Anson's Voyage
F1. Maritime HistoryDefinition
1740 to 1744 circumnavigation by Commodore George Anson, notable for capturing the Manila galleon Nuestra Senora de Covadonga.
The 1740 to 1744 circumnavigation by Commodore George Anson, sent to harry Spanish possessions in the Pacific during the War of Jenkins’ Ear. Anson sailed with six warships and around 1,900 men; storms rounding Cape Horn and scurvy killed most of the crews, and only his flagship HMS Centurion completed the voyage. On 20 June 1743 off the Philippines he captured the Manila galleon Nuestra Senora de Covadonga and its treasure, near 1.3 million pieces of eight. The cruise drove later British scurvy and navigation reforms.
Source: Richard Walter (ed.), A Voyage Round the World, 1740-1744 (1748); Centurion's capture of the Covadonga, 20 June 1743.