Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
tons),
Pearle
(559 tons) and
Wager
(559) were old or rebuilt ves-
sels. In addition the convoy had two merchantmen for carrying sup-
plies, the
Anna
and the
Industry.
But Anson must have been more
concerned about the men who mustered at Portsmouth during the
summer of 1740 than he was about his ships. Of the 1,223 sailors un-
der his command, half were pressed men; some unwilling conscripts
from prisons and dockside taverns, others dragged from fields and
workshops by rough recruiting officers with numbers to make up.
If the prospect of his crews worried him, the sight of his marines,
the fighting men who would have to board enemy vessels and storm
coastal fortifications, might well have given him nightmares. The 529
'soldiers' consisted of a batch of untrained recruits, whose numbers
were made up by Chelsea Hospital veterans forced out of retirement.
All of the latter were over sixty, some were over seventy and many
were infirm. Some had to be helped aboard, others were carried
on stretchers. It was a farce, but the regulations stipulated a regi-
ment of marines for the expedition and a regiment would be sent,
whatever casuistry had to be employed in cobbling it together. Even
when Anson, on the doctors' recommendation, sent two old men to
shore hospitals as unfit for service, his order was countermanded.
Within days of putting to sea the two 'fighting men' were dead. They
were lucky. They were spared the rigours of a voyage which killed
every one of their Chelsea colleagues, and many more besides. Of
the 1,939 officers and men (excluding the two merchant crews) who
embarked, 1,051 died on the voyage. A further 700 or so deserted or
came home on the two ships which were forced to turn back. Those
statistics have to be borne in mind in any retelling of the remarkable,
brave and 'successful' voyage of the
Centurion.
The fleet got under way on 20 September but could not imme-
diately set forth on its westerly course because the Admiralty, de-
termined to extract the last ounce of duty from ships and men, had
encumbered Anson's instructions with distractions. He had to escort
