To THE WISE MAN ALL THE WORLD'S A SOIL—BEN JONSON
A VOYAGE ROUND THE WORLD
in the years 1740-4 by
LORD ANSON
LONDON: PUBLISHED by J. M. DENT & SONS Ltd.
AND IN NEW YORK BY E. P. DUTTON & CO
INTRODUCTION
The men-of-war in which Anson went to sea were builtmostly of oak. They were painted externally yellow, witha blue stripe round the upper works. Internally, theywere painted red. They carried cannon on one, two, orthree decks according to their size. The biggest shipscarried a hundred cannon and nearly a thousand men.The ship in which this famous voyage was made was ofthe middle size, then called the fourth-rate. She carriedsixty cannon, and a crew of four hundred men. Herlower gun deck, a little above the level of the water, wasabout 140 feet long. She was of about a thousand tonsburthen.
Though this seems small to us, it is not small for awooden ship. It is not possible to build a long woodenship. The Centurion, though short, was broad, bulky, anddeep. She was fit for the sea. As she was built more tocarry cannon than to sail, she was a slow sailer. Shebecame slower as the barnacles gathered on her planksunder the water. She carried three wooden masts, eachfitted with two or three square sails, extended by woodenyards. Both yards and masts were frequently injured inbad weather.
The cannon were arranged in rows along her decks. Onthe lower gun deck, a little above the level of the water,she carried twenty-six twenty-four-pounders, thirteen on aside. These guns were muzzle-loading cannon which flungtwenty-four-pound balls for a distance of about a mile.On the deck above this chief battery, she carried alighter battery of twenty-six nine- or twelve-pounderguns, thirteen on a side. These guns were also muzzle-loading.They flung their balls for a distance of a littlemore than a mile.
On the quarter-deck, the poop, the forecastle, and aloft inthe tops (the strong platforms on the masts), were lighterguns, throwing balls of from a half to six pounds' weight.{viii}Some of the lightest guns were mounted on swivels, so thatthey could be easily pointed in any direction. All the gunswere clumsy weapons. They could not be aimed with anynicety. The iron round shot fired from them did not fitthe bores of the pieces. The gun-carriages were clumsy,and difficult to move. Even when the carriage had beenso moved that the gun was accurately trained, and whenthe gun itself had been raised or depressed till it wasaccurately pointed, the gunner could not tell how much the ballwould wobble in the bore before it left the muzzle. Forthese reasons all the effective sea-fights were fought at closerange, from within a quarter of a mile of the target to closealongside. At a close range, the muskets and small-armscould be used with effect.
The broadside cannon pointed through square portholescut in the ship's sides. The ports were fitted with heavywooden lids which could be tightly closed when necessary.In bad weather, the lower-deck gun ports could not beopened without danger of swamping the ship. Sometimes,when the lower-deck guns were fought in a gale, the menstood