immediately
+told them that he would never submit to any demand of that kind, adding
+that no duties were ever demanded of men-of-war by nations accustomed to
+their reception, and that his master's orders expressly forbade him from
+paying any acknowledgment for his ships anchoring in any port whatever.
+The mandarins being thus cut short on the subject of the duty, they said
+they had another matter to mention, which was the only remaining one they
+had in charge. This was a request to the Commodore that he would release
+the prisoners he had taken on board the galleon, for that the Viceroy of
+Canton apprehended the Emperor, his master, might be displeased if he
+should be informed that persons who were his allies, and carried on a
+great commerce with his subjects, were under confinement in his
+dominions. Mr. Anson was himself extremely desirous to get rid of the
+Spaniards, having on his first arrival sent about one hundred of them to
+Macao, and those who remained, which were near four hundred more, were on
+many accounts a great encumbrance to him. However, to enhance the favour,
+he at first raised some difficulties; but, permitting himself to be
+prevailed on, he at last told the mandarins that to show his readiness to
+oblige the Viceroy he would release the prisoners whenever they (the
+Chinese) would send boats to fetch them off. This matter being adjusted,
+the mandarins departed; and on the 28th of July two Chinese junks were
+sent from Canton to take on board the prisoners, and to carry them to
+Macao. And the Commodore, agreeable to his promise, dismissed them all,
+and ordered his purser to send with them eight days' provision for their
+subsistence during their sailing down the river. This being despatched,
+the Centurion and her prize came to her moorings above the second bar,
+where they proposed to continue till the monsoon shifted.
+
+
+CHAPTER 37.
+CHINESE TRICKERY.
+
+Though the ships, in consequence of the Viceroy's permit, found no
+difficulty in purchasing provisions for their daily consumption, yet it
+was impossible for the Commodore to proceed to England without laying in
+a large quantity both of provisions and stores for his use during the
+voyage. The procuring this supply was attended with much embarrassment,
+for there were people at Canton who had undertaken to furnish him with
+biscuit and whatever else he wanted, and his linguist, towards the middle
+of September, had assured him from day to day that all was ready and
+would be sent on board him immediately. But a fortnight being elapsed,
+and nothing being brought, the Commodore sent to Canton to enquire more
+particularly into the reasons of this disappointment, and he had soon the
+vexation to be informed that the whole was an illusion; that no order had
+been procured from the Viceroy to furnish him with his sea stores, as had
+been pretended; that there was no biscuit baked, nor any one of the
+articles in readiness which had been promised him; nor did it appear that
+the contractors had taken the least step to comply with their agreement.
+This was most disagreeable news, and made it suspected that the
+furnishing the Centurion for her return to Great Britain might prove a
+more troublesome matter than had been hitherto imagined; especially, too,
+as the month of September was nearly elapsed without Mr. Anson's having
+received any message from the Viceroy of Canton.
+
+It were endless to recount all the artifices, extortions, and frauds,
+which were practised on the Commodore and his people by the Chinese. The
+method of buying all things in China being by weight, the tricks made use
+of by them to increase the weight of the provision they sold to the
+Centurion were almost incredible. One time, a large quantity of fowls and
+ducks being brought for the ship's use, the greatest part of them
+presently died. This alarmed the people on board with the apprehension
+that they had been killed by poison, but on examination it appeared that
+it was only owing to their being crammed with stones and gravel to
+increase their weight, the quantity thus forced into most of the ducks
+being found to amount to ten ounces in each. The hogs, too, which were
+bought ready killed of the Chinese butchers, had water injected into them
+for the same purpose, so that a carcase hung up all night for the water
+to drain from it has lost above a stone of its weight, and when, to avoid
+this cheat, the hogs were bought alive, it was found that the Chinese
+gave them salt to increase their thirst, and having by this means excited
+them to drink great quantities of water, they then took measures to
+prevent them from discharging it again, and sold the tortured animal in
+this inflated state. When the Commodore first put to sea from Macao, they
+practised an artifice of another kind, for as the Chinese never object to
+the eating of any food that dies of itself, they took care, by some
+secret practises, that great part of his live sea-store should die in a
+short time after it was put on board, hoping to make a second profit of
+the dead carcases which they expected would be thrown overboard, and
+two-thirds of the hogs dying before the Centurion was out of sight of
+land, many of the Chinese boats followed her only to pick up the carrion.
+These instances may serve as a specimen of the manners of this celebrated
+nation, which is often recommended to the rest of the world as a pattern
+of all kinds of laudable qualities.
+
+
+CHAPTER 38.
+PREPARATIONS FOR A VISIT TO CANTON.
+
+The Commodore, towards the end of September, having found out (as has
+been said) that those who had contracted to supply him with sea
+provisions and stores had deceived him, and that the Viceroy had not sent
+to him according to his promise, he saw it would be impossible for him to
+surmount the embarrassment he was under without going himself to Canton,
+and visiting the Viceroy. And therefore, on the 27th of September, he
+sent a message to the mandarin who attended the Centurion to inform him
+that he, the Commodore, intended on the 1st of October to proceed in his
+boat to Canton, adding that the day after he got there he should notify
+his arrival to the Viceroy, and should desire him to fix a time for his
+audience; to which the mandarin returned no other answer than that he
+would acquaint the Viceroy with the Commodore's intentions. In the
+meantime all things were prepared for this expedition, and the boat's
+crew in particular which Mr. Anson proposed to take with him, were
+clothed in a uniform dress resembling that of the watermen on the Thames.
+They were in number eighteen and a coxswain. They had scarlet jackets and
+blue silk waistcoats, the whole trimmed with silver buttons, and with
+silver badges on their jackets and caps.
+
+A WISE PRECAUTION.
+
+As it was apprehended, and even asserted, that the payment of the
+customary duties for the Centurion and her prize would be demanded by the
+Regency of Canton, and would be insisted on previous to the granting a
+permission for victualling the ship for her future voyage, the Commodore,
+who was resolved never to establish so dishonourable a precedent, took
+all possible precautions to prevent the Chinese from facilitating the
+success of their unreasonable pretentions by having him in their power at
+Canton. And, therefore, for the security of his ship and the great
+treasure on board her, he appointed his first lieutenant, Mr. Brett, to
+be captain of the Centurion under him, giving him proper instructions for
+his conduct, directing him particularly, if he, the Commodore, should be
+detained at Canton on account of the duties in dispute, to take out the
+men from the Centurion's prize and to destroy her, and then to proceed
+down the river through the Bocca Tigris with the Centurion alone, and to
+remain without that entrance till he received further orders from Mr.
+Anson.
+
+These necessary steps being taken, which were not unknown to the Chinese,
+it should seem as if their deliberations were in some sort embarrassed
+thereby. It is reasonable to imagine that they were in general very
+desirous of getting the duties to be paid them, not perhaps solely in
+consideration of the amount of those dues, but to keep up their
+reputation for address and subtlety, and to avoid the imputation of
+receding from claims on which they had already so frequently insisted.
+However, as they now foresaw that they had no other method of succeeding
+than by violence, and that even against this the Commodore was prepared,
+they were at last disposed, I conceive, to let the affair drop, rather
+than entangle themselves in a hostile measure which they found would only
+expose them to the risk of having the whole navigation of their port
+destroyed, without any certain prospect of gaining their favourite point
+thereby.
+
+
+CHAPTER 39.
+STORES AND PROVISIONS--A FIRE IN CANTON--SAILORS AS FIREMEN--THE VICEROY'S
+GRATITUDE.
+
+BARGAINING.
+
+When the Commodore arrived at Canton he was visited by the principal
+Chinese merchants, who affected to appear very much pleased that he had
+met with no obstruction in getting thither. They added that, as soon as
+the Viceroy should be informed that Mr. Anson was at Canton, they were
+persuaded a day would be immediately appointed for the visit, which was
+the principal business that had brought the Commodore thither.
+
+The next day the merchants returned to Mr. Anson, and told him that the
+Viceroy was then so fully employed in preparing his despatches for Pekin,
+that there was no getting admittance to him for some days; but that they
+had engaged one of the officers of his court to give them information as
+soon as he should be at leisure when they proposed to notify Mr. Anson's
+arrival, and to endeavour to fix the day of audience. The Commodore was
+by this time too well acquainted with their artifices not to perceive
+that this was a falsehood, and had he consulted only his own judgment he
+would have applied directly to the Viceroy by other hands. But the
+Chinese merchants had so far prepossessed the supercargoes of our ships
+with chimerical fears, that they were extremely apprehensive of being
+embroiled with the government and of suffering in their interest, if
+those measures were taken which appeared to Mr. Anson at that time to be
+the most prudential; and therefore, lest the malice and double-dealing of
+the Chinese might have given rise to some sinister incident which would
+be afterwards laid at his door, he resolved to continue passive as long
+as it should appear that he lost no time by thus suspending his own
+opinion. With this view he promised not to take any immediate step
+himself for getting admittance to the Viceroy, provided the Chinese with
+whom he contracted for provisions would let him see that his bread was
+baked, his meat salted, and his stores prepared with the utmost despatch.
+But if, by the time when all was in readiness to be shipped off (which it
+was supposed would be in about forty days), the merchants should not have
+procured the Viceroy's permission, then the Commodore proposed to apply
+for it himself. These were the terms Mr. Anson thought proper to offer to
+quiet the uneasiness of the supercargoes; and notwithstanding the
+apparent equity of the conditions, many difficulties and objections were
+urged, nor would the Chinese agree to them till the Commodore had
+consented to pay for every article he bespoke before it was put in hand.
+However, at last the contract being passed, it was some satisfaction to
+the Commodore to be certain that his preparations were now going on, and
+being himself on the spot, he took care to hasten them as much as
+possible.
+
+During this interval, in which the stores and provisions were getting
+ready, the merchants continually entertained Mr. Anson with accounts of
+their various endeavours to get a licence from the Viceroy, and their
+frequent disappointments, which to him was now a matter of amusement, as
+he was fully satisfied there was not one word of truth in anything they
+said. But when all was completed, and wanted only to be shipped, which
+was about the 24th of November, at which time, too, the north-east
+monsoon was set in, he then resolved to apply himself to the Viceroy to
+demand an audience, as he was persuaded that without this ceremony the
+procuring a permission to send his stores on board would meet with great
+difficulty. On the 24th of November, therefore, Mr. Anson sent one of his
+officers to the mandarin who commanded the guard of the principal gate of
+the city of Canton with a letter directed to the Viceroy. When this
+letter was delivered to the mandarin, he received the officer who brought
+it very civilly, and took down the contents of it in Chinese, and
+promised that the Viceroy should be immediately acquainted with it, but
+told the officer it was not necessary for him to wait for an answer,
+because a message would be sent to the Commodore himself.
+
+A FIRE AT CANTON.
+
+Two days after the sending the above-mentioned letter a fire broke out in
+the suburbs of Canton. On the first alarm Mr. Anson went thither with his
+officers and his boat's crew to assist the Chinese. When he came there he
+found that it had begun in a sailor's shed, and that by the slightness of
+the buildings and the awkwardness of the Chinese it was getting head
+apace. But he perceived that by pulling down some of the adjacent sheds
+it might easily be extinguished; and particularly observing that it was
+running along a wooden cornice which would soon communicate it to a great
+distance, he ordered his people to begin with tearing away that cornice.
+This was presently attempted, and would have been soon executed, but in
+the meantime he was told that, as there was no mandarin there to direct
+what was to be done, the Chinese would make him (the Commodore)
+answerable for whatever should be pulled down by his orders. On this his
+people desisted, and he sent them to the English factory to assist in
+securing the Company's treasure and effects, as it was easy to foresee
+that no distance was a protection against the rage of such a fire, where
+so little was done to put a stop to it; for all this time the Chinese
+contented themselves with viewing it and now and then holding one of
+their idols near it, which they seemed to expect should check its
+progress. However, at last a mandarin came out of the city, attended by
+four or five hundred firemen. These made some feeble efforts to pull down
+the neighbouring houses, but by this time the fire had greatly extended
+itself, and was got amongst the merchants' warehouses, and the Chinese
+firemen, wanting both skill and spirit, were incapable of checking its
+violence, so that its fury increased upon them, and it was feared the
+whole city would be destroyed. In this general confusion the Viceroy
+himself came thither, and the Commodore was sent to and was entreated to
+afford his assistance, being told that he might take any measures he
+should think most prudent in the present emergency. And now he went
+thither a second time, carrying with him about forty of his people, who
+upon this occasion exerted themselves in such a manner as in that country
+was altogether without example. For they were rather animated than
+deterred by the flames and falling buildings amongst which they wrought,
+so that it was not uncommon to see the most forward of them tumble to the
+ground on the roofs and amidst the ruins of houses which their own
+efforts brought down with them. By their boldness and activity the fire
+was soon extinguished, to the amazement of the Chinese, and the building
+being all on one floor, and the materials slight, the seamen,
+notwithstanding their daring behaviour, happily escaped with no other
+injuries than some considerable bruises. The fire, though at last thus
+luckily extinguished, did great mischief during the time it continued,
+for it consumed an hundred shops and eleven streets full of warehouses,
+so that the damage amounted to an immense sum. It raged, indeed, with
+unusual violence, for in many of the warehouses there were large
+quantities of camphor, which greatly added to its fury, and produced a
+column of exceeding white flame, which shot up into the air to such a
+prodigious height that the flame itself was plainly seen on board the
+Centurion, though she was thirty miles distant.
+
+Whilst the Commodore and his people were labouring at the fire, and the
+terror of its becoming general still possessed the whole city, several of
+the most considerable Chinese merchants came to Mr. Anson to desire that
+he would let each of them have one of his soldiers (for such they styled
+his boat's crew from the uniformity of their dress) to guard their
+warehouses and dwelling-houses, which, from the known dishonesty of the
+populace, they feared would be pillaged in the tumult. Mr. Anson granted
+them this request, and all the men that he thus furnished to the Chinese
+behaved greatly to the satisfaction of their employers, who afterwards
+highly applauded their great diligence and fidelity. By this means the
+resolution of the English at the fire, and their trustiness and
+punctuality elsewhere, was the subject of general conversation amongst
+the Chinese, and the next morning many of the principal inhabitants
+waited on the Commodore to thank him for his assistance, frankly owning
+to him that they could never have extinguished the fire of themselves,
+and that he had saved their city from being totally consumed. And soon
+after a message came to the Commodore from the Viceroy, appointing the
+30th of November for his audience, which sudden resolution of the
+Viceroy, in a matter that had been so long agitated in vain, was also
+owing to the signal services performed by Mr. Anson and his people at the
+fire, of which the Viceroy himself had been in some measure an
+eye-witness. The fixing this business of the audience was, on all
+accounts, a circumstance which Mr. Anson was much pleased with, as he was
+satisfied that the Chinese Government would not have determined this
+point without having agreed among themselves to give up their pretensions
+to the duties they claimed, and to grant him all he could reasonably ask;
+for, as they well knew the Commodore's sentiments, it would have been a
+piece of imprudence not consistent with the refined cunning of the
+Chinese to have admitted him to an audience only to have contested with
+him.
+
+
+CHAPTER 40.
+ANSON RECEIVED BY THE VICEROY--CENTURION SETS SAIL--TABLE BAY--SPITHEAD.
+
+THE VICEROY.
+
+At ten o'clock in the morning, on the day appointed, a mandarin came to
+the Commodore to let him know that the Viceroy was ready to receive him,
+on which the Commodore and his retinue immediately set out. And as soon
+as he entered the outer gate of the city, he found a guard of two hundred
+soldiers drawn up ready to attend him; these conducted him to the great
+parade before the Emperor's palace, where the Viceroy then resided. In
+this parade a body of troops, to the number of ten thousand, were drawn
+up under arms, and made a very fine appearance, being all of them new
+clothed for this ceremony, and Mr. Anson and his retinue having passed
+through the middle of them, he was then conducted to the great hall of
+audience, where he found the Viceroy seated under a rich canopy in the
+Emperor's chair of state, with all his Council of Mandarins attending.
+Here there was a vacant seat prepared for the Commodore, in which he was
+placed on his arrival. He was ranked the third in order from the Viceroy,
+there being above him only the head of the law and of the treasury, who
+in the Chinese Government take place of all military officers. When the
+Commodore was seated he addressed himself to the Viceroy by his
+interpreter, and began with reciting the various methods he had formerly
+taken to get an audience, adding that he imputed the delays he had met
+with to the insincerity of those he had employed, and that he had
+therefore no other means left than to send, as he had done, his own
+officer with a letter to the gate. On the mention of this the Viceroy
+stopped the interpreter, and bid him assure Mr. Anson that the first
+knowledge they had of his being at Canton was from the letter. Mr. Anson
+then proceeded, acquainting the Viceroy that the proper season was now
+set in for returning to Europe, and that he waited only for a license to
+ship off his provisions and stores, which were all ready, and that, as
+soon as this should be granted to him, and he should have got his
+necessaries on board, he intended to leave the river of Canton and to
+make the best of his way to England. The Viceroy replied to this that the
+license should be immediately issued, and that everything should be
+ordered on board the following day. The Viceroy continued the
+conversation for some time, acknowledging in very civil terms how much
+the Chinese were obliged to him for his signal services at the fire, and
+owning that he had saved the city from being destroyed; and then,
+observing that the Centurion had been a good while on their coast, he
+closed his discourse by wishing the Commodore a good voyage to Europe.
+After which, the Commodore thanking him for his civility and assistance,
+took his leave.
+
+Thus the Commodore, to his great joy, at last finished this troublesome
+affair, which for the preceding four months had given him great
+disquietude. Indeed, he was highly pleased with procuring a licence for
+the shipping his stores and provisions; for thereby he was enabled to
+return to Great Britain with the first of the monsoon, and to prevent all
+intelligence of his being expected. But this, though a very important
+point, was not the circumstance which gave him the greatest satisfaction,
+for he was more particularly attentive to the authentic precedent
+established on this occasion, by which His Majesty's ships of war are for
+the future exempted from all demands of duty in any of the ports of
+China.
+
+HOMEWARD BOUND.
+
+In pursuance of the promises of the Viceroy, the provisions were begun to
+be sent on board the day after the audience, and four days after the
+Commodore embarked at Canton for the Centurion, and on the 7th of
+December the Centurion and her prize unmoored and stood down the river,
+passing through the Bocca Tigris on the 10th. And on this occasion I must
+observe that the Chinese had taken care to man the two forts on each side
+of that passage with as many men as they could well contain, the greatest
+part of them armed with pikes and matchlock muskets. These garrisons
+affected to show themselves as much as possible to the ships, and were
+doubtless intended to induce Mr. Anson to think more reverently than he
+had hitherto done of the Chinese military power. For this purpose they
+were equipped with much parade, having a great number of colours exposed
+to view, and on the castle in particular there were laid considerable
+heaps of large stones, and a soldier of unusual size, dressed in very
+sightly armour, stalked about on the parapet with a battleaxe in his hand
+endeavouring to put on as important and martial an air as possible,
+though some of the observers on board the Centurion shrewdly suspected,
+from the appearance of his armour, that instead of steel, it was composed
+only of a particular kind of glittering paper.
+
+The Commodore, on the 12th of December, anchored before the town of
+Macao. Whilst the ships lay here the merchants of Macao finished their
+agreement for the galleon, for which they had offered 6,000 dollars; this
+was much short of her value, but the impatience of the Commodore to get
+to sea, to which the merchants were no strangers, prompted them to insist
+on so unequal a bargain. Mr. Anson had learnt enough from the English at
+Canton to conjecture that the war betwixt Great Britain and Spain was
+still continued, and that probably the French might engage in the
+assistance of Spain before he could arrive in Great Britain; and
+therefore, knowing that no intelligence could get to Europe of the prize
+he had taken, and the treasure he had on board, till the return of the
+merchantmen from Canton, he was resolved to make all possible expedition
+in getting back, that he might be himself the first messenger of his own
+good fortune, and might thereby prevent the enemy from forming any
+projects to intercept him. For these reasons he, to avoid all delay,
+accepted the sum offered for the galleon, and she being delivered to the
+merchants, the 15th of December 1743, the Centurion the same day got
+under sail on her return to England. And on the 3rd of January she came
+to an anchor at Prince's Island, in the Straits of Sunda, and continued
+there wooding and watering till the 8th, when she weighed and stood for
+the Cape of Good Hope, where on the 11th of March she anchored in Table
+Bay.
+
+Here the Commodore continued till the beginning of April, highly
+delighted with the place, which by its extraordinary accommodations, the
+healthiness of its air, and the picturesque appearance of the country,
+all enlivened by the addition of a civilised colony, was not disgraced in
+an imaginary comparison with the valleys of Juan Fernandez and the lawns
+of Tinian. During his stay he entered about forty new men, and having by
+the 3rd of April, 1744, completed his water and provision, he on that day
+weighed and put to sea. The 19th of the same month they saw the island of
+St. Helena, which, however, they did not touch at, but stood on their
+way; and on the 10th of June, being then in soundings, they spoke with an
+English ship from Amsterdam bound for Philadelphia, whence they received
+the first intelligence of a French war. The 12th they got sight of the
+Lizard, and the 15th, in the evening, to their infinite joy, they came
+safe to an anchor at Spithead. But that the signal perils which had so
+often threatened them in the preceding part of the enterprise might
+pursue them to the very last, Mr. Anson learned on his arrival that there
+was a French fleet of considerable force cruising in the chops of the
+Channel, which, by the account of their position, he found the Centurion
+had run through and had been all the time concealed by a fog. Thus was
+this expedition finished, when it had lasted three years and nine months,
+after having, by its event, strongly evinced this important truth: That
+though prudence, intrepidity, and perseverance united are not exempted
+from the blows of adverse fortune, yet in a long series of transactions
+they usually rise superior to its power, and in the end rarely fail of
+proving successful.
+
+
+GLOSSARY.
+
+Anchors:
+
+Bower anchors (the best bower and the small bower). The anchors carried
+at the bows of a vessel.
+
+The sheet anchor (= shoot anchor). An anchor to be shot out or lowered in
+case of a great danger, carried abaft the forerigging; formerly the
+largest anchor.
+
+Bag-wig. See Wig.
+
+Barge. See Boats.
+
+Bilging. To bilge = to be stove in, or suffer serious injury in the
+bilge, which is the bottom part of a ship's hull.
+
+Boats:
+
+Barge. The second boat of a man-of-war; a long narrow boat, generally
+with not less than ten oars, for the use of the chief officers.
+
+Cutter. A boat belonging to a ship of war, shorter and in proportion
+broader than the barge or pinnace, fitted for rowing and sailing, and
+used for carrying light stores, passengers, etc.
+
+Longboat. The principal boat of the old man-of-war. Now replaced by steam
+launches.
+
+Pinnace. A boat for the accommodation of the inferior officers of a
+man-of-war, resembling the barge.
+
+Yawl. A small boat used for much the same purposes as the cutter.
+
+Bow-chasers. See Chasers.
+
+Bower. See Anchor.
+
+Bring to. To bring a vessel's head up to the wind so that the wind blows
+from bow to stern.
+
+Broad pennant. See Commodore.
+
+Cacao. Chocolate nuts.
+
+Cackle. To cover a cable spirally with old three-inch rope to protect it
+from chafing.
+
+Callous (of a broken bone). The new bony tissue formed between and around
+the fractured ends of a broken bone in the process of reuniting.
+
+Careening is the operation of heaving down a ship on one side, in order
+to expose the other side for cleaning.
+
+Cartel. A written agreement between belligerents for an exchange of
+prisoners.
+
+Caulk. To make a ship's seams watertight by plugging the crevices with
+oakum (i.e. old untwisted rope).
+
+Chasers. Bow-chasers were two long chase-guns placed forward in the bow
+ports to fire directly ahead. Stern-chasers were similar guns mounted
+astern.
+
+Clean. A clean ship is one whose bottom is free from barnacles and weed
+that check the pace.
+
+Clearing for action. To get ready for battle by clearing the decks from
+encumbrances and anything unnecessary or dangerous, such as wooden
+partitions between cabins, etc.
+
+Cochineal. A dye stuff consisting of female cochineal insects killed and
+dried by heat. They yield a brilliant scarlet dye.
+
+Cohorn mortars. See Mortar.
+
+The commerce. Used several times in the sense of "the traders."
+
+Commodore. A naval officer ranking above a captain and below a
+rear-admiral. In the British Navy the rank is a temporary one, given to
+senior officers in command of detached squadrons. The broad pennant
+(chapter 4) is the flag that marks the presence of a commodore on board.
+
+Courses. The sails below the topsails and next to the deck.
+
+Cutter. See Boats.
+
+Dollar. A corruption of the German "thaler," a name for a silver coin
+worth about four shillings. The name was extended in the form "dollar" to
+other coins of similar size, notably the old Spanish "piece of eight."
+See Pieces of eight.
+
+Doubloon. A former Spanish gold coin worth about eight dollars.
+
+Eight. See Pieces of.
+
+Embargo. A temporary order from Government to prevent the arrival or
+departure of ships.
+
+Fetch (the wake of). To reach the track left by a ship.
+
+File (of musketeers). Latin filum, French file = a row. The word is used
+to signify any line of men standing directly behind one another. In
+ordinary two-deep formations a file consists of two men, one in the front
+rank and one in the rear rank.
+
+Fishing (a mast). To strengthen or mend a mast by fastening strips of
+wood or iron along a weak or broken place.
+
+Foot-rope. A rope stretched under a yard arm for sailors to stand on
+while reefing or furling sails.
+
+Fore-cap. The cap is a stout block joining the bottom of one mast to the
+top of another; as where the foretopmast joins the foremast.
+
+Foremast, foretopmast, etc. See Mast.
+
+Fore-reach. To gain upon or pass; to beat in sailing.
+
+Foreyard. The lowest yard on the foremast of a square-rigged vessel.
+
+Grapnel. A boat's anchor having more than two flukes. Come to grapnel,
+cf. Come to anchor.
+
+Half-galleys. A galley is a low, flat-built sea-going vessel with one
+deck, propelled by sails and oars. A half-galley is a similar vessel, but
+much shorter.
+
+Half-pike. See Pike.
+
+Hand (the sails). To furl.
+
+Hawser. A large rope or small cable.
+
+Indulgences. The remission by authorised priests of the punishment due to
+sin. The sale of indulgences was one of the abuses that provoked the
+Reformation.
+
+Jerk. To cure meat, especially beef, by cutting it into long thin slices
+and drying it in the sun.
+
+Jury-mast. A small temporary mast often made of a yard; set up instead of
+a mast that is broken down.
+
+Larboard (or port). The left side of a ship looking towards the bow.
+
+Lay to (lie to). To reduce sail to the lowest limits, so as to become
+nearly stationary.
+
+Lee. The side or direction opposite to that from which the wind comes.
+
+Line, ship of the. A ship of sufficient size and armament to take a place
+in the line of battle.
+
+Linguist. Interpreter.
+
+Longboat. See Boats.
+
+Lumber. Sawn timber.
+
+Masts:
+The masts of a full-rigged three-masted ship are the following:
+Fore-mast, topmast, topgallant-mast, royal mast.
+Main-mast, topmast, topgallant-mast, royal mast.
+Mizzen-mast, topmast, topgallant-mast, royal mast.
+
+Monsoon. See Winds.
+
+Mortar. A kind of gun with a very short bore. It throws its projectile at
+a great elevation.
+
+Mortar, Cohorn (see chapter 7). Cohorn was a famous Dutch engineer and
+artillerist in the service of William III.
+
+Nailed up. Spiked. To spike a gun is to render it useless for the time by
+inserting into the vent a steel pin with side springs, which when
+inserted open outwards to the shape of an arrowhead so that it cannot be
+released.
+
+Offing:
+1. The most distant part of the sea visible from the shore.
+2. A still greater distance, sufficient to avoid the dangers of shipwreck,
+as "a good offing."
+
+Overreach. To pass.
+
+Parallel, i.e. of latitude or longitude as the case may be.
+
+Pennant, Broad. See Commodore.
+
+Pidreroes. Light Spanish cannon.
+
+Pieces of eight. Old Spanish coins worth about four shillings each. The
+piece of eight was divided into eight silver reals. Hence the name which
+was applied to it in the Spanish Main. It was also frequently called a
+dollar.
+
+Pike. A long shaft or pole, having an iron or steel point, used in
+medieval warfare, now replaced by the bayonet. A half-pike was a similar
+weapon having a staff about half the length.
+
+Pink. An obsolete name for a small sailing ship.
+
+Pinnace. See Boats.
+
+Port (or larboard). The left side of a ship looking towards the bow.
+
+Post-captain. An obsolete title for a captain of three years' standing.
+
+Proa. A small Malay vessel.
+
+Quarter. The upper part of a vessel's side from abaft the main mast to
+the stern.
+
+Quarter gallery. A gallery is a balcony built outside the body of a ship:
+at the stern (stern gallery) or at the quarters (quarter gallery).
+
+Reef. A portion of a sail that can be drawn close together.
+
+Rosaries. Strings of beads used by Roman Catholics in praying. Each bead
+told (or counted) represents a prayer.
+
+Scuttle. To make a hole in the bottom of a ship in order to sink it.
+
+Serons (of dollars). A seron or seroon is a kind of small trunk made in
+Spanish America out of a piece of raw bullock's hide.
+
+Service (of a cable). The part next the anchor secured by cordage wrapped
+round it.
+
+Ship of the line. See Line.
+
+Shrouds. The stout ropes that are stretched from a masthead of a vessel
+to the sides or to the rims of a top, serving as a means of ascent and as
+a lateral strengthening stays to the masts.
+
+Sling. A rope or chain by which a lower yard is suspended.
+
+Sprit-sail. A quadrangular sail stretched from the mast by the help, not
+of a gaff along its top, but of a sprit (or yard) extending from the mast
+diagonally to the upper aftmost corner of the sail, as in the case of a
+London barge.
+
+Sprit-sail yard. Another name for the sprit.
+
+Standing rigging. The parts of a vessel's rigging that are practically
+permanent.
+
+Starboard. The right side of a ship looking towards the bow.
+
+Stern-chasers. See Chasers.
+
+Streaks (or strakes). Lines of planking.
+
+Supercargo. A person employed by the owners of a ship to go a voyage and
+to oversee the cargo.
+
+Tacks ("got our tacks on board," chapter 17). Ropes for hauling down and
+fastening the corners of certain sails.
+
+Taffrail. The upper part of the stern of a ship.
+
+Tie-wig. See Wig.
+
+Tradewind. See Winds.
+
+Transom. A beam across the stern-post to strengthen the after part of the
+ship.
+
+Traverse. To turn guns to the right or left in aiming.
+
+Wake. The track left by a ship.
+
+Warp. To move a vessel into another position by hauling upon a hawser
+attached usually to the heads of piles or posts of a wharf.
+
+Wear (a ship). To bring a ship about by putting the helm up. The vessel
+is first run off before the wind and then brought to on the new tack.
+
+Weather:
+1. The windward side.
+2. To go to windward of.
+
+Wig. A bag-wig is a wig with a bag to hold the back hair. It was
+fashionable in the seventeenth century. A tie-wig is a court wig tied
+with ribbon at the bag.
+
+Winds. The tradewinds are winds which blow all the year through on the
+open ocean in and near the torrid zone. In the northern hemisphere they
+blow from the north-east, in the southern from the south-east. The
+regularity of the tradewind is interfered with by the neighbourhood of
+large land masses. Their temperature varies much more with the change of
+seasons than that of the ocean; and this variation produces a change in
+the direction of the tradewind in the hot season, corresponding distantly
+to a phenomenon which may be observed, daily instead of half-yearly, on
+the English coast in hot summer weather, when a sea breeze blows during
+the day and a land breeze at night. In the northern hemisphere the
+monsoon--as this periodic wind is called--blows from the south-west (i.e.
+towards the heated continent of South Asia) from April to October, and
+from the north-east, as the ordinary trade wind, during the rest of the
+year.
+
+Works, upper. The sides of a vessel's hull from the water-line to the
+covering board.
+
+
+
+
+
+End of Project Gutenberg's Anson's Voyage Round the World, by Richard Walter
+
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