46 THE SEA. 



of the navy at the period. It was most wretchedly equipped and manned, and although 

 the ships were placed under Anson's command in November, 1739, they were not ready to 

 sail till ten months later, so great was the difficulty in obtaining men. They had to be taken 

 from all and any sources. Five hundred out-pensioners from Chelsea Hospital were sent 

 on board, many of whom were sixty years of age, and some threescore and ten. Before 

 the ships sailed, 240 of them, fortunately for themselves, deserted, their place being filled 

 by a nearly equal number of raw marines, recruits who were so untrained that Anson 

 would not permit them to fire off their muskets, for fear of accidents ! Of the poor 

 pensioners who sailed, not one returned to tell the story of their disasters, while of the 

 whole squadron, consisting of six ships of war, mounting 226 guns, one alone, the 

 Centurion, commanded by Anson himself, reached home, after a cruise of three years and 

 nine months. The history of this voyage, as told by the chaplain of the vessel,* is one 

 round of miseries and disasters. 



" Mr. Anson," says the narrator of this eventful voyage, " was greatly chagrined 

 at having such a decrepit attachment 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 rigorous season of the year. Sir Charles Wager (one of the Lords of 

 the Admiralty) too, joined in opinion with the Commodore, that the invalids were no 

 way proper for this service, and solicited strenuously to have them exchanged ; but he 

 was told that persons who were supposed to be better judges than he or Mr. Anson, thought 

 them the properest men that could be employed on this occasion." All of the poor 

 pensioners " who had limbs and strength to walk out of Portsmouth deserted, leaving behind 

 them only such as were literally invalids. . . . Indeed, it is difficult to conceive a more 

 moving scene than the embarkation of these unhappy veterans. They were themselves 

 extremely averse to the service they were engaged on, and fully apprised of all the disasters 

 they were afterwards exposed to, the apprehensions of which were strongly marked 

 by the concern that appeared in their countenances, which were mixed with no small 

 degree of indignation." Nor can one read these facts without sharing the same feeling. 

 Brave men who had spent the best of their youth and prime in the service of their 

 country, were ruthlessly sent to certain death. 



On the 18th of September, 1740, the squadron, consisting of five men-of-war, a 

 sloop-of-war, and two tenders, or victualling ships, made sail. The vessels comprised 

 the Centurion, of sixty guns and 400 men, commanded by George Anson; the Gloucester 

 and Severn, each fifty guns and 300 men ; the Pearl, of forty guns and 250 men ; the Wager, 

 of twenty-eight guns and 160 men; and the Tryal sloop, eight guns and ]00 men. On 

 their way down the Channel they were joined by other men-of-war convoying the Turkey, 

 Straits, and American merchant fleets, so that for some distance out to sea the combined fleet 

 amounted to no less than eleven vessels of the Royal Navy, and 150 sail of merchantmen. 

 Anson called at Madeira, and refreshed his crews, from thence appointing the Island 

 of St. Catherine's, on the coast of Brazil, as the rendezvous for his fleet. Arrived there 



* The Rev. Richard "Walter, M.A., Chaplain of the Centurion, who compiled the work so well known under the 

 title of Anson's " Voyage Round the World," from the papers and material of the latter. 



