George Anson’s capture of a Manila galleon by Samuel Scott.
PRINCIPAL COMBATANTS: Britain vs. Spain
PRINCIPAL THEATER(S): West coast of Spanish America and
Manila, Philippines
MAJOR ISSUES AND OBJECTIVES: Britain hoped to launch a
preemptive strike against Spain in anticipation of the War of the Austrian
Succession in Europe by cutting off Spain’s supply of wealth from the Americas.
OUTCOME: Britain failed to prevent Spain from entering the
European war or to do much damage at all strategically, though Commodore George
Anson’s diminished fleet did manage to harass Spain’s West Coast outposts in
America, to capture one treasure-laden Spanish galleon, and to pave the way for
British expansion in the Pacific.
APPROXIMATE MAXIMUM NUMBER OF MEN UNDER ARMS: Britain,
slightly in excess of 1,000; Spain, unknown
CASUALTIES: Britain, around 1,000 dead, mostly from illness
and shipwreck
When the tangled web of European alliances appeared to be
leading Britain into what would become the War of the AUSTRIAN SUCCESSION in
1740, the English Crown dispatched Commodore George Anson (1697–1762) to raid
Spain’s Pacific coast possessions—Chile, Peru, and Mexico— and to attack
Spanish galleons on the high seas. Embroiled in the machinations of Prussia’s
Frederick the Great (1712–86) against the presumptive heir to the Austrian
throne, Maria Theresa (1717–80), Britain’s royal command hoped to avoid a
head-to-head conflict with Spain on the Continent by cutting off its supply of
income at the source, Spain’s American colonies.
Given the commission in 1739, Anson was unable actually to
begin his mission until mid-September of 1740 because of compounded delays in
provisioning and in finding enough men—the mission, after all, required by its
very nature that he circumnavigate the world. The tardy departure, however,
cost Anson the element of surprise on which he had counted. Though the Spanish
had become aware of British intentions and Spain’s colonies had been warned to
prepare for attack, Anson nevertheless set sail with a fleet of six
warships—his flagship Centurion, plus Gloucester, Severn, Pearl, Wager,
Tyral—and one supply vessel, Anna Pink. All were poorly manned, since the
entire squadron boasted only 977 sailors, mostly untrained. There were some
200-plus marines among them, but they were fresh recruits with only minimal
knowledge of the sea. Anson was lucky to have even them—an urgent request from
Anson for more soldiers before shipping out had netted him a contingent of
patients from a local hospital. Leading an ill-trained force in a late start
against a ready enemy made many, including Anson himself, believe the mission
was doomed from the start.
Once at sea, matters only grew worse. Another effect of starting
in September was that Anson would have to approach Cape Horn in the autumn,
when the westerlies were at their peak. By the time Anson’s fleet began to be
battered by gale-force winds, the ships’ crews were all suffering from a severe
outbreak of scurvy. Whipped about by storms and manned by sailors debilitated
with scurvy, only three ships in Anson’s fleet—Centurion, Gloucester, and
Tyral—survived the passage round the Horn. Anson’s fleet was cut in half, his
fighting force, such as it was, reduced by some two-thirds, and his original
mission effectively dead in the water. But Anson was a capable and imaginative
commander, and he simply redefined his objectives. He set sail for Acapulco,
fighting his way up the coast and hoping to ambush the famed “Manila Galleon,”
a Spanish treasure ship—the Nuestra Señora de Cavadonga—before it left the
Mexican port homeward bound to Manila. Anson missed the Spanish ship by two
weeks, arriving at Acapulco in September 1741.
For two years after rounding the Horn, Anson ravaged the
western shores of the Americas, working his way up the coast first to Mexico
and then beyond. After he had lost two more ships, Anson, determined to
continue around the globe, decided to make a north Pacific crossing to China.
When he reached the Portuguese settlement of Macao (near modern-day Hong Kong)
on November 13, 1742, he arrived only with his flagship and some 210 men.
Nevertheless, the Centurion was the first British warship to sail into Chinese
waters, and its arrival created an uproar. The Portuguese, worried about the
precarious trade agreements and protocol arrangements they had made with
Chinese leaders in Canton, initially refused Anson’s request for provisions and
repairs despite pressure from Britain’s East India Company. After careful
negotiations with the Chinese, Anson secured his provisions and— recruiting
more men—set sail in the spring of 1743, once again hoping to intercept and
capture the Nuestra Señora de Cavadonga.
Sailing with a reinforced crew fueled by dreams of immense
wealth, Anson departed Macao heading south toward the Philippines. In the South
China Sea Anson lay in wait for the Manila-bound treasure ship. Greatly
outnumbered but with superior weaponry and a greedy crew hungry for loot, the
Centurion captured the Cavadonga after a fierce battle on June 20, 1743.
Victory was sweet for the beleaguered Englishman. The booty came to somewhat
more than 1.3 million pieces of eight and some 35,000 ounces of silver, worth a
total of about £400,000. Thus fortified, Anson and his crew continued on their
voyage around the world, arriving in London in June 1744 to a conqueror’s
welcome as the treasure they had captured was paraded through the streets in 32
wagons.
Anson may have failed at his mission, meeting none of the
objectives set for him by the Royal Navy command, but his world cruise,
highlighted by the sailing of the first British warship into Chinese waters and
by the capture of the Manila galleon, became one of the more famous voyages in
naval history. Despite the loss of all but one ship and more than 1,000 men,
Anson returned a national hero, and his cruise sparked a wave of British
expansion into the Pacific. Anson, a man of some imagination and initiative at
a time when the Royal Navy was known for anything but the vision and pluck of
its officers, not only became George, Lord Anson, the leading admiral of his
day, but also went down in history as the “Father of the Modern British Navy.”
Further reading:
W. V. Anson, Life of Admiral Lord Anson, the Father of the British Navy,
1697–1762 (London: J. Murray, 1912); S. W. C. Pack, Admiral Lord Anson: The
Story of Anson’s Voyage and Naval Events of His Day (London: Cassell, 1960); L.
A. Wilcox, Anson’s Voyage (New York: St. Martin’s Press, 1970).
