A GREAT SAILOR.i.
EVERY one knows that George Anson sailed round the world. Possibly the fame of that great achievement has somewhat obscured the man's other claims on the gratitude of his country. He was as able an administrator as the British
* Porroigilium Vonoris. Edited by Cecil Clements, M.A. London : genry Frowde. [ss, net.) t The Lifo of Admiral Lord Anson. By Walter Vernon Anson, Captain R.N. London: /ohn Murray. 1.13e. (Id, net.] Navy has ever had, and he founded what we may call a school of famous admirals. Rodney, Howe, and Lord St. Vincent are the most famous of the men who were helped by him in their career, but the list contains many other names which are familiar to students of naval history. The circumnaviga- tion story, as it is told by Captain Anson—great-great-great- nephew of the Admiral, we may say in passing—is a very curious one. It was not an effort to advance geographical knowledge, but an attempt to weaken the power of Spain, which was then at war with us, and was badly planned by the home authorities. The squadron consisted of six ships, Anson's being the 'Centurion,' of sixty guns. His commis- sion was dated January 10th, 1740, but in the following June he was still waiting for his crews to be made up, 300 being wanting out of a total of 1,100. At last 170 came but 32 were from the hospital and 98 marines. There was to be a fighting force of a regiment and three companies of marines. In place of these Anson had 500 pensioners from Chelsea Hospital! By September 1741, of the crew and fighting force of the Centurion,' 506 in number, 292 had been buried, and the 'Gloucester,' which carried the second-in- command, had fared worse, losing 292 out of 374. The chief who accomplished success under such conditions was indeed a hero. In 1748 Anson came to the Admiralty, then under the rule of Lord Sandwich, and began a long series of reforms, the first being an inspection of the dockyards—a thing which, we are amazed to hear, if anything could amaze us in the history of our public offices, had never been done before. Later on in the same year he went to sea in command of the Channel Fleet. Much improvement had already been worked, but much remained to be done. We hear of the pay of some of the ships being seven years in arrcar I And hero is another pretty little story. Two of the captains preferred to sail about looking for prizes to keeping with the squadron, and got a relative at the Admiralty to make out an order that their ships were to leave the squadron at the end of a week. The order was somehow disguised, and it was hoped that the First Lord would sign it without reading it. The First Lord (the Duke of Bedford) did, however, read it, and, very rightly, said that the two captains deserved to be hanged. After the peace of Aix-la- Chapelle (April 30th, 1748) Anson went back to his work of reform at the Admiralty. He had to contend with superiors as well as with inferiors. The Duke of Newcastle was Prime Minister, and was an inveterate jobber, not so much in his own interest as in that of his party. In 1750 the Commis. sionership of the Victualling Office was vacant. Nowhere was incompetence more certain to have a disastrous effect, but the Duke thought nothing of this. A certain Mr. Garth, who had sat twenty years for Devizes and "never failed one vote," wanted the place for his son, and the Duke speaks for him : "A very pretty young man, and one whom I am persuaded would make an excellent officer." "If your Lordship would give him the place," be goes on, "I should be extremely obliged to you." Lord Anson would have nothing to do with such jobs. He writes : "This gives me an opportunity of observing to your Grace that instead of adding to the useless people that are allowed in that office more people of business must be brought into it." But the Duke was not discouraged. He recommended a certain Lieutenant Hunt for the command of a man-of-war. The "interest of the borough of °eking- ham absolutely depends upon it; if it is not done the Corporation is lost, and with it one, or perhaps two, members." Anson has to temporize. "Whenever the borough of Ooking- ham becomes vacant by the death of Mr. Potter (and I hope you will not wish it sooner) I shall promote Mr. Hunt to a command." Then he goes on to give his chief a piece of his mind: "I must beg your Grace will seriously consider what must be the condition of your fleet if these Borough recom- mendations, which must be frequent, are to be complied with. The misbehaviour of captains of that cast has done more mischief to the public than the doss of a vote in the House of Commons." Byng, it may be mentioned by the way, owed his rise to political influences. Anson was not at the Admiralty when Byng was tried and condemned (March 1757), but he returned to it in the July of the same year. His administrative duties were alternated with active service, for in the following year he took the command of the fleet. What he found did not please him. "I never saw such awkwardness in going through the common manuluvres necessary to make an attack upon an enemy's fleet. . . . The captains excused themselves and were ashamed to find how little they knew of their duties in a fleet "—" Borough nomi- nations," we may suppose. But be did not work in vain. In November 1759 the fleet, commanded by Hawke, won the Victory of Quiberon. Two years later Anson hauled down his flag for the last time. In the following year he died, having well earned the title, which has been given him, of " Father of the British Navy." It is something of an anticlimax to specify that be was the first to give the Navy a uniform. Before this the practice was to buy old military coats, See., and braid them with black
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