Anson’s Voyage Around the World (1740–1744)

Background

In 1739, the riches that Spain derived from the New World were well known throughout Europe. Huge quantities of silver were shipped from Peru, carried over the isthmus at Panama and then loaded on ships at Portobelo bound for Spain. Other ships carried luxury goods from Manila to Acapulco from where they were taken to Vera Cruz and loaded along with Mexican silver. Spain's Caribbean possessions provided sugar, tobacco, dyes and spices.

Britain had negotiated a treaty (the asiento) that allowed the South Sea Company to send one slave trading vessel per year to Spanish territory but private British merchants, many operating out of Jamaica, smuggled cargo (to avoid being taxed) which the Spanish attempted to intercept. After numerous incidents and with old rivalries flaring up once again, increased tensions led to the War of Jenkins' Ear.

Various schemes were proposed to attack Spanish possessions. Edward Vernon captured Portobelo in November 1739 with just six ships, and a second squadron to be led by George Anson, was to sail around Cape Horn with six warships carrying 500 troops with instructions to capture Callao in Peru (the port that served the nearby capital Lima) and if possible take Lima as well; capture Panama with its treasure; seize the galleon from Acapulco; and lead a Peruvian revolt against the Spanish colonial authorities. An earlier proposal to also capture Manila was dropped.

The ships and men

Two merchant vessels, Anna and Industry, would carry additional supplies.

The provision of 500 troops was farcical. No regular troops were made available so 500 invalids were to be collected from the Chelsea Hospital. In this case, the term invalid referred to soldiers that were too sick, wounded or old for active duty but might be able to perform lighter duties. In any case, on hearing details of the proposed voyage, those that could get away did and only 259 came aboard, many on stretchers. To make up for the 241 missing, marines were ordered aboard, but these were such fresh recruits that few of them had yet been trained how to fire a gun.

The addition of invalids and marines caused all the ships to be overcrowded. For example the Wager sailed with 250, of whom only 105 were crew..

The departure

The squadron was as ready as it was going to get by mid-August but strong winds kept the ships in harbour. Before heading to South America, Anson was required to escort a huge fleet of transports and merchant vessels out of the English Channel and the initial attempt to get to sea was abandoned as ships crashed into each other. Finally the squadron sailed from Spithead on 18 September 1740 overseeing a convoy of 152 ships. Unfortunately, with the long delays, French agents had picked up word of the expedition and passed the information to Spain. In response, they sent five warships under Admiral Pizarro to lie in wait near Portuguese Madeira which was neutral territory and to be Anson's first port of call.

Voyage

Severn and Pearl lost sight of the other ships during the night of 10 April 1741, although it is not clear if they also lost sight of each other until morning.

The Wager was more a freighter than a fighting ship and so even though only Tryal was smaller, she carried the largest number of invalids and marines (142, outnumbering the crew of 106) plus substantial stores for the other ships and guns and ammunition for the soldiers to fight with on shore.

By September 1741, back at Juan Fernandez, most of Anson's men were on the way to recovery and as their health returned, they were set to work carrying out much needed repairs on the ships – as best they could with limited materials and without port facilities.

Based on earlier accounts, Anson expected the Pacific crossing to be an easy one, taking about two months. Other voyagers had dropped south from Acapulco at 15°51'N to pick up the tradewinds that blew constantly to the west between 10° and 14°N.

Although Anson had made it known that the ship would be leaving for Jakarta and thence to England, he had decided that having failed so dismally to fulfill the ambitious orders given to him, he would attempt to salvage something of the expedition and seize the galleon just before it arrived in the Philippines.

Anson's reappearance in China was greeted with disbelief and alarm by both the Chinese authorities and the European merchants.

On 7 December 1743, they sailed from Canton and stopping at Macau, sold the galleon at the heavily discounted price of 6,000 dollars, allowing the Centurion to leave on the 15th.

Recording of events

Although several private journals of the voyage had been published, the official version of events was published in London 1748, as A Voyage Round the World in 1740-4 by George Anson Esq, now Lord Anson, Commander-in-Chief of a Squadron of His Majesty's Ships Sent upon an Expedition to the South Seas Compiled from his Papers and Materials by Richard Walter, MA, Chaplain of His Majesty's Ship The Centurion, in that Expedition. It was a great popular and commercial success and a 5th edition was already in print by 1749. As well as detailing the adventures of the expedition, it contained a huge amount of useful information for future navigators and with 42 detailed charts and engravings, most based on drawings by Capt. Piercy Brett, it laid the basis for later scientific and survey expeditions by Captain Cook and others. The final words from the authorized account were:Thus was this expedition finished, when it had lasted three years and nine months, after having, by its event, strongly evinced this important truth: That though prudence, intrepidity, and perseverance united are not exempted from the blows of adverse fortune, yet in a long series of transactions they usually rise superior to its power, and in the end rarely fail of proving successful.

The identity of the true author of such a successful book has been a matter of controversy.

Consequences

Anson was compared with Francis Drake and was promoted accordingly, reaching First Lord of the Admiralty in 1751 but he assisted the careers of many of the officers that sailed with him. Immediately after his return though, Anson had promoted Philip Saumarez and Peircy Brett but after the Admiralty refused to confirm Brett, Anson declined his own promotion.

As a direct result of the ambiguous legal situation after the wreck of Wager, the rules were changed to give captains continuing authority over their crew with the crew continuing to be paid. Similarly, after Anson had felt a need to impress the mandarins that came aboard and to distinguish his crew from those of merchant vessels, naval uniforms were introduced. Previously, the officers and seamen made their own arrangements.

The return of Anson's expedition raised interest in the Pacific as an object of British trade and imperial power but given the treacherous conditions around Cape Horn and the Spanish hold of South America, there was hope that an alternative route to the Pacific might be found through the Northwest Passage over the top of North America. An expedition led by Middleton had been mounted while Anson was away but had been blocked by ice. The government offered £20,000 to anyone that could find a navigable route but a private expedition by Moor and Smith in 1746–47 likewise returned empty-handed.