428 



HISTORY OF THE SEA. 



hunted by dogs trained to the pursuit, a number of which had 

 been left by the Spaniards of Guam : they readily transferred , 

 their services and their allegiance to the English invaders. The 

 island also produced in abundance the very best specifics for 

 scorbutic disorders, — such as dandelion, mint, scurvy-grass, and 

 sorrel. The inlets furnished fish of plethoric size and inviting 

 taste; .the lakes abounded with duck, teal, and curlew, and in 

 the thickets the sportsmen found whole coveys of whistling 

 plover. 



On the night of the 22d of September a violent storm drove 

 the Centurion from her anchorage, sundering her cables like 

 packthread. Anson was on shore, down with the scurvy ; several 

 of the officers, and a large part of the crew, amounting in all 

 to one hundred and thirteen persons, were on shore with him. 

 This catastrophe reduced all, both at sea and on land, to the 

 utmost despair: those in the ship were totally unprepared to 

 struggle with the fury of the winds, and expected each moment 

 to be their last ; those on shore supposed the Centurion to be 

 lost, and conceived that no means were left them ever to depart 

 from the island. As no European ship had probably anchored 

 here before, it was madness to expect that chance would send 

 another in a hundred ages to come Besides, the Spaniards of 

 Guam could not fail to capture them ere long, and, as their 

 letters of marque were gone in the Centurion, they would un- 

 doubtedly be treated as pirates. 



In this desperate state of things, Anson, who preserved, to 

 all outward appearance, his usual composure, projected a scheme 

 for extricating himself and his men from their forlorn situation. 

 In case the Centurion did not return within a week, he said, it 

 would be fair to conclude, not that she was wrecked, but that 

 she had been driven too far to the leeward of the island to be 

 able to return to it, and had doubtless borne away for Macao. 

 Their policy, therefore, was to attempt to join her there. To 

 effect this, they must haul the Spanish bark, which they had 



