CHAPTER XXII. As the South American Colonies had given the first impulse to the war with Spain, so was it against them that its chief exertions were directed. Their weakness, it was thought, would afford an easy conquest, and their wealth a rich booty. Two squadrons were accordingly equipped; the one under Commodore Anson to sail round Cape Horn and rifle the shores of Peru; the other under Admiral Vernon to attack Porto Bello and the Eastern coast. Each of these expeditions will demand and reward a particular detail. George Anson, commander of the first, and afterwards Lord Anson, deserves to be held forth as a model to British seamen of what may be accomplished by industry, by courage, by love of their profession. He was born of a family at that period new and obscure, nor had he the advantage of distinguished talents. After his expedition, it used to be said of him that he had been round the world but never in it: he was dull and unready on land; slow in business, and sparing of speech. But he had undaunted bravery, steady application, and cool judgment; he punctually followed his instructions, and zealously discharged his duty; and by these qualities qualities within the attainment of did he rise to well-earned honours and bequeath an unsullied renown. * all It is from Lord Anson's papers, but by the pen of Mr. Walter, his Chaplain, that an accurate and interesting narrative of the expedition has been transmitted to posterity. The ships assigned for this service were the Centurion of 60 guns, and 400 men, the Gloucester and Severn, each of * See Lord Waldegrave's Memoirs, p. 85. In Rousseau's fiction, Lord Anson expands to "un capitaine, un soldat, un pilote, un sage, un grand homme!" (Nouvelle Héloise, partie iv. lettre 3.) 1740. COMMODORE ANSON. 35 50 guns and 300 men, the Pearl of 40 guns, the Wager of 28, and the Trial sloop of 8. Great difficulty and delay, however, took place in the manning of this squadron, for want of the fuller powers, which Walpole had in vain solicited from the House of Commons. Thus far, therefore, no blame can attach to the Minister; but, on another point within his own control, he may be justly charged with want of knowledge or consideration. Instead of embarking a regiment of foot as at first designed, it was declared that 500 out-pensioners of Chelsea should be collected instead of it, though these men were utterly disabled by age or wounds from even a common or less laborious service. The First Lord of the Admiralty, Sir Charles Wager, concurred in the representations made by Anson on this subject; but the opinion of both was overruled, as it seems, by the Prime Minister. But, further still, when the poor invalids came on board they were found to be only 259 instead of 500, for all those who had limbs and strength to walk out of Portsmouth had deserted! "Indeed," says an eye-witness, "it is difficult to conceive a more moving scene "than the embarkation of these unhappy veterans. They 66 'were themselves extremely averse to the service they were engaged in, and fully apprised of all the disasters they were afterwards exposed to; the apprehensions of which "were strongly marked by the concern that appeared in "their countenances, which was mixed with no small degree “of indignation, to be thus hurried from their repose into a "fatiguing employ, to which neither the strength of their "bodies, nor the vigour of their minds, were anyways pro"portioned, and when, without seeing the face of an enemy, "or in the least promoting the success of the enterprise they "were engaged in, they would, in all probability, uselessly "perish by lingering and painful diseases; and this, too, "after they had spent the activity and strength of their "youth in their country's service." 66 Walter's Narrative of Lord Anson's Voyage, p. 9. ed. 1748. 8vo. From this first deficiency, from contradictory orders, and from various other circumstances of mismanagement, above half a year had been wasted, and it was not till the 18th of September, 1740, that the squadron weighed anchor from St. Helen's. They touched at Madeira, refreshed themselves at St. Catherine's on the coast of Brazil, and in March, 1741, safely crossed the streights of Le Maire. “As "these streights," observes the Chaplain, "are often con"sidered as the boundary between the Atlantic and Pacific "Oceans, we could not help flattering ourselves that the "greatest difficulties of our passage were now at an end, "and hence we indulged our imaginations in those romantic "schemes, which the fancied possession of the Chilian gold "and Peruvian silver might be conceived to inspire. These "joyous ideas were heightened by the brightness and se"renity of the sky..... Thus we traversed these memo"rable streights ignorant of the dreadful calamities that "were then impending and just ready to break upon us; "ignorant that the time drew near when the squadron would "be separated, never to unite again, and that this day of our passage was the last cheerful day that the greatest "part of us would ever live to enjoy." It appears that the delays in England had brought them to the most stormy and perilous season for doubling Cape Horn. On leaving Streights Le Maire they were immediately assailed by a tremendous tempest; the sea ran mountain high; and the oldest sailors on board were forced to confess that what they had hitherto called storms were mere gentle breezes compared to the violence of these winds. What added to their danger was their inequality, and the deceitful lulls they afforded, suddenly interrupted by such quick and violent motions, that the men were in perpetual peril of being dashed to pieces against the decks or sides of the ships. Thus were several men killed and others greatly injured: one, for example, breaking his thigh, and another his collar bone twice. Moreover, these blasts generally brought with them * Lord Anson's Voyage, p. 106. 1740. HIS SQUADRON SCATTERED. 37 a great quantity of snow and sleet, which cased the rigging and froze the sails, thus rendering them and the cordage apt to snap upon the slightest strain, and which also benumbed and disabled many of the people, even to the mortifying of their toes and fingers. The ships also, by labouring in these high seas, had grown loose in their upper works, so that they let in the water at every seam, and scarce any of the officers ever slept in dry beds. For many days did the squadron struggle against these dangers and hardships, in the meanwhile striking to the southward, and having then advanced, as they believed, near ten degrees to the westward of Tierra del Fuego, so as to compensate the drift of the eastern current. Thus, then, on once more steering north, they fully expected, within a few days, to enter a new scene, and experience the proverbial tranquillity of the Pacific ocean. But the case proved far otherwise. They unexpectedly discovered land, which they found to be Cape Noir, a point of Tierra del Fuego; the surprising strength of the currents having thus borne them back to the eastward nearly seven hundred miles more than they had reckoned. Instead, therefore, of enjoying a summer climate and more tranquil sea, their prows were again turned to the antarctic pole, again to contend with those fearful storms they had so lately encountered; and in this second cruise they underwent a new calamity in the total separation of the squadron, which had hitherto been kept together, though with difficulty, by guns fired almost every half hour from the commodore's ship, the Centurion. It only remained for each vessel to shift for itself, and endeavour to reach the island of Juan Fernandez, which Anson, with prudent forethought, had previously assigned as a point of rendezvous. The Centurion, now left alone, was beset with renewed hurricanes, especially upon the 22nd of May: "at which time," says Mr. Walter, "the fury of all the storms which 66 'we had hitherto encountered seemed to have combined for 66 "our destruction." They escaped these dangers, but had still no cause for self-congratulation, for, even when the ship shot along the more quiet waves of the Pacific, it bore within it an active principle of destruction— that sea plague, the scurvy. In our days, when medical science has done so much to tame and subdue that dreadful disease, we may feel surprise at the violence of its former fury. We read amongst its symptoms on this occasion, of putrid fevers, pleurisies, the jaundice, and extreme rheumatic pains; a difficulty of breathing, ulcers of the worst kind, attended with rotten bones, and yielding to no remedies; a re-opening of the scars of old wounds; nay, strangest of all in British sailors, a disposition to be seized with dreadful terrors on "the slightest accidents." We are told that the patients, though confined to their hammocks, sometimes continued to bear the appearance of health; for they ate and drank heartily, were cheerful, and talked in a loud strong tone of voice; and yet, on their being the least moved, though it was only from one part of the ship to the other, and that in their hammocks, they immediately expired; and that others, who confided in their seeming strength, and attempted to rise, died before they could well reach the deck. If any reader should suspect exaggeration in these details, he will find them mournfully confirmed by the list of deaths. In the first month that the disease appeared the Centurion lost forty-three men, in the second month nearly double that number; and before they reached the land above 200 had died, and so many were ill, that no more than six foremast men in a watch could be mustered capable of duty. Ere long, too, there was a deficiency of fresh water; and the island which they sought a small speck in a boundless sea for some time eluded their research: once, when seen, it was mistaken for a cloud on the horizon, and passed by. At last, on the 10th of June, they approached and anchored at the much desired port, being then so feeble and exhausted Lord Anson's Voyage, p. 148. |