‘ENOUGH TO DESTROY A MAN’ - A Brief History of the Circumnavigators - page 125

acts of piracy on the one hand and high-handed officialdom on the
other.
In 1739 open hostilities once more broke out between Britain
and Spain. The insecure government of Robert Walpole decided that
some spectacular naval victories would enhance its prestige and also
bring the war to a speedy conclusion. With these ends in view the
Admiralty launched a two-pronged attack on the Spanish colonies.
A large fleet under Vice-Admiral Edward Vernon was despatched to
the Caribbean and, in 1740, a smaller force was sent round the Horn
in what was projected as an audacious raid on Manila, the centre
of Spain's Orient trade. The instructions actually given to the leader
of this latter expedition were vague. He was to 'annoy and distress'
Spanish shipping and Pacific coast settlements. Specifically he was
to seek out and capture the galleon which sailed annually from Acap-
ulco, laden with silver to be exchanged for porcelain, silks and spices.
If, in addition, he could take Manila and leave it garrisoned with
British troops this would crown his endeavours. The man chosen to
command the convoy was the forty-three-year-old George Anson.
Anson was a man made by the service. Subjected himself to
hard discipline and rigid rules, he had become firm, strict and de-
tached in the exercise of command. Those who fell foul of him re-
garded him as unfeeling, a 'cold fish', but Anson knew, like every oth-
er occupant of the quarter deck, that the only sure way to survive in
the Royal Navy was to go by the topic. That was certainly true of the
voyage which now faced him.
He was being sent into the Great South Sea, the most daunting
prospect for any captain. But the state of his ships and crews made
his problems ten times worse. The navy was badly run down after
several years of peace and Vice-Admiral Vernon had the pick of the
best vessels and men for his Caribbean fleet. Of Anson's six ships of
the line only the flagship Centurion, the fourth-rate Gloucester and
the little sloop Tryall were of recent construction. The Severn (683