HMS Centurion (1732)

Centurion capturing the Covadonga
Career	RN Ensign
Ordered:	??
Laid down:	??
Launched:	1732
Commissioned:	1734
Decommissioned:	1769
Fate:	Broken up, 1769, Chatham
General Characteristics
Displacement:	1,005 tons
Length:	144 ft (43.9 m) overall
Beam:	40 ft 10 in (12.2 m)
Propulsion:	Sails
Range:	Limited by water and provisions
Complement:	400
Armour:	None
Armament:	24 x medium 24 pounder (11 kg), 26 x 9 pounder (4 kg), 10 x 6 pounder (1.8 kg) Marines armed with muskets aloft, Reduced to 50 guns, 1746

HMS Centurion was a 60-gun ship of the line, 4th rate, of the Royal Navy, built in 1732 and was the third British naval vessel to carry the name. She served in the Home Fleet and took part in the expedition to Lisbon by Sir John Norris. In 1738 she was captained by George Anson and led a small squadron to the African coast then to Jamaica and back to England. In 1740 she led a mission to harass Spanish shipping along the coast of South America and capturing the Manila galleon. This led to her famous circumnavigation and was the only ship to survive the entire voyage and capturing the Spanish galleon Nuestra Senora de Cavadonga. After being cut down to a 50 gun ship she took part in the first Battle of Finisterre.

The Golden Ocean

At the start of the War of the Austrian Succession in 1739, George Anson was made Commodore of a squadron by the Admiralty and tasked with harassing Spanish shipping along the coast of South America and capturing the Manila galleon, and to take its prize of the annual shipment of gold and silver from Mexico to the Philippines. The six initial ships with the squadron were HMS Centurion, Gloucester 50, Severn 50, Pearl 40, Wager 28, and the sloop Tryal 8, plus the two store ships Anna Pink and Industry. Despite the support of First Lord of the Admiralty he was unable to fully man his squadron and was short some 300 sailors. Anson was given only 170: 32 from Chatham hospital, and 98 marines, many of them novices. In lieu of a much needed land force of 500 men, he was given "invalids to be collected from the out-pensioners of Chelsea college ... who from their age, wounds, or other infirmities, are incapable of service in marching regiments." Of these, all but 259 deserted before they even left port.

These and other delays postponed the sailing date to September 1740, by which time the Spanish had dispatched to the Pacific a squadron of six ships under Don Joseph Pizarro. After stops at Madeira, Brazil, Port St Julian and Argentina just short of Cape Horn in March 1741. The British ships were separated in a succession of gales during their autumn rounding of the Cape and two ship in the squdron, the Severn and Pearl turned back. To make matters worse, the crews began to suffer from scurvy, and the disease drastically reduced the number of men able to crew the ships, even forstalling landfall at the Juan Fernández Islands to regroup, which they finally did on June 9, 1741. Once there the Centurion buried 43 men, with 130 men on the sick list, and having having lost 200 men on the passage. They were finally joined there by Tryal, Gloucester, and Anna Pink. The Wager was lost on the coast of Chile earlier on May 15, though many of her crew survived. By the time the surviving ships left Juan Fernández, they had lost a staggering 626 of the 961 crew they had sailed with; the remaining 335 men and boys were "a number, greatly insufficient for the manning of Centurion alone."

On September 9, Centurion left the island and three days later captured the merchantman Nuestra Señora del Monte Carmelo, from which Anson learned that Pizarro was still in the Atlantic. Over the next two months, the English took three Spanish merchantmen, one of which, Nuestra Señora del Arranzazú, was renamed Tryal Prize and used as a replacement for the abandoned Tryal. On November 13, they seized sailed into the Bay of Paita, burning the town, sinking five ships and taking one. Plunder to the value of £32,000 and other stores were taken. From there they sailed north to keep watch off Acapulco in the vain hope of capturing the Manila galleon. After destroying their prizes and making what repairs they could manage on the hostile Mexican coast, on May 6, 1742, Centurion and Gloucester sailed for China. By August 15, the Gloucester was in such a disrepar that she had to be scuttled; eleven days later Centurion landed at Tinian, which was in regular contact with the Spanish garrison at Guam. Half of the crew were ashore, Anson included, when a typhoon struck on September 21. The ship's cables parted and Centurion disappeared. Believing they might never see her again, Anson and his 113 crew set about to lengthen a small Spanish "bark" in which they planned to sail to China. Three weeks later Centurion returned, and on October 21 the reunited crew sailed for Macao, where they arrived on November 12.

As the Chinese looked on all ships not engaged in trade as pirates, fitting out at Macao proved extremely difficult, and Centurion was not ready for sea until April 6. Rather than sail directly for England, Anson intended to intercept the Manila galleon off the Philippines. Keeping station off Cape Espiritu Santo for a month, on June 20 they overtook Nuestra Señora de la Covadonga (36 guns) six leagues from the Cape (in about 12°35N, 125°10E). The Spanish ship was no match for the determined Centurion, and Captain Jerónimo de Montero lost sixty-seven crew killed and eighty-four wounded compared with only two English killed and seventeen wounded. The two ships arrived at Canton on July 11 and Anson's efforts to provision his ship were again frustrated. Covadonga was sold for $6,000 to local merchants and Centurion sailed for home on December 15, 1743.

Centurion's nearly four-year circumnavigation ended at Spithead on June 15, 1744. Despite the loss of three ships and more than 1,300 crew (only four to enemy action), Anson's capture of the Manila galleon with 1,313,843 pieces of eight and 35,682 ounces of virgin silver was greater than any other achievement of England's ten-year war with Spain and was ranked the equal of Drake's circumnavigation in Golden Hind 160 years before.

Anson achieved flag rank the following year, yet When the Admiralty declined to confirm field promotion of Anson's first Lieutenant during the expedition, Anson returned his own commission as Rear-Admiral of the Blue, and went on half pay as a captain for six months. After a change of Government ten months later, the Admiralty confirmed his Lieutenant and Anson became a Lord of the Admiralty, and being promoted to Rear-Admiral of the White received two steps at once.

In addition to eyewitness accounts of Anson's circumnavigation, Patrick O'Brian's novel The Golden Ocean is an accurate, though fictional, account of the voyage.

Later Career

In 1746 the Centurion was cut down to a 50 gun ship. In 1747 the she was commanded by Captain Peter Denis, and was in an English fleet of 17 ships under the command of now Vice-Admiral George Anson, who flew his flag in Prince George. The French fleet, under Admiral de la Jonquiere, consisted of 14 men-of-war and a convoy of 24 ships, and was sighted on May 23rd about 70 miles from Cape Finisterre. The French attempted to evade the English fleet, with Anson ordering a chase. A running fight of 3 hours followed, in which 13 French ships were captured, while a small detached squadron captured six of the French convoy. The rest of the French convey esacped after nightfall. A topical song of the time expresses in the following verses the part played by the Centurion:

''The Centurion first led the van, (bis):''And held 'em till we came up;:''Then we their hides did sorely bang,:''Our broadsides we on them did pour, (bis):''We gave the French a sower drench,And soon their topsails made them lower.

And when they saw our fleet come up, (bis):''They for quarters call'd without delay,:''And their colours they that moment struck:''O! how we did rejoice and sing, (bis):'To see such prizes we had took,For ourselves and for George our King.

The French lost 700 killed and wounded, and the English 520, including one captain killed. Booty to the value of £300,000 was taken from the prizes. This victory was valuable if not brilliant. Vice-Admiral Anson was advanced in peerage and the captured men-of-war were all added to the British Navy.

In June 1751 the Centurion, under the command of Commodore the Hon. Augustus Keppel who had previously served under Anson on the previous circumnaviation expedition, proceeded to Algiers, and attemtped to negoation problematic relations with the Dey. It is reported that the Dey angrily expressed surprise that the King of Great Britain should have sent a "beardless boy" to treat with him. Keppel replied: "Had my master supposed that wisdom was measured by the length of the beard, he would have sent your Deyship a he-goat." After threatening Keppel with death, the Dey consented to treaty.

In 1754, the Centurion, still under the command of Keppel, in company with the Norwich, escorted a large number of troops to North America, destined to assist the colonials in the suppression of the native tribes, who were being given support and encouragment from France to rise up against the English.

In 1759 the Centurion, now commanded by Captain William Mantell, was in a fleet of 49 ships under Vice-Admiral Charles Saunders with his flag in Neptune. They left Spithead on February 17th and, having secured pilots by a ruse, they anchored a few miles below Quebec on June 26th with nearly 10,000 troops. On June 28th the French sent down seven fireships and two firerafts, but these were grappled and towed clear by the fleet's crews. On September 13th under cover of the guns of the Centurion, the troops were landed and attacked Quebec. The seamen assisted with guns. On this day both General Wolfe and the Marquis of Montcalm, the English and French Commanders-in-Chief of the troops were mortally wounded. After some fighting the French retired. Additional ships were brought up to bombard French postons, and on the 17th the enemy offered to surrender. On the 18th Vice-Admiral Saunders was one of the signatories to the surrender.

In May 1762 the Centurion, commanded by Captain James Galbraith, was in the English fleet proceeding to Havana against the Spaniards, which consisted of 53 ships, besides storeships, hospital ships and transports, with 15,000 troops. Admiral Sir George Pocock, with his flag in Namur, and George, Earl of Albemarle, were the naval and military Commanders-in-Chief. On May 27th the fleet of 200 in all, sailed for the Old Strait of Bahama, which was safely navigated by marking the dangerous shoals and reefs with boats. During the passage two Spanish ships were captured. On June 6th the fleet arrived off Havana, and while a feint was made elsewhere the troops were landed under cover of the guns of the fleet. Moro was bombarded, although the Spaniards made a most gallant defence, Havana fell, and the British took complete possession on August 14th 1762. Specie and stores to the value of three million pounds were captured; thirteen Spanish men-of-war were destroyed, three were sunk, and two on the stocks were burned. While on the passage to Havana some ships were detached and captured two ships in the harbour of Mariel. The British lost 1790 killed and wounded.

Her End

The figurehead of the Centurion was a sixteen foot tall lion. It was presented to the Duke of Richmond by George III when the she was finally broken up at Chatham in 1769. While serving as an inn sign at Goodwood it was much admired by William IV, who asked for it from the Duke, and used it as a staircase ornament at Windsor Castle. The King later on presented it to Greenwich Hospital, with directions to place it in one of the wards, which he desired should be called the Anson Ward. It remained there until 1871 when it was removed to the playground of the Naval School, where owing to the action of the weather it unfortunately crumbled to pieces. At one time the following lines were inscribed beneath it:-

''Stay, traveller, a while, and view:''One who has travelled more than you;:''Quite round the globe, thro' each degree,:''Anson and I have ploughed the sea.:''Torrid and frigid zones have pass'd:''And-safe ashore arrived at last-:''In ease with dignity appear,He in the House of Lords-I here.