ANSON RECEIVED BY THE VICEROY--CENTURION SETS SAIL--TABLE BAY--SPITHEAD.
THE VICEROY.
At ten o'clock in the morning, on the day appointed, a mandarin came to
the Commodore to let him know that the Viceroy was ready to receive him,
on which the Commodore and his retinue immediately set out. And as soon
as he entered the outer gate of the city, he found a guard of two hundred
soldiers drawn up ready to attend him; these conducted him to the great
parade before the Emperor's palace, where the Viceroy then resided. In
this parade a body of troops, to the number of ten thousand, were drawn
up under arms, and made a very fine appearance, being all of them new
clothed for this ceremony, and Mr. Anson and his retinue having passed
through the middle of them, he was then conducted to the great hall of
audience, where he found the Viceroy seated under a rich canopy in the
Emperor's chair of state, with all his Council of Mandarins attending.
Here there was a vacant seat prepared for the Commodore, in which he was
placed on his arrival. He was ranked the third in order from the Viceroy,
there being above him only the head of the law and of the treasury, who
in the Chinese Government take place of all military officers. When the
Commodore was seated he addressed himself to the Viceroy by his
interpreter, and began with reciting the various methods he had formerly
taken to get an audience, adding that he imputed the delays he had met
with to the insincerity of those he had employed, and that he had
therefore no other means left than to send, as he had done, his own
officer with a letter to the gate. On the mention of this the Viceroy
stopped the interpreter, and bid him assure Mr. Anson that the first
knowledge they had of his being at Canton was from the letter. Mr. Anson
then proceeded, acquainting the Viceroy that the proper season was now
set in for returning to Europe, and that he waited only for a license to
ship off his provisions and stores, which were all ready, and that, as
soon as this should be granted to him, and he should have got his
necessaries on board, he intended to leave the river of Canton and to
make the best of his way to England. The Viceroy replied to this that the
license should be immediately issued, and that everything should be
ordered on board the following day. The Viceroy continued the
conversation for some time, acknowledging in very civil terms how much
the Chinese were obliged to him for his signal services at the fire, and
owning that he had saved the city from being destroyed; and then,
observing that the Centurion had been a good while on their coast, he
closed his discourse by wishing the Commodore a good voyage to Europe.
After which, the Commodore thanking him for his civility and assistance,
took his leave.
Thus the Commodore, to his great joy, at last finished this troublesome
affair, which for the preceding four months had given him great
disquietude. Indeed, he was highly pleased with procuring a licence for
the shipping his stores and provisions; for thereby he was enabled to
return to Great Britain with the first of the monsoon, and to prevent all
intelligence of his being expected. But this, though a very important
point, was not the circumstance which gave him the greatest satisfaction,
for he was more particularly attentive to the authentic precedent
established on this occasion, by which His Majesty's ships of war are for
the future exempted from all demands of duty in any of the ports of
China.
HOMEWARD BOUND.
In pursuance of the promises of the Viceroy, the provisions were begun to
be sent on board the day after the audience, and four days after the
Commodore embarked at Canton for the Centurion, and on the 7th of
December the Centurion and her prize unmoored and stood down the river,
passing through the Bocca Tigris on the 10th. And on this occasion I must
observe that the Chinese had taken care to man the two forts on each side
of that passage with as many men as they could well contain, the greatest
part of them armed with pikes and matchlock muskets. These garrisons
affected to show themselves as much as possible to the ships, and were
doubtless intended to induce Mr. Anson to think more reverently than he
had hitherto done of the Chinese military power. For this purpose they
were equipped with much parade, having a great number of colours exposed
to view, and on the castle in particular there were laid considerable
heaps of large stones, and a soldier of unusual size, dressed in very
sightly armour, stalked about on the parapet with a battleaxe in his hand
endeavouring to put on as important and martial an air as possible,
though some of the observers on board the Centurion shrewdly suspected,
from the appearance of his armour, that instead of steel, it was composed
only of a particular kind of glittering paper.
The Commodore, on the 12th of December, anchored before the town of
Macao. Whilst the ships lay here the merchants of Macao finished their
agreement for the galleon, for which they had offered 6,000 dollars; this
was much short of her value, but the impatience of the Commodore to get
to sea, to which the merchants were no strangers, prompted them to insist
on so unequal a bargain. Mr. Anson had learnt enough from the English at
Canton to conjecture that the war betwixt Great Britain and Spain was
still continued, and that probably the French might engage in the
assistance of Spain before he could arrive in Great Britain; and
therefore, knowing that no intelligence could get to Europe of the prize
he had taken, and the treasure he had on board, till the return of the
merchantmen from Canton, he was resolved to make all possible expedition
in getting back, that he might be himself the first messenger of his own
good fortune, and might thereby prevent the enemy from forming any
projects to intercept him. For these reasons he, to avoid all delay,
accepted the sum offered for the galleon, and she being delivered to the
merchants, the 15th of December 1743, the Centurion the same day got
under sail on her return to England. And on the 3rd of January she came
to an anchor at Prince's Island, in the Straits of Sunda, and continued
there wooding and watering till the 8th, when she weighed and stood for
the Cape of Good Hope, where on the 11th of March she anchored in Table
Bay.
Here the Commodore continued till the beginning of April, highly
delighted with the place, which by its extraordinary accommodations, the
healthiness of its air, and the picturesque appearance of the country,
all enlivened by the addition of a civilised colony, was not disgraced in
an imaginary comparison with the valleys of Juan Fernandez and the lawns
of Tinian. During his stay he entered about forty new men, and having by
the 3rd of April, 1744, completed his water and provision, he on that day
weighed and put to sea. The 19th of the same month they saw the island of
St. Helena, which, however, they did not touch at, but stood on their
way; and on the 10th of June, being then in soundings, they spoke with an
English ship from Amsterdam bound for Philadelphia, whence they received
the first intelligence of a French war. The 12th they got sight of the
Lizard, and the 15th, in the evening, to their infinite joy, they came
safe to an anchor at Spithead. But that the signal perils which had so
often threatened them in the preceding part of the enterprise might
pursue them to the very last, Mr. Anson learned on his arrival that there
was a French fleet of considerable force cruising in the chops of the
Channel, which, by the account of their position, he found the Centurion
had run through and had been all the time concealed by a fog. Thus was
this expedition finished, when it had lasted three years and nine months,
after having, by its event, strongly evinced this important truth: That
though prudence, intrepidity, and perseverance united are not exempted
from the blows of adverse fortune, yet in a long series of transactions
they usually rise superior to its power, and in the end rarely fail of
proving successful.
GLOSSARY.
Anchors:
Bower anchors (the best bower and the small bower). The anchors carried
at the bows of a vessel.
The sheet anchor (= shoot anchor). An anchor to be shot out or lowered in
case of a great danger, carried abaft the forerigging; formerly the
largest anchor.
Bag-wig. See Wig.
Barge. See Boats.
Bilging. To bilge = to be stove in, or suffer serious injury in the
bilge, which is the bottom part of a ship's hull.
Boats:
Barge. The second boat of a man-of-war; a long narrow boat, generally
with not less than ten oars, for the use of the chief officers.
Cutter. A boat belonging to a ship of war, shorter and in proportion
broader than the barge or pinnace, fitted for rowing and sailing, and
used for carrying light stores, passengers, etc.
Longboat. The principal boat of the old man-of-war. Now replaced by steam
launches.
Pinnace. A boat for the accommodation of the inferior officers of a
man-of-war, resembling the barge.
Yawl. A small boat used for much the same purposes as the cutter.
Bow-chasers. See Chasers.
Bower. See Anchor.
Bring to. To bring a vessel's head up to the wind so that the wind blows
from bow to stern.
Broad pennant. See Commodore.
Cacao. Chocolate nuts.
Cackle. To cover a cable spirally with old three-inch rope to protect it
from chafing.
Callous (of a broken bone). The new bony tissue formed between and around
the fractured ends of a broken bone in the process of reuniting.
Careening is the operation of heaving down a ship on one side, in order
to expose the other side for cleaning.
Cartel. A written agreement between belligerents for an exchange of
prisoners.
Caulk. To make a ship's seams watertight by plugging the crevices with
oakum (i.e. old untwisted rope).
Chasers. Bow-chasers were two long chase-guns placed forward in the bow
ports to fire directly ahead. Stern-chasers were similar guns mounted
astern.
Clean. A clean ship is one whose bottom is free from barnacles and weed
that check the pace.
Clearing for action. To get ready for battle by clearing the decks from
encumbrances and anything unnecessary or dangerous, such as wooden
partitions between cabins, etc.
Cochineal. A dye stuff consisting of female cochineal insects killed and
dried by heat. They yield a brilliant scarlet dye.
Cohorn mortars. See Mortar.
The commerce. Used several times in the sense of "the traders."
Commodore. A naval officer ranking above a captain and below a
rear-admiral. In the British Navy the rank is a temporary one, given to
senior officers in command of detached squadrons. The broad pennant
(chapter 4) is the flag that marks the presence of a commodore on board.
Courses. The sails below the topsails and next to the deck.
Cutter. See Boats.
Dollar. A corruption of the German "thaler," a name for a silver coin
worth about four shillings. The name was extended in the form "dollar" to
other coins of similar size, notably the old Spanish "piece of eight."
See Pieces of eight.
Doubloon. A former Spanish gold coin worth about eight dollars.
Eight. See Pieces of.
Embargo. A temporary order from Government to prevent the arrival or
departure of ships.
Fetch (the wake of). To reach the track left by a ship.
File (of musketeers). Latin filum, French file = a row. The word is used
to signify any line of men standing directly behind one another. In
ordinary two-deep formations a file consists of two men, one in the front
rank and one in the rear rank.
Fishing (a mast). To strengthen or mend a mast by fastening strips of
wood or iron along a weak or broken place.
Foot-rope. A rope stretched under a yard arm for sailors to stand on
while reefing or furling sails.
Fore-cap. The cap is a stout block joining the bottom of one mast to the
top of another; as where the foretopmast joins the foremast.
Foremast, foretopmast, etc. See Mast.
Fore-reach. To gain upon or pass; to beat in sailing.
Foreyard. The lowest yard on the foremast of a square-rigged vessel.
Grapnel. A boat's anchor having more than two flukes. Come to grapnel,
cf. Come to anchor.
Half-galleys. A galley is a low, flat-built sea-going vessel with one
deck, propelled by sails and oars. A half-galley is a similar vessel, but
much shorter.
Half-pike. See Pike.
Hand (the sails). To furl.
Hawser. A large rope or small cable.
Indulgences. The remission by authorised priests of the punishment due to
sin. The sale of indulgences was one of the abuses that provoked the
Reformation.
Jerk. To cure meat, especially beef, by cutting it into long thin slices
and drying it in the sun.
Jury-mast. A small temporary mast often made of a yard; set up instead of
a mast that is broken down.
Larboard (or port). The left side of a ship looking towards the bow.
Lay to (lie to). To reduce sail to the lowest limits, so as to become
nearly stationary.
Lee. The side or direction opposite to that from which the wind comes.
Line, ship of the. A ship of sufficient size and armament to take a place
in the line of battle.
Linguist. Interpreter.
Longboat. See Boats.
Lumber. Sawn timber.
Masts:
The masts of a full-rigged three-masted ship are the following:
Fore-mast, topmast, topgallant-mast, royal mast.
Main-mast, topmast, topgallant-mast, royal mast.
Mizzen-mast, topmast, topgallant-mast, royal mast.
Monsoon. See Winds.
Mortar. A kind of gun with a very short bore. It throws its projectile at
a great elevation.
Mortar, Cohorn (see chapter 7). Cohorn was a famous Dutch engineer and
artillerist in the service of William III.
Nailed up. Spiked. To spike a gun is to render it useless for the time by
inserting into the vent a steel pin with side springs, which when
inserted open outwards to the shape of an arrowhead so that it cannot be
released.
Offing:
1. The most distant part of the sea visible from the shore.
2. A still greater distance, sufficient to avoid the dangers of shipwreck,
as "a good offing."
Overreach. To pass.
Parallel, i.e. of latitude or longitude as the case may be.
Pennant, Broad. See Commodore.
Pidreroes. Light Spanish cannon.
Pieces of eight. Old Spanish coins worth about four shillings each. The
piece of eight was divided into eight silver reals. Hence the name which
was applied to it in the Spanish Main. It was also frequently called a
dollar.
Pike. A long shaft or pole, having an iron or steel point, used in
medieval warfare, now replaced by the bayonet. A half-pike was a similar
weapon having a staff about half the length.
Pink. An obsolete name for a small sailing ship.
Pinnace. See Boats.
Port (or larboard). The left side of a ship looking towards the bow.
Post-captain. An obsolete title for a captain of three years' standing.
Proa. A small Malay vessel.
Quarter. The upper part of a vessel's side from abaft the main mast to
the stern.
Quarter gallery. A gallery is a balcony built outside the body of a ship:
at the stern (stern gallery) or at the quarters (quarter gallery).
Reef. A portion of a sail that can be drawn close together.
Rosaries. Strings of beads used by Roman Catholics in praying. Each bead
told (or counted) represents a prayer.
Scuttle. To make a hole in the bottom of a ship in order to sink it.
Serons (of dollars). A seron or seroon is a kind of small trunk made in
Spanish America out of a piece of raw bullock's hide.
Service (of a cable). The part next the anchor secured by cordage wrapped
round it.
Ship of the line. See Line.
Shrouds. The stout ropes that are stretched from a masthead of a vessel
to the sides or to the rims of a top, serving as a means of ascent and as
a lateral strengthening stays to the masts.
Sling. A rope or chain by which a lower yard is suspended.
Sprit-sail. A quadrangular sail stretched from the mast by the help, not
of a gaff along its top, but of a sprit (or yard) extending from the mast
diagonally to the upper aftmost corner of the sail, as in the case of a
London barge.
Sprit-sail yard. Another name for the sprit.
Standing rigging. The parts of a vessel's rigging that are practically
permanent.
Starboard. The right side of a ship looking towards the bow.
Stern-chasers. See Chasers.
Streaks (or strakes). Lines of planking.
Supercargo. A person employed by the owners of a ship to go a voyage and
to oversee the cargo.
Tacks ("got our tacks on board," chapter 17). Ropes for hauling down and
fastening the corners of certain sails.
Taffrail. The upper part of the stern of a ship.
Tie-wig. See Wig.
Tradewind. See Winds.
Transom. A beam across the stern-post to strengthen the after part of the
ship.
Traverse. To turn guns to the right or left in aiming.
Wake. The track left by a ship.
Warp. To move a vessel into another position by hauling upon a hawser
attached usually to the heads of piles or posts of a wharf.
Wear (a ship). To bring a ship about by putting the helm up. The vessel
is first run off before the wind and then brought to on the new tack.
Weather:
1. The windward side.
2. To go to windward of.
Wig. A bag-wig is a wig with a bag to hold the back hair. It was
fashionable in the seventeenth century. A tie-wig is a court wig tied
with ribbon at the bag.
Winds. The tradewinds are winds which blow all the year through on the
open ocean in and near the torrid zone. In the northern hemisphere they
blow from the north-east, in the southern from the south-east. The
regularity of the tradewind is interfered with by the neighbourhood of
large land masses. Their temperature varies much more with the change of
seasons than that of the ocean; and this variation produces a change in
the direction of the tradewind in the hot season, corresponding distantly
to a phenomenon which may be observed, daily instead of half-yearly, on
the English coast in hot summer weather, when a sea breeze blows during
the day and a land breeze at night. In the northern hemisphere the
monsoon--as this periodic wind is called--blows from the south-west (i.e.
towards the heated continent of South Asia) from April to October, and
from the north-east, as the ordinary trade wind, during the rest of the
year.
Works, upper. The sides of a vessel's hull from the water-line to the
covering board.
End of Project Gutenberg's Anson's Voyage Round the World, by Richard Walter