Note (return) — Chapter XIV · VOYAGE ROUND THE WORLD, BY CAPTAIN GEORGE ANSON, IN THE YEARS 1740-1744.1 (continued 7)

It was the last of May, when they arrived off this cape; and the month of June being that in which the Manilla ships are usually expected, the Centurion's people were now waiting each hour with the utmost impatience for the happy crisis which was to balance the account of all their past calamities. As from this time there was but small employment for the crew, the commodore ordered them almost every day to be exercised in the management of the great guns, and in the use of their small arms. This had been his practice, more or less, at all convenient seasons, during the whole course of his voyage; and the advantages which he received from it, in his engagement with the galleon, were an ample recompence for all his care and attention.2