The daily morning journal and courier., 1898-03-22

sloops-oi disappeared, and were | not seen again. On the 24th of April, in another fierce gale, the Centurion, the flagship, lost sight of the remaining four vessels of the squadron.
 Soon after passing the straits of Le Maire scurVy began to make it's ap- pearance in the squadron. The fatigues and various disappointments met with caused 1t to spread to such a degree that toward the end of April there were few who were not in some degree af- flicted with 1t on board the various yes sells. During that month no less than | 43 died on board the Centurion, and a | proportionate number on the other ships. By the middle of June the mor- tality had increased to such an extent on the Centurion that out of crew of 400 men 200 had died. The remainder were reduced to such state of help | lessness by the disorder that not above six men in a watch were capable of duty. It Is peculiarity of scurvy that it is accompanied with great depression of spirits and total loss of courage, so that anything that occurred to alarm the infected crew usually killed those who were in the last stages of the disease.
 It was under these conditions that the Centurion on the 9th of May sight ed the island of Socora, on the Chilian coast, the first rendezvous appointed in case of separation of the squadron. After cruising off this island, upon which no landing could be made, and none of the ships appearing, the Gen. turion bore away for the island of Juan Fernandez, the second designated place of meeting. After a months sail with a crazy ship, great scarcity of water, and crew so universally diseased that from four to five died every day, Juan Fernandez was sighted. It was several days, however, by reason of head winds and calms, before a landing could be effected; the half-famished and suffering crew the meantime driv- ento madness by the sight of green val leys an dcascades of water pouring from the hills.
 The day after coming to an anchor the sloop-of-war Trial oneof the miss ing vessels of the squadron arrived.S She had not been exempted from the call etlillllto SueiL ptLCll tLlGs SCIlOl lO1l. ooI of crew of 100 men, 33 had died of scurvy, and the remainder only four or 1 five were fit for duty. The arrival of | the Trial inspired Commodore Anson | with the hope that he would speedily be rejoined by the balance of the miss | ing vessels. In effect, on the 21th of | June, the Gloucester was sighted; but it was not until the 23d of July that she came to anchor alongside the other | ships. Her losses through scurvy were even greater than those of the others, | for, finer crew of 300 men, 225 were dead. Of the other three vessels, the l Wager, sloop- of-war, was wrecked on the coast of Chili. The survivors of her crew to the number of about 100, fitted I out the long boat, and in this crazy craft made their way through the l straits of Magellan to the coast of Bra gil, where with the exception of 30 of their number who had perished they found passage to Europe in French
 vessel. The Severn and Pearl were so l badly shattered in the storm that sep
 arated the squadron that they turned back and ultimately reached England with @ loss of two-thirds of their men,
 After three months stay on the is-
 land of Juan Fernandez for the re-
 freshment of his crews and the ref1t- ting of his ships, Anson set sail for the coast of Chili to attempt the capture
 of the town of Paita. En route he took
 six valuable prizes, but lost the sloop- of-war Trial, which proved so unsea-
 worthy that she was scuttled, and her
 men and guns transferred to the cap
 tured vessels. Paita was taken without
 the loss of a man, and along with it
 $1,500,000 worth of silver and valuable
 merchandise. From here, after scut-
 ting his prizes, Anson ranged along
 the northern coast of South America,
 with the intention of appearing off
 Acapulco, Mex, in time to intercept the
 great Manila galleon, which, however,
 reached that port before his arrival.
 Tn May, 1742, the Centurion and Glou-
 cester departed for Macao on the coast
 of China. Soon after leaving the Mexi-
 can shore the scurvy broke out, with
 increased violence, on both ships. With