Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
In the story of circumnavigation the voyage of the
Centurion
marks the end of an era. It was the last of the great buccaneering ex-
peditions whose objectives were plunder and the raiding of enemy
bases. In that regard it was by far the most successful of such ven-
tures. No commander ever returned to port with such a vast treasure
as that which Anson delivered to a grateful British government. But
no commander ever returned from a circumnavigation voyage hav-
ing lost so many men. Of the 1,939 who set sail under his leadership,
fewer than 500 survived. The vast majority were victims of scurvy.
The tale of the
Centurion
and her sister ships had a moral: if the
Great South Sea was ever to be conquered some means would have
to be found of enabling mariners to survive more than four weeks
away from land without falling victim to debilitating disease.
*
Saumarez had by this time transferred back to the
Centurion.
