nother,
the "Wager," was wrecked in the Golfo de Panas on the coast of Chile. By
the time Anson reached the island of Juan Fernandez in June 1741, his
six ships had been reduced to three, while the strength of his crews had
fallen from 961 to 335. In the absence of any effective Spanish force on
the coast he was able to harass the enemy, and to capture the town of
Paita on the 13th-15th of November 1741. The steady diminution of his
crew by sickness, and the worn-out state of his remaining consorts,
compelled him at last to collect all the survivors in the "Centurion."
He rested at the island of Tinian, and then made his way to Macao in
November 1742. After considerable difficulties with the Chinese, he
sailed again with his one remaining vessel to cruise for one of the
richly laden galleons which conducted the trade between Mexico and the
Philippines. The indomitable perseverance he had shown during one of the
most arduous voyages in the history of sea adventure was rewarded by the
capture of an immensely rich prize, the "Nuestra Senora de Covadonga,"
which was met off Cape Espiritu Santo on the 20th of June 1743. Anson
took his prize back to Macao, sold her cargo to the Chinese, keeping the
specie, and sailed for England, which he reached by the Cape of Good
Hope on the 15th of June 1744. The prize-money earned by the capture of
the galleon had made him a rich man for life, and under the influence of
irritation caused by the refusal of the admiralty to confirm a
captain's commission he had given to one of his officers, Anson refused
the rank of rear-admiral, and was prepared to leave the service. His
fame would stand nearly as high as it does if he had done so, but he
would be a far less important figure in the history of the navy. By the
world at large he is known as the commander of the voyage of
circumnavigation, in which success was won by indomitable perseverance,
unshaken firmness, and infinite resource. But he was also the severe and
capable administrator who during years of hard work at the admiralty did
more than any other to raise the navy from the state of corruption and
indiscipline into which it had fallen during the first half of the
eighteenth century. Great anger had been caused in the country by the
condition of the fleet as revealed in the first part of the war with
France and Spain, between 1739 and 1747. The need for reform was
strongly felt, and the politicians of the day were conscious that it
wou