d to the squadron under the command of Commodore Anson
which sailed out to the Spanish Settlements in the Pacific in 1740.

From the set-out the expedition was unfortunate. Almost all the ships
were ill-fitted and ill-provisioned for so long a voyage. Moreover they
were delayed until long after the proper season for their departure was
past, which was regarded by the soldiers and sailors as an evil omen.
This neglect affected the 'Wager' more than any other ship, as she was
an old East Indiaman, and had been bought into the service for the
voyage, and fitted out for it as a man-of-war.

Besides this, when under sail she listed to one side, as she was
top-laden with heavy military gear and stores for the use of the other
vessels, while the lower holds were filled with light merchandise for
bartering with the Indians.

Her crew were men who had been pressed on their return from long
voyages, and the marines a small troop of invalids from the Chelsea
Hospital, who were all alike very miserably depressed at the prospect of
the long voyage which lay before them.

Even Captain Kid, under whose command the 'Wager' sailed out of port,
when on his death-bed shortly after, foretold her ill-success.

Upon his death Captain Cheap took command, and was able to keep with the
squadron until they were about to enter the Straits la Marie, where the
wind shifted to the south, and with the turn of the tide the 'Wager'
was separated from the other ships, and very narrowly escaped being
wrecked off Staten Island.

[Illustration: 'ONE MAN . . . STALKED ABOUT THE DECK AND FLOURISHED A
CUTLASS . . . SHOUTING THAT HE WAS "KING OF THE COUNTRY"']

However, she regained her station with the rest of the fleet until a few
days later, when they were caught by a deep roll of a hollow sea, and
lost their mizzen mast, and all the windward chain plates were broken.

They tried to rig up a substitute for the mizzen mast, but failed, as
hard westerly gales set in with a tremendous short chopping swell, which
raised the waves to a mountainous height, while from time to time a
heavy sea broke over the ship. The boats on the davits were cast from
their lashings, and filled with water, and the ship in all parts was
soon in a most shattered and crazy state.

They had now lost sight of the squadron, and from the numbers of birds,
and the drifting seaweed in the waters, they found they were being borne
on to a lee shore. The heavy clouds that lowered abo