to the weftward, inftead of three hundred able failors, which Mr.
Anfm wanted, of his complement, ordered on board the fquadron
a hundred and feventy men only, o f which thirty-two were from
.the hofpital and fick-quarter, thirty-feven from, the Sali/bury, with
three officers of Colonel Lowther's regiment, and ninety-eight marines
j and thefe were all that were ever granted to make up the
. forementioned deficiency.
But the Commodore’ s mortification did not end here. It has been
.already obferved, that it was at firft intended thatColoneliJ/isWr regiment,
and three, independent companies, o f a hundred men each,
Should, embark as land-forces on board the fquadron. But this dif-
■ pofition was now changed; and all the land-forces that were to be
allowed were, five hundred invalids, to be collected from the out-
.penfioners. of Cbelfea-college. As thefe out-penfioners confift of
Soldiers, who, from their age, wounds, or other infirmities, are incapable
of fervice in marching regiments, Mr. Anfon was greatly
chagrined at having fetch a decrepid detachment allotted him ; for
he was fully perffiaded that the greateft part of them would periffi
long before they arrived at the fcene o f afition, fipce the delays he
had already encountered neceflarily confined his paflage round Cape
Horn to the moll rigorous feafon of the year. Sir Charles Wager
too joined in opinion with the Commodore, that invalids were no
way proper for this fervice, and folicited ftrenuoufly to hays them
exchanged. But he was told, that perfons who were, fuppofed to
be better judges o f foldiers than he or Mr. Anfon, thought them
the propereft men that could be employed on this occafion. And,
upon this determination, they were ordered on board the fquadron
on the 5 th. of Augujl. But, inftead o f five hundred, there came on
board no more than two hundred and fifty-nine: for.all thofe who
had limbs.andftrength to walk out o f Poztfwouth delected, leaving
behind them only fuch as were , literally .invalids, moft of them
■ being fixty years, of age, and feme., of them upwards o f feventy.
Indeed, it is difficult to conceive a more moving fcene than the
embarkation of thefe unhappy.veterans.: they .were themfelves..extremely
trerrtcly ’itveife to the fervice 'they were engaged in, and fully ap-
-prtfed of-all the difafler’s they were afterwards expofed to; thfe-
Upprehenfións of which were ftrongly marked by the concern that,
appeared m their countenance, which was mixed with no fmall de-
-greé Of indignation, to be thus hurried from their repofe into a
'fatigiimg fempldy,. to which neither the ftrength of their bodies nor'
the vigbcrr o f their -rhinds were Srfy Way proportioned; and where,
Without feeing the fece o f an enemy, or in the leaft promoting the:
fticcefs 'of the e'nterprize, they would in all probability ufelefsly
peiirh liy lingering and painful difeafes; and this- too, after they
hid M l thè i'Stvity' and ftrength of their youth in their Country’s
fervice.
I canfföt but bbferve, on this melancholy incident, how extremely
unfortunate it was; both to this aged and difeafed detachment,
and to the -expedition they Were employed in, that, amongft all the-
out-penfioner’s of Chelfea hojfiial, which were fuppofed to amount
to two theiufand men, the moft crazy and infirm only ffiould be
culled out for fo laborious and perilous an undertaking •- for it was
Well known, that However Unfit invalids in general might be For
this fefvice, yet, by a prudent choice, there might ha ve been found"
amongft theth five hundred men who had feme remains of vigour
left; and Mr. Anfon fully expe&ed that thé beft of them would:
have been allotted him-; whereas the whole detachment that was.
fent to him feérhed to be made up of the moft decrepid and mife-
rable objects that could’ be colléfted out of the-whole body; and,,
by the defertion above mentioned, thefe were a fecond time cleared
o f that little health and ftrength which were to be found.amongft
them, and he was to take up with fuch as were much fitter for an-
infirmary than for any military duty.
And here it is neceffary to mention another material particular'
in the equipment of this fquadrbn. It was propofed to Mr. Anfon,,.
after it was refolvcd that he ffiould be fent to the South Seas, to»
fake with him two perfons, under the denomination of Agent Vic—
tualers. Thofe who were mentioned for this employment had formerly
been in the Spanijh Weft-Indies, in the South-Sea Company’sfervice;: