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

"It was in the midst of summer, in the year 1740, that this squadron was formed at Portsmouth, at the same time that a great embarkation was preparing for the West Indies, by which the siege of Carthagena was afterwards undertaken, which turned the eyes of the whole world upon that sea-port. At London, every person spoke of the intended expedition to the South Seas as a design that must necessarily be attended with highly advantageous consequences, if properly conducted; and of this there was not made the least doubt, when it was known that Captain Anson was named to the command, because he had shewn himself upon all occasions equally vigilant in his duty, and moderate in the exercise of power, more ready to correct by his own example than by any other sort of reproof, and who, in the course of his services, had acquired the respect of the officers, and the love of the sailors; qualities that rarely meet in one person, and qualities which, without the least contradiction, were ascribed to him.2