Tryal HMS (Sloop of Anson's squadron)

[john sefton]

While Great Britain was at war with Spain in 1740, Commodore George Anson led a squadron of eight ships on a mission to disrupt or capture Spain's Pacific possessions. The Tryal (200 tons, 8 guns, 70 men.) was one of those ships.
Various schemes were proposed to attack Spanish possessions. Edward Vernon captured Portobelo in November 1739 with just six ships and a second squadron, to be led by George Anson, was to sail around Cape Horn with six warships carrying 500 troops with instructions that might be described as ambitious. These were to capture Callao in Peru (the port that served the nearby capital Lima) and if possible take Lima as well), capture Panama with its treasure, seize the galleon from Acapulco and lead a revolt of the Peruvians to Spanish colonial power. An earlier proposal to also capture Manilla was dropped.
Additionally, two merchant vessels, the Anna and Industry, would carry supplies.
The provision of 500 troops was farcical. No regular troops were made available so 500 invalids were to be collected from the Chelsea Hospital. In this case, the term invalid referred to soldiers that were too sick, wounded or old for active duty but might be able to perform lighter duties. In any case, on hearing details of the proposed voyage, those that could get away did and only 259 came aboard, many on stretchers. To make up for the 241 missing, marines were ordered aboard but these were such fresh recruits that few of them had yet been trained how to fire a gun.
The squadron reached Isla de Santa Catarina (St Catherine's), a large island just off the coast of Portuguese southern Brazil on 21 December and the sick were sent ashore, eighty from the Centurion alone. A thorough cleaning then commenced with the below-deck areas first scrubbed clean, then fires lit inside and the hatches closed so that the smoke would kill rats and other vermin, then everything was washed down with vinegar.
Anson had hoped to stay only long enough to pick up firewood, fresh water and provisions but the main mast of the Tryal needed repairs that took almost a month. Meanwhile the men on shore in makeshift tents were exposed to mosquitos and malaria soon appeared. Although 28 men from the Centurion had died while in port, the number of sick taken back on board when they left on 18 January 1741 had increased from 80 to 96.
Anson sailed 18 January 1741 intending to stop at Puerto San Julián (near the eastern entrance to the Strait of Magellan) where there was no European presence but supposedly bountiful supplies of salt.
Four days later, in a storm, the repaired mast of the Tryal broke, forcing the Gloucester to take it in tow.
Even though the Spanish ships were known to be somewhere in the area, the squadron had no choice but to stop at St Julian, which was found to have no trees or fresh water and barely any salt. The Tryal's broken topmast was simply removed and a spare topmast used to replace the broken foremast, effectively reducing her rigging but probably the key to allowing her to weather the ferocious storms to come.
The ships reached Strait of Le Maire, the entrance to the path around Cape Horn, on 7 March 1741 in unseasonably fine weather but shortly afterwards it turned to a violent gale from the south. Having avoided being blown onto Staten Island, Anson ordered the Tryal to lead, on the lookout for ice. However, carrying sufficient sail to keep ahead of the other ships left the ship dangerously unstable, with the men on deck frequently exposed to the freezing water. Since the deck cannon were getting continually doused, it would have been impossible to fire warning shots even if they had seen ice so the Tryal was removed from this duty and the Pearl took its place leaving her Captain Saumarez to write, 'that really life is not worth pursuing at the expense of such hardships'.
At the beginning of April, the ships headed north believing that they were 300 miles (480 km) west of land. However, through lack of alternatives at that time, ships had to estimate their east-west position by dead reckoning - calculating the distance covered knowing the ship's speed and heading - which could not account for unknown ocean currents and so on the night of 13-14th, the crew of the Anna were alarmed to see the cliffs of Cape Noir just 2 miles (3.2 km) away. They fired cannon and lit lamps to warn the others and they were just able to claw their way out to sea although there was great concern that the Severn and Pearl were already lost as they had not been sighted since the 10th.
Another storm hit just as the Wager fell from sight and on 24 April, both the Centurion and Gloucester reported that every sail was torn or loose but the crew was too few and too weak to attempt repairs until the next day by which time the ships were scattered.
The sailing instructions included three rendezvous points if the ships were scattered and the Centurion reached the first, Socorro (Isla Guamblin, 45°S on Chilean coast) on 8 May. After waiting two weeks and seeing no other ships, Anson decided to sail for Juan Fernandez, the third rendezvous point, since the second, Valdivia, was on the coast and would be too dangerous to find being on a lee shore.
However, the charts carried by the squadron placed Juan Fernandez at 33°30'S and 135 miles (217 km) west of Valparaíso on the South American coast. In fact, it is at 34°47'S and 360 miles (580 km) west. Anson, now unsure of his charts and his navigator's skills headed east and soon saw the coast of Chile. Turning back west, it took nine days to reach the area he had left during which time 70-80 men died. Juan Fernandez was then sighted at daybreak on 9 June. However, by now there were only eight men and the remaining officers and their servants able to work the ship. After anchoring for the night they were too weak to lift the anchor the following morning but were lucky to be blown free by a sudden squall. As they manoeuvered into the bay they were appalled to find no other ships waiting there but then sighted the tiny Tryal approaching. Of the 86 crew and marines, 46 had died and now only the captain, Charles Saunders, his lieutenant and three seamen were able to stand on deck. Those still able worked desperately to get the sick ashore.
Given the mortality rate on the Centurion and Tryal, it seemed likely that the crews of the other ships would all be dead if they were unable to reach Juan Fernandez in the next few days. On 21 June a ship was sighted with only one sail, apparently in trouble but it was another six days before the ship was close enough to be identified as the Gloucester. A long boat was sent out to meet the ship and but they were unable to get the ship into the anchorage at Cumberland Bay. The ship was then blown out to sea and it was not until 23 July that the Gloucester was finally able to make anchorage. Since leaving Port St Julian, 254 had died leaving 92 men, most debilitated by scurvy.
Anson prepared to sail in September 1741 but before leaving took a census which found that of the original 961 that had left England on the Centurion, Gloucester and Tryal, 626 or roughly two-thirds, had died. The fate of those on the other three ships was at that time unknown.
The Centurion, Carmelo and the little Tryal waited off Valparaiso. The Tryal took the Arranzazu, an unarmed merchant ship three times her size carrying cargo of little use except for £5,000 in silver. The Tryal had been badly damaged by storms, so her guns were transferred to the prize vessel and she was allowed to sink. The Centurion captured the Santa Teresa de Jesus whose cargo was near worthless but the passengers included three women. Anson intended to demonstrate that he was a disciplined military officer rather than a ruthless buccaneer, and so treated his prisoners well, including assigning a guard for the women and allowing them to keep their cabins. The Nuestra Señora de Carmin was then seized and an Irish sailor on board revealed that Gloucester had been sighted by a ship entering Paita, and that the authorities has been alerted.
Since the Spanish were now on alert for his squadron, it was obvious that the way home would be by way of China to either the Portuguese colony at Macau or further up the river to Canton, a base for the English East India company, rather than back around Cape Horn. Before leaving though, there was still the question of what to do with the prize ships. Anson had already decided to destroy the Carmelo and Carmin and given the severe shortage of men on the Centurion and Gloucestor, he concluded there was no choice but to also sacrifice the Arranzazu, now renamed the Tryal's Prize and transfer the men, even though the impressive 600-ton ship was "in good repair and fit for sea". This was against the determined argument of the officers from the Tryal since their transfer would mean loss of seniority and therefore pay and prize money.
On 7 December 1743, they sailed from Canton and stopping at Macau, sold the galleon at the heavily discounted price of 6,000 dollars, allowing the Centurion to leave on the 15th. Anson was anxious to reach England before news of the treasure he was carrying reached France or Spain, lest they attempt to intercept him.
The ship stopped on 8 January at Prince's Island in the Straits of Sunda between the Indonesian islands of Sumatra and Java for fresh water and other supplies and reached Cape Town near the Cape of Good Hope on 11 March. He left on 3 April after acquiring additional crew and reached home at Spithead on 15 June 1744, having slipped through fog and thus avoided a French squadron that was cruising the English Channel.
Of those on board, 188 were all that remained of the original crews of the Centurion, Gloucester, Tryal and Anna. Together with the survivors of the Severn, Pearl and Wager, about 500 had survived of the original 1900 that had sailed in September 1740, all but a handful falling to disease or starvation.
Anson became a celebrity on his return and was invited to meet the King. When the treasure was paraded through the streets of London it was greeted by huge crowds.
Disputes over prize money ended up in court and turned the officers against one another. The main question was the status of the officers from the Gloucester and Tryal once they came aboard the Centurion since Anson had not formally promoted them to be officers on the flagship. By the Admiralty rule books, they lost their rank and were effectively just ordinary seamen, but it seems obvious that without the transfer of experienced officers from the other ships, the Centurion would not have survived the Pacific or been able to capture the galleon. The difference for one officer was receiving either £500 or £6,000 and though the courts initially decided in favour of the officers of the Gloucester and Tryal, they lost on appeal, a decision that may have been influenced by now-Admiral Anson's victory over the French fleet at the Battle of Cape Finisterre.
Anson took three-eighths of the prize money available for distribution from the Covadonga which by one estimate came to £91,000 compared with the £719 he earned as captain during the 3 year 9 month voyage. By contrast, a seaman would have received perhaps £300, although even that amounted to 20 years' wages.
Returning to England in 1744 by way of China and thus completing a circumnavigation, the voyage was notable for the capture of an Acapulco galleon but also horrific losses to disease with only 188 of the original 1854 surviving.
See also below for Centurion.
http://www.shipstamps.co.uk/forum/viewt ... 900#p11900
Taken from various sites inc Wikipedia.
Guernsey SG499