76 
PORTER'S JOURNAL, 
Rut how different was the situation of lord Anson l After re¬ 
freshing at Madeira, St. Catharines, and Port St. Julian, he sailed 
through the Streights of Le Maire, with a fleet of six stout ships 
of war, well equipped, and well manned; mounting 236 guns, and 
carrying 1510 men, accompanied by two victuallers; one of400* 
the other of 200 tons burthen; all of which were near a year 
in preparing for this expedition into the Pacific. This powerful 
fleet, with all its advantages, and the mutual assistance they 
could render each other, was reduced in its passage round Cape 
Horn, to three miserably shattered hulks, having, altogether, only 
335 men and boys alive on board ; and of this number, only one 
ship arrived in England ; and could not have been navigated by 
her crew, and the survivors of the fleet, were it not for the assis¬ 
tance of 40 men recruited at the Cape of Good Hope. Pizarro 
sailed in pursuit of lord Anson, with a fleet of six sail of men of 
war, mounting 298 guns, and carrying upwards of 3000 men; 
and of this powerful fleet, owing to their disasters off Cape Horn, 
only one returned to Spain. The examples of disasters before 
me were innumerable; and all, at this moment, presented them¬ 
selves with redoubled force to my imagination ; but instead of 
deterring me from the attempt, or damping my ardour, served 
only to rouse my ambition, and induced me to redouble my pre¬ 
cautions and my efforts, to arrive in that sea, where lord Anson 
has rendered himself so justly celebrated, by his indefatigable per¬ 
severance, and ultimate success against the Spaniards. Indeed, I 
hoped to retort on his haughty government, some of the evils to 
which he had subjected the pusillanimous and unprepared Spa¬ 
niards ; and make the name of the Essex as well known in the 
Pacific ocean, as that of the Centurion. 
As I before observed, some of my guns were put below ; the 
spars taken from the upper, and put on the gun-deck, and the 
weight considerably reduced aloft; added to these measures, the 
best sails were bent; preventer-shrouds got up, to secure the 
masts; and every other means adopted, that prudence could sug¬ 
gest, or our ingenuity invent, to render our passage as free from 
disaster as possible* We were entering the bourn of all our 
dread with a pleasant breeze from the northward, and a smooth 
