Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
any more necessaries or refreshments, forbidding all the Chinese from
coming on board or even selling us anything in the market . . . 21
But Anson had his reasons for waiting and it was another eight
days before the Centurion weighed anchor. She was a 'new' ship and
her crew was in better spirits than they had been at any time since
leaving England. They were now on the way home and there actually
seemed to be some prospect of reaching their journey's end. Only
when they were safely at sea did Anson assemble the crew and tell
them that they were not going home - not immediately. They had
some unfinished business to attend to: the little matter of the Manila
galleon. Having failed to take her at Acapulco, they would lie in wait
for her off the Philippines. This was the plan that had been form-
ing in the commander's mind as he put his ship into the best pos-
sible trim at Macao. He knew the route the annual treasure ship took
through the Philippine channels to reach Manila. He knew she usu-
ally arrived around mid-June. He therefore had an excellent chance
of intercepting her.
The Centurion sailed south-eastwards and gunnery practice be-
came a part of every day's routine. By 20 May she had taken up
station in the straits to the south of Luzon. Now all she had to do
was wait. Exactly one calendar month later the lookout reported a
sail coming up from the south-east. It was the Nuestra Señora de
Cobadonga, the unescorted galleon from Mexico, carrying a treas-
ure in bullion, plate and specie worth (as was later revealed) over
£50,000,000 in modern terms. The two vessels sighted each other at
dawn and closed steadily. The Spanish captain knew the identity of
the approaching ship; he had been warned that the Centurion was
skulking in Philippine waters. But not for a moment did he seek to
evade the conflict. He had at his command 530 men and a 60-gun
armament. His latest intelligence about Anson's ship was that she
was in poor condition and manned by a dwindling, dying crew. He,
 
Search WWH ::




Custom Search