Anson’s own ship, the _Centurion_, lay in Cumberland Bay for three months, during which time two others of the squadron and the victualler arrived at the rendezvous; the _Gloucester_ had a terrible experience, being a month within sight of the island with her men dying daily of scurvy, and unable through contrary winds to make the anchorage. The crews of the three men-of-war had numbered on their departure from England 961: only 335 of these were alive when they left Fernandez. The state of affairs is less surprising considering that Anson was obliged to take a large consignment of Chelsea pensioners; the almost incredible age of some of the company comes out incidentally in the statement that owing to scurvy the wound of one man reopened which had been received in the battle of the Boyne fifty years before.[10] The island was subsequently occupied by the Spanish, and after the independence of Chile it was for a while used as a convict settlement. Our time in “quarantine” at Juan Fernandez proved most enjoyable. We lay in Cumberland Bay, which is the only anchorage; being on the north side, it is sheltered from the south-east trade wind. The island is volcanic, but the actual craters have broken down in course of ages, and their form can no longer be traced, at least by the superficial observer; it is now a mass of mountains of striking shapes, interspersed with wooded ravines. We were able to see certain portions, mounted on ponies, but much of the ground must be impossible to traverse. S. had a day’s goat-stalking, but saw only two animals, and those were out of rifle shot; the ponies, he said, scrambled about like cats, putting their fore feet on the higher rocks and so dragging themselves up. The cattle which roam over the island are not infrequently killed by falling down the precipices. Our meat orders were executed by four men in a boat armed with rifles, who went round by sea to some spot where the beasts were likely to be found, and having shot one cut it up and brought it back. The result was rather a plethora of Sunday beef even for a yacht’s hungry crew. [Illustration: FIG. 21. CUMBERLAND BAY, JUAN FERNANDEZ ] [Illustration: FIG. 22. SELKIRK’S CAVE, JUAN FERNANDEZ. ]