THE EFFECT OF SCURVY. 421 



of the crew of the Centurion died of the scurvy ; and during the 

 passage from the Strait to the island of Juan Fernandez the 

 flag-ship lost, by this disease, by accident, and by tempest, two 

 hundred and fifty men; and she could not at last muster more 

 than six foremast-men capable of doing duty. On the 22d of 

 May, all the various disasters, fatigues, and terrors which had 

 previously attacked the Centurion in succession now combined 

 in a simultaneous onset, and seem to have conspired for her 

 destruction. A terrific hurricane from the starboard quarter 

 split all her sails and broke ail her standing rigging, endangered 

 the masts, and shifted the ballast and stores. The air was filled 

 with fire, and the officers and men upon the decks were wounded 

 by exploding flashes which coursed and darted from spar to spar. 



Thus crippled and disabled, with five men dying every day, 

 and not ten of the crew able to go aloft, the Centurion, sepa- 

 rated from her consorts, and supposing them to have perished 

 in the storm, made the best of her weary way to the island of 

 Juan Fernandez, where she arrived at daybreak on the 9th of 

 June, after losing eighty more men from the scurvy. 



"The aspect of this diversified country would at all times," 

 says Anson, "have been delightful; but in our distressed situa- 

 tion, languishing as we were for the land and its vegetable 

 productions,— an inclination attending every stage of the sea- 

 scurvy, — it is scarcely credible with what transport and eager- 

 ness we viewed the shore, and with how T much impatience we 

 longed for the greens and other refreshments which were then 

 in sight, and particularly the water. Even those among the 

 diseased who were not in the very last stages of the distemper 

 exerted the small remains of strength which were left them, 

 and crawled up to the deck to feast themselves with this reviving 

 prospect. Thus we coasted the shore, fully employed in the 

 contemplation of this enchanting landskip." 



In his description of the island, Anson speaks of the former 

 residence of Alexander Selkirk upon it, and says, "Selkirk 



