Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
No one, not even Egmont's government colleagues, knew his plans
in any detail. The Cabinet wavered. The expedition was on; then it
was off; then on again. The little fleet was manned, provisioned and
moved to Plymouth, where it awaited instructions. On 13 August Eg-
mont, frustrated by opposition to his plans, resigned as First Lord of
the Admiralty. But, before his resignation could take effect, he sent
instructions to Plymouth for his ships to set sail immediately. On 21
August, the
Dolphin,
accompanied now by the
Swallow
sloop and the
storeship
Prince Frederick
weighed anchor. They were well past the
Scillies before anyone who might want to recall them knew that they
had put to sea.
The expedition which now set out turned into two expeditions
and is of interest because it shows how two very different captains
handled the problems of circumnavigation. Egmont had intended to
refit the
Dolphin
and the
Tamar
for a second voyage but, because the
Tamar
was away in the West Indies undergoing repairs, his subor-
dinates had to cast around for another vessel. They chose a twenty-
year-old, sixth-rate, fourteen-gun sloop, the
Swallow,
which had nev-
er been out of home waters. She was a sluggish craft, dependable in
heavy seas but not a fast mover under full sail. Nor was her limited
below-deck space adequate for the amount of supplies necessary for
a long voyage. She proved to be a nuisance to the expedition's leader,
Samuel Wallis, but to her commander, Philip Carteret, she was like a
millstone, hindering his chances of a successful voyage and also his
career prospects.
Wallis was a thirty-eight-year-old, conventional, competent of-
ficer whose entire life from the age of twenty had been devoted to
the Navy. He served in peace and war and commanded his first ship
at the age of twenty-eight. He seems to have been quite popular with
his men and, if he was unimaginative, he was conscientious. He went
by the topic, kept his own counsel, did not readily confide in his of-
ficers and was jealous of his authority. In all his years of service he
