The VOYAGES of 
Book I. 
s by Part of which Cotirfe, that famous Queen* of glorious 
4 Memory, had heretofore almoft brought him to his 
* Knees : And this our Undertaking, (if it pleafes God to 
6 blefs it) muft needs affect it fooner and quicker, the 
4 whole Body of the Kingdom being united, and concur- 
£ ring in a perpetual Supply to this Affion, fo that he 
6 will have no free Time given him to reft. 
8 Moreover, this will be a Means, not only to fave, but 
6 to fill his Majefty’s Coffers, enabling the People to give 
4 him liberally and often. The King’s Ships will have 
* little to do but to guard the Coafts*, for the Sea War 
* will chiefly be made at the Charge of the Subject. Thus 
6 I doubt not, but that, in a fhort time, both King and 
4 People fhall be fafe at home, and feared abroad. To 
4 conclude, I fhall be very glad to hear any Man make 
4 Objections againft this Defign, fo that he do it with an 
4 Intention to refine and perfeff the Work •, but, if any fhall 
s fpeak againft it, with a Mind to hinder and deftroy it, I 
4 muft intreat him to pardon me, if I do fcarce think him 
4 to be a good Englijhman .* 
That ProjeCt had the fame Fate with mo ft other bold and 
honeft Projects in that Reign, which was, that, after being 
talked of a little, it funk into Oblivion. Our next Dif- 
ference with Spain was under Cromwell' s Protectorate, who 
encouraged Father Gage to publifh his Account of the 
Spanijh IVeJl Indies *, which was the Foundation of his At- 
tempt upon Hifpaniola , and the Conqueft of Jamaica *, but 
I do not know of any Defign formed by him to attack 
the Spaniards in the South Seas : After the Reftoration, 
we were upon very good Terms with Spain *, as it was cer- 
tainly our Intereft to be : Yet King Charles the Second did 
not negleff this Navigation abfolutely, but fent Sir John 
Narbrough , one of the beft Seamen this Nation ever bred, 
in the Sweepjlakes, in the latter End of the Year 1669, 
by the Way of the Streights of Magellan , into the South 
Seas : To fay the Truth, our Privateers, under the Com- 
mand of the Captains Sharpe , Davis , Swan, &c. were con- 
tinually in thefe Seas, during all that Reign, and the next ; 
fo that our Seamen were no Strangers, in thofe Days, to 
any of the Paffages into the South Seas *, and, as the 
Reader may have already oblerved from the V oyage of 
Captain Cowley , it was no unufual Thing for the Traders 
of London to fit out Ships for thofe Parts ; whether with a 
View to Traffick or Privateering, is, at this Diftance of 
Time, a Point not eafy to determine. But, whatever 
Purpofe they were fent upon, thither they went, and no 
Complaints were ever heard of, with refpeff: to extraordi- 
nary Hardfhips in the Voyage ; which is fufficient to fliew, 
how much depends upon keeping all Branches of Navi- 
gation open, in order to be conftantly in a Condition to 
fecure and extend our Trade, and to preferve our Reputa- 
tion as a maritime Power. 
After the Revolution, feveral Propofals were made in 
relation to the eftablifliing a Commerce in the South Sea, 
which were received with Approbation ; and it is certain, 
that King William gave Inftruffions to Admiral Benbow , 
when he went laft to the Wejl Indies , to inquire how far 
any of thefe Projeff s were feafible. After the breaking out 
of the laft general War, all the World expeffed, that the 
firft thing the maritime Powers would have done, would 
have been fending a Squadron to thefe Seas, either for the 
Service of the Prince, whom they owned for King of Spain , 
or for their own Advantage. The People of this Nation, 
in particular, were fo defirous of feeing the War carried on 
this Way, and on this Side, that, to give them Hopes, 
and, at the fame time, to fliew that the Legiflature ap- 
proved their Sentiments in this refpeff, a Bill was brought 
into, and paffed by, the Houfe of Lords, for the better 
carrying on the War, by Sea and Land, in the Wejl Indies ; 
which, however, was loft by a kind of minifterial Craft, in 
the Houfe of Commons ; and foon after all Defigns of that 
Nature were laid afide, for Reafons, with which, as yet, 
the Public has never been made acquainted : The only Ex- 
pedition, during the whole War, was that of the Dukemd 
Duchefs , under the Command of Captain Rogers , at the 
Expence of fome private Merchants of Briftol. On the 
Change of the Miniftry, a prodigious-- Clamour was raifed 
upon this Head, and, all of a hidden, a Refolution was 
taken to fecure all the Advantages that could be wiftied for 
to this Nation from the Trade of the South Seas ; which 
ended, however, only in erecting a Company with that 
Title. The Nation very foon became fenfible, that this 
would by no means do ; and therefore, as foon as our 
Difputes with the King of Spain came fo an Height,, in 
the late King’s Reign, a Defign was immediately fet on 
Foot for fending Privateers once more into that Part of 
the World •, which ended in the Expedition of Captain SheL 
vocke , and Captain Clipperton , of which V/e have given a 
large Accourit. 
By this fhort Deduction of Faffs, I think it is demon- 
ftrably proved, that, in the Judgment of this Nation, the 
moft probable Way of humbling Spain , in cafe of a War, 
was to fend a Squadron into the South Seas : And I will • 
venture to fay, that there is one Reafon why this is now 
become more expedient than ever *, which is, that v/e are 
now no longer at Liberty to fend Ships thither in a Time 
of Peace, as we were before the South Sea Company Was 
ereffed. It is not, therefore, at all ftrange, that as foon 
as the prefent War broke out with Spain, the general Voice 
of the People diffated fuch an Expedition ; or that, when 
they faw it refolved on, and a Squadron affually equipped 
for that Service, they teftified very loudly their Appro- 
bation of the Scheme : And, I believe, my Readers will 
eafily give Credit to the Affertion, when I affirm, that, 
during the Time this Squadron lay at Portfmouth , there 
was a moft general Expectation of its performing Things 
of the higheft Confequence for the Service of Great Bri- 
tain , and reducing the Enemy to Reafon. 
2. It was in the midft of Summer, in the Year 1740, 
that this Squadron was formed at Portfmouth , at the lame 
time that a great Embarkation was carrying on for the 
Wejl Indies \ by which the Siege of Carthagena was after- 
wards undertaken, which turned the Eyes of the whole 
World upon that Sea-port : At London , every body fpoke 
of the intended Expedition to the South Seas, as a Defign 
that muft neceffarily be attended withConfequences highly . 
advantageous, if properly conduffed •, of which there was 
not the leaft Doubt made, when Captain Anfon was named 
to the Command i becaufe he had fhewn himfelf, upon all 
Occafions, an Officer equally vigilant in his Duty, and 
moderate in the Exercife of Power*, more ready to correff by 
his own Example, than by any other fort of Reproof*, and 
who, in the Courfe of his Service, had acquired the Refpeff: 
of the Officers, and the Love of the Sailors *, Qualities 
that rarely meet in one Perfon, and Qualities, which, 
without the leaft Contradiction, were afcribed to him. 
It was intended, that a confiderable Body of Land- 
forces Ihould ferve on board this Squadron ; and accord- 
ingly 500 Invalids and Marines were embarked, under 
their proper Officers, to be commanded in Chief by Lieu- 
tenant Colonel Cracherode , now Governor of Landguard 
Fort. There were feveral Accidents which concurred to 
hinder the Departure of this Squadron for fome time jr 
but at laft, every thing being in perfeff Order, and their 
Equipage in every refpeff complete, the Commodore gave 
his Orders for the Officers and Seamen to repair on board, 
and that every thing Ihould be ready for failing by the 
Middle of September *, and accordingly upon the 16th of 
that Month he fired a Gun as a Signal to unmoor. The 
Squadron then confifted of the following Snips of War, 
and other Veffels j viz. 
Ships. 
Commanders. 
Guns. 
Men. 
Centurion 
Commodore G. Anfon , Efq* 
6q 
5 H 
Gloucejler 
Norris 
5 ° 
35 ° 
Severn 
Legge 
50 
35 ° 
Pearl 
Mitchell 
40 
250 
Wager 
Kidd 
18 
140 
T rial Sloop 
Murray 
*6 
80 
Tenders. 
Ann Pink *, 
Indujlry , which was to go only to a certain Latitude. 
3. On September 18. 1740, the Commodore fired a 
Gun as a Signal to weigh * and, by ten in the Evening, 
the whole Squadron was under Sail. It was obferved at 
that time, that they failed at a different Seafon of the Year 
