While Great Britain was at war with Spain in 1740, Commodore George Anson led a squadron of eight ships on a mission to disrupt or capture Spains Pacific possessions. Returning to Britain in 1744 by way of China and thus completing a circumnavigation, the voyage was notable for the capture of an Acapulco galleon but also horrific losses to disease with only 188 men of the original 1,854 surviving.
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 another ship 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. Spains Caribbean possessions provided sugar, tobacco, dyes and spices.
Britain had negotiated a treaty (the Asiento) that allowed the South Sea Company to send one trading vessel per year to Spanish territory plus supply slaves but private British vessels, many operating out of Jamaica, carried illegal cargoes which the Spanish attempted to intercept. After numerous incidents and with old rivalry, tensions increased leading 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 that might be described as ambitious. These were 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 revolt of the Peruvians to Spanish colonial power. An earlier proposal to also capture Manila was dropped.
It appears that a conflict of interest was, at least in part, behind the unreasonable orders given to Anson by the Duke of Newcastle on 28 June 1740. The attacks were suggested by Hubert Tassell and Henry Hutchison, previously factors (agents) of the South Sea Company who had a significant recent information about the area which the government lacked but who also stood to gain if the area was opened up to British trade. Supporting this view was that the squadron was to carry £15,000 of trade goods. Given the length of the voyage, it was expected that it would be necessary to buy provisions along the way. In friendly ports, bills of exchange would have been used. In enemy ports it may not have been possible to buy anything, though outright seizure would be possible if the town was captured. The relationship of Tassell and Hutchison to the squadron was further complicated by them supplying victuals (food) and that they would come along on one of the ships to oversee the trade goods.
The squadron based in Portsmouth was composed of six warships:
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 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 Ansons first port of call.
The squadron reached Madeira on 25 October 1740, the journey taking four weeks longer than normal. Portuguese officials reported that warships, probably Spanish, had been seen at the western end of the island so Anson sent a boat out to investigate but it returned without sighting them. Fresh food and water were taken on with extra urgency and the ships slipped out without incident on 3 November.[n 1] Had contact been made with Pizarros squadron, the expedition likely would have ended since Ansons ships would have to throw overboard the huge quantity of provisions cluttering the decks, preventing the effective working of the guns.
After taking three days at sea to transfer supplies, Industry turned back on 20 November. By now, food had started to rot and the ships were infested with flies. There was a desperate need to provide additional ventilation to the lower decks. Normally the gun ports would be opened but since the ships were riding so low in the water with the weight of provisions, this was impossible so six air holes were cut in each ship.
However, this was only part of a bigger problem that was to have disastrous consequences. With the ships regular crew, the conditions were crowded with hammocks placed 14" apart, though the rotating watch system meant that only half would be below at any one time so effectively each had 28". However, the invalids and marines boosted the number of men on board by about 25% and were forced to stay below most of the time as they would be in the way on deck. Typhus, or ship fever, is spread by body lice which thrived in the hot, humid and unsanitary conditions. After two months at sea, this disease and dysentery raced through the crews.
The squadron reached Isla de Santa Catarina (St Catherines), a large island just off the coast of Portuguese southern Brazil on 21 December and the sick were sent ashore, eighty from Centurion alone. A thorough cleaning then commenced with the below-deck areas first scrubbed clean, then fires lit inside and the hatches closed so that the smoke would kill rats and other vermin, then everything was washed down with vinegar.
Anson had hoped to stay only long enough to pick up firewood, fresh water and provisions but the main mast of Tryal needed repairs that took almost a month. Meanwhile, the men on shore in makeshift tents were exposed to mosquitoes and malaria. Although 28 men from the Centurion had died while in port, the number of sick taken back on board when they left on 18 January 1741 had increased from 80 to 96. A wide variety of fruits and vegetables were available but it is unclear how much actually came on board. The official account noted a "great plenty" but one journal keeper said it was enough only to feed all the crew for a single day. Although Portugal was not at war with England and in theory was an ally under the Anglo-Portuguese Alliance, the governor was later revealed to have notified Spanish Buenos Aires where Pizarros squadron had arrived. Although waiting for provisions, Pizarro immediately put to sea sailing south to get around Cape Horn before the British.
Anson sailed 18 January 1741 intending to stop at Puerto San Julián (near the eastern entrance to the Strait of Magellan) where there was no European presence but supposedly bountiful supplies of salt. Four days later, in a storm, the repaired mast of Tryal broke, forcing the Gloucester to take it in tow. During the same storm, the Pearl was separated from the squadron and her captain died, with First Lieutenant Sampson Salt taking command. Sampson then sighted five ships with the lead ship bearing English colors, but was dismayed to find at the last moment it was the Spanish ships. The crew frantically threw overboard everything not immediately needed and hoisted extra sail. The Spanish ships held back from chasing believing Pearl was headed for a shoal but it was spawning fish, not rocks, that were disturbing the water, and the Pearl was able to escape as darkness fell.
Even though the Spanish ships were known to be somewhere in the area, the squadron had no choice but to stop at St Julian, which was found to have no trees or fresh water and barely any salt. Tryals broken topmast was simply removed and a spare topmast used to replace the broken foremast, effectively reducing her rigging but probably the key to allowing her to weather the ferocious storms to come. The ships reached Strait of Le Maire, the entrance to the path around Cape Horn, on 7 March 1741 in unseasonably fine weather but shortly afterwards it turned to a violent gale from the south. Having avoided being blown onto Staten Island, Anson ordered Tryal to lead, on the lookout for ice. However, carrying sufficient sail to keep ahead of the other ships left the ship dangerously unstable, with the men on deck frequently exposed to the freezing water. Since the deck cannon were getting continually doused, it would have been impossible to fire warning shots even if they had seen ice so Tryal was removed from this duty and the Pearl took its place leaving her Captain Saumarez to write that really life is not worth pursuing at the expense of such hardships. While fighting gale-force winds and huge seas with a crew weakened by typhus and dysentery, scurvy broke out. What little useful information available on its prevention was ignored and it is unlikely that the navy could have procured sufficient vitamin C for 1,000 men even if it had recognized the need. Hundreds of men died of disease in the weeks during and immediately after battling around the Horn. In one incredible case, a man who had been wounded at the Battle of the Boyne in 1690 but had made a complete recovery, now found, 50 years later, that his wounds reopened and a broken bone fractured again.
At the beginning of April, the ships headed north believing that they were 300 miles (480 km) west of land. However, through lack of alternatives at that time, ships had to estimate their east-west position by dead reckoning - calculating the distance covered knowing the ships speed and heading – which could not account for unknown ocean currents and so on the night of 13-14th, the crew of the Anna were alarmed to see the cliffs of Cape Noir just 2 miles (3.2 km) away. They fired cannon and lit lamps to warn the others and they were just able to claw their way out to sea although there was great concern that the Severn and Pearl were already lost as they had not been sighted since the 10th.
Another storm hit just as the Wager fell from sight and on 24 April, both Centurion and Gloucester reported that every sail was torn or loose but the crew was too few and too weak to attempt repairs until the next day by which time the ships were scattered. The sailing instructions included three rendezvous points if the ships were scattered and Centurion reached the first, Socorro (Guamblin Island, 45°S on Chilean coast) on 8 May. After waiting two weeks and seeing no other ships, Anson decided to sail for Juan Fernandez, the third rendezvous point, since the second, Valdivia, was on the coast and would be too dangerous to find being on a lee shore.
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