504 BIOGRAPHICAL ACCOUNT 



epitome of all the disasters, short of shipwreck, to which sea- 

 faring men are exposed. They experienced a continuation of 

 the most tempestuous weather, and the most contrary winds, 

 from the moment they quitted the Bahamas, till they arrived 

 at Spithead. To add to their distress, the ship sprung a great 

 leak, three hundred leagues from any land, and it required the 

 utmost skill and exertion to keep her from sinking. In a ter- 

 rible gale, on the 14th of March, their rudder broke in two, 

 so that they could no longer keep the ship's head to the wind, 

 and if the gale had not speedily moderated, they must inevi- 

 tably have perished. When the voyage was near a conclusion, 

 and they were congratulating themselves on the end of their 

 troubles, the ship was found to be on fire, and the flames weFe 

 extinguished with great difficulty. They reached Portsmouth 

 on the 26th of March, and on the 2d of April the mean noon 

 by the watch was found to be at ll h ' 51 m - 31£ sec , and, making 

 correction for the error and rate, this amounted to 1 l h - 58 m - 6j se % 

 so that the whole error, from the first setting sail, was only 

 l m - 53^ sec -, which, in the latitude of Portsmouth, would not 

 amount to an error, in distance, of twenty miles. 



When Mr Robison undertook the voyage to Jamaica, he 

 made no stipulation for any remuneration, and Lord Anson 

 assured him, that he should have no reason to repent the con- 

 fidence which he placed in the Board. But when, on his re- 

 turn, he came to look for the reward, to which the success and 

 trouble of the undertaking certainly entitled him, he soon 

 found that he had greatly erred, in leaving himself so much at 

 the mercy of unforeseen contingencies. Lord Anson was ill of 

 the disease of which he died, and was not in a condition to at- 

 tend to business. Admiral Knowles was disgusted with the 

 Admiralty, and with the Ministry, by which he thought him- 

 self ill-used; so that Mr Robison had nothing to look for from 



personal 



