Anson's Voyage Round the World

The Text Reduced, with Introduction, Notes and Glossary

Richard Walter

• Publisher: Aeneas Press
• Year: 2026
• eBook ISBN:
  9785501216334
• Topic: Personal Development
• Subtopic: World History

The circumnavigation of 1740–44: eight ships sail against the Spanish Pacific, one comes home, and the treasure galleon is taken off the Philippines after three years of scurvy and shipwreck. The chaplain Richard Walter compiled the narrative from Anson's own papers; it was the most read voyage book of the eighteenth century and drove the reform of naval diet. The loss of Wager off Patagonia is here, before the mutineers got home to tell their side. Fifty-nine plates of open water, wreck and harbor, from The Ninth Wave to The Shipwreck, give the voyage its visual weather across two centuries of marine painting by Turner and Aivazovsky.

Table of contents

• Cover
• Copyright
• Introduction
• Chapter 1. Purpose of the Voyage.—Composition of the Squadron—Madeira
• Chapter 2. Spanish Preparations—Fate of Pizarro’s Squadron
• Chapter 3. From Madeira to St. Catherine’s—Unhealthiness of the Squadron
• Chapter 4. The Commodore’s Instructions—Bad Weather—Narrow Escape of the Pearl—St Julian
• Chapter 5. Further Instructions—Tierra Del Fuego—The Straits of Le Maire
• Chapter 6. Heavy Gales—A Long Battle with Wind and Sea—The Centurion Loses Her Consorts
• Chapter 7. Outbreak of Scurvy*—Danger of Shipwreck
• Chapter 8. Juan Fernandez—The Trial Rejoins
• Chapter 9. The Sick Landed—Alexander Selkirk*—Seals and Sea-Lions
• Chapter 10. Reappearance of the Gloucester—Distress on Board—Her Efforts to Enter the Bay
• Chapter 11. Traces of Spanish Cruisers—Arrival of the Anna Pink
• Chapter 12. The Wreck of the Wager—A Mutiny
• Chapter 13. The Wreck of the Wager (Continued)—The Adventures of the Captain’s Party
• Chapter 14. The Losses from Scurvy—State and Prospects of the Squadron
• Chapter 15. A Prize—Spanish Preparations—A Narrow Escape
• Chapter 16. The Commodore’s Plans—Another Prize—The Trial Destroyed.
• Chapter 17. More Captures—Alarm of the Coast—Paita
• Chapter 18. The Attack on Paita
• Chapter 19. The Attack on Paita (Continued)—Kind Treatment and Release of the Prisoners—Their Gratitude
• Chapter 20. A Clever Trick. Watering at Quibo. Catching the Turtle
• Chapter 21. Delay and Disappointment—Chasing a Heath Fire—Acapulco—The Manila Galleon—Fresh Hopes
• Chapter 22. The Manila* Trade
• Chapter 23. Waiting for the Galleon—Disappointment—Chequetan
• Chapter 24. The Prizes Scuttled—News of the Squadron Reaches England—Bound for China
• Chapter 25. Delays and Accidents—Scurvy Again—A Leak—The Gloucester Abandoned
• Chapter 26. The Ladrones Sighted—Tinian
• Chapter 27. Landing the Sick. Centurion Driven to Sea
• Chapter 28. Anson Cheers His Men—Plans for Escape—Return of the Centurion
• Chapter 29. The Centurion Again Driven to Sea—Her Return—Departure from Tinian
• Chapter 30. Chinese Fishing Fleets—Arrival at Macao
• Chapter 31. Macao—Interview with the Governor—A Visit to Canton
• Chapter 32. A Letter to the Viceroy—A Chinese Mandarin—The Centurion Is Refitted and Puts to Sea
• Chapter 33. Waiting for the Manila Galleon
• Chapter 34. The Capture of the Galleon
• Chapter 35. Securing the Prisoners—Macao Again—Amount of the Treasure
• Chapter 36. The Canton River—Negotiating with the Chinese—Prisoners Released
• Chapter 37. Chinese Trickery
• Chapter 38. Preparations for a Visit to Canton
• Chapter 39. Stores and Provisions—A Fire in Canton—Sailors as Firemen—The Viceroy’s Gratitude
• Chapter 40. Anson Received by the Viceroy—Centurion Sets Sail—Table Bay—Spithead
• Glossary
• About the Author