Page:Dictionary of National Biography volume 02.djvu/45

 head, and Anson as one of its members. Its very first act was to reverse the decision of the former board, and to confirm the commission which Anson had given to Captain Brett (the patent of the board is dated 28 Dec. 1744; the minute confirming Brett's commission is dated 29 Dec), and on 20 April 1745, Anson was re-promoted to flag rank, this time as rear-admiral of the white.

For a year and a half Anson continued in London, taking a leading share in the work of the admiralty, and, though a very junior member of the board, acting directly as the Duke of Bedford's representative in all matters of executive administration. Beyond the old friendship existing between Lord Chancellor Hardwicke and the Macclesfield family ( Lives of the Chancellors, V, 15) it is now impossible to trace the particular interest which Anson could have had; that he had some may be considered certain. In July 1746 Vice-Admiral Martin resigned the command of the Channel fleet; and Anson, now vice-admiral of the blue, undertook the duty and hoisted his flag on board the Yarmouth on 9 Aug. The fleet was very short-handed, for in Martin's last cruise bad provisions and bad beer, scurvy, fever, and small-pox, had caused the death or sickness of an enormous number of me (Martin to Corbett, 3 July 1746; Observationes de Aere et Morbis epidemicis (1773), p. 341); and now Admiral Lestock, fitting out for the expedition to Lorient, had carried off every seaman that he could find (Anson to Bedford, 11 Aug. 1746, in Bedford Correspondence, i. 137). It was thus the end of the month before Anson could get the fleet to sea; and he then cruised to the westward, off Ushant, hoping to intercept on its return the French fleet, which had gone to Chebucto (the present Halifax) under the Duke d'Enville. The terrible fate of that expedition was not yet fully known; and, though Anson put into Plymouth at the end of October, it was only for a supply of water. 'My men,' he wrote to the Duke of Bedford (28 Oct.), 'begin to be very sickly, and most of the ships very foul, but the hope of destroying some of the enemy's fleet will make me risk health and everything else.' On 4 Nov. he wrote that he hoped to be complete and at sea in two or three days, and to have better fortune in his next cruise. 'I am surprised,' he added, 'that Mr. Lestock, who had such certain intelligence, from the French ships burnt in the bay, of the shattered condition of D'Enville's ships, should not cruise off Ushant for them, as his squadron was not in want of anything' (Bedford Corr. i. 174).

Notwithstanding Anson's haste to get to sea, the French hospital ship and a sloop were all that he fell in with. It was by this time certainly known that the French squadron was in an almost helpless condition, and that if it could be met with, it must be captured. It received, however, warning from a Dutch merchant ship of the neighbourhood of the English fleet, and by keeping to the southward got in-shore of it, and so safely to Brest. The next spring Anson was more fortunate. The French were preparing to send out another expedition to America, and at the same time a squadron to the East Indies. On 29 April the two sailed together from the roadstead of Aix, under the command of M. de la Jonquière, whose energetic behaviour and clever escape in bringing home the shattered remains of the fleet the year before had pointed him out as a capable and a lucky officer. But Anson had early and fairly exact knowledge of the projected expedition, and, in his double capacity of lord of the admiralty and commander-in-chief of the fleet, took care to have with him an overpowering force and such a number of cruisers that it was well nigh impossible for the enemy to escape him. With his own flag on board the Prince George, of 90 guns, and having with him Rear-Admiral Warren in the Devonshire, Captain Boscawen in the Namur, and others, numbering altogether fourteen ships of the line, he stationed himself off Cape Finisterre, and continued there during the greater part of April, exercising his fleet in forming line and in manoeuvres of battle till then absolutely unknown. On the morning of 3 May the French fleet was sighted, and was successfully pursued. Anson at first made the signal for line of battle, but presently, perceiving that the French were of very inferior force, he made the signal for a general chase and fell on them pell-mell. La Jonquière placed his convoy to leeward, in charge of two frigates, and drew up his squadron in line to meet the enemy; but including two 40-gun ships, a 50-gun ship with only half her guns on board, and four Indiamen, he numbered only ten ships in all. The ships of war fought well, but were speedily Over-powered; the Indiamen, with valuable cargoes on board, endeavoured to make off, but were captured afterwards. The defence, however, was sufficient to permit the greater part of the convoy to escape during the night. Amongst the captured ships were the Gloire, of 40 guns, and the Invincible, of 74. When M. de Saint-George, the captain of the latter, went on board the Prince George to surrender his sword to Anson, he addressed him with, 'Monsieur, vous avez vaincu 