It appears from Dampier’s able and amusing account of this voyage that though the government, with an unaccountable parsimony, had only placed at his disposal the _Roebuck_, an old and worn-out vessel, he successfully completed the object they had in view, but was obliged to abandon his ship at Ascension on his way home, it being no longer possible to keep her afloat. Having made the coast of New Holland in latitude 26° south, he shaped his course to the north, where he fell in with an archipelago of islands stretching over 20° of latitude, from which he had some difficulty in extricating himself. Thence he proceeded to Timor, sailing round the coasts of New Guinea, giving names to its principal bays and harbours, which he surveyed with much accuracy. [Sidenote: Anson.] The expedition of Commodore Anson was fitted out, not so much for the purpose of discovering new lands, as to make reprisals on the Spanish for their behaviour in searching English ships found near any of their settlements in the West Indies and on the coasts of America. But this expedition also was wretchedly equipped and manned, and though the ships were placed under Anson’s command in November 1739, they were not ready to sail till September 1740, while so much difficulty appears to have been experienced in getting men, that 500 out-pensioners from Chelsea Hospital were sent on board, many of whom were sixty years of age, and some threescore and ten. As might have been expected, two hundred and forty of them deserted before the ships sailed, and not one returned to England. In the place of the deserters, two hundred and ten raw marines were supplied, many of whom were so untrained that Anson would not permit them to fire their muskets! Of the squadron, originally composed of six ships of war, mounting two hundred and twenty-six guns, one alone, the _Centurion_, commanded by Anson himself, returned home after a cruise round the world of three years and nine months. The story of this memorable voyage, written by Mr. Walter, the chaplain of the _Centurion_, is one continued tale of misery and disaster, the greater part of which might, and probably would, have been avoided had the government at home listened to the repeated protests of the Commodore before he left St. Helen’s Roads. Of the courage and humanity of Anson himself throughout the whole adventure it is impossible to speak too highly. [Sidenote: Byron.] [Sidenote: Wallis and Carteret.]