of rendezvous in case of separation; and, if they
did not meet the Centurion there, directing them to
make the best of their way to the island of St Catharine
on the coast of Brazil. The water for the squadron
being that day completed, and each ship supplied with
as much wine and other refreshments as they could
take in, we weighed anchor in the afternoon, and took
leave of Madeira. But, before continuing the
narrative of our transactions, I think it necessary
to give some account of the proceedings of the enemy,
and of the measures they had taken to render all our
designs abortive.
On visiting the governor of Madeira, Mr Anson was
informed by him, that for three or four days in the
latter end of October, there had appeared to the westward
of the island seven or eight ships of the line and
a patache, which last was sent close in with
the land every day. The governor assured our
commodore, upon his honour, that no person on the
island had either given them intelligence, or had any
sort of communication with them. He believed them
to be either French or Spanish, but was rather inclined
to suppose the latter. On this intelligence,
Mr Anson sent an officer in a clean sloop eight leagues
to the westwards, to reconnoitre them, and, if possible,
to discover what they were: But the officer returned
without having seen them, so that we still remained
in uncertainty; yet we could not but conjecture that
this fleet was intended to put a stop, if possible,
to our expedition; and, had they cruized to the eastward
of the island, instead of the westward, they could
not have failed in doing so: for, as in that
case they must infallibly have fallen in with us, we
should have been under the necessity of throwing overboard
vast quantities of provisions, to clear our ships
for action; and this alone, independent of the event
of the action, would have effectually prevented our
progress. This was so obvious a measure, that
we could not help imagining reasons which might have
prevented them from pursuing it. We supposed,
therefore, that this French or Spanish squadron, having
advice that we were to sail in company with Admiral
Balchen and Lord Cathcart’s expedition, might
not think it adviseable to meet with us till we had
parted company, from apprehension of being over-matched,
and supposed we might not separate before our arrival
at this island. These were our speculations at
the time, from which we had reason to suppose we might
still fall in with them, in our way to the Cape de
Verd islands. We were afterwards persuaded, in
the course of our expedition, that this was the Spanish
squadron commanded by Don Joseph Pizarro, sent out
purposely to traverse the views and enterprizes of
our squadron, to which they were greatly superior in
strength. As this Spanish armament was so nearly
connected with our expedition, and as the catastrophe,
if underwent, though not effected by our force, was
yet a considerable advantage to this nation produced
in consequence of our equipment; I have, in the following
section, given a summary account of their proceedings,
from their first setting out from Spain in 1740, till
the Asia, the only ship of the whole squadron that
returned to Europe, got back to Corunna in the beginning
of the year 1746.
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