In September 1740, Commodore George Anson departed Britain with a squadron of eight ships tasked with disrupting Spanish trade in the Pacific. What was meant to be a lucrative military strike turned into one of the most harrowing maritime disasters in naval history, primarily due to catastrophic logistical failures regarding scurvy and ship maintenance. When the fleet set sail, the Royal Navy had not yet adopted lemon juice or copper-sheathing.
Ships were manned largely by unwilling press-ganged landsmen and aging, infirm military pensioners from Chelsea Hospital who were completely unfit for heavy labor. As the expedition battled around Cape Horn, these harsh conditions accelerated a massive outbreak of scurvy. Without fresh food or understanding of Vitamin C, men disintegrated mentally and physically, their old wounds re-opening and bones un-knitting.
Out of the original 1,854 men, over 1,300 perished, the vast majority succumbing to disease rather than Spanish cannon fire. To make matters worse, the ships themselves were disintegrating. Without copper-sheathing—a technological innovation that would not be widely adopted by the Admiralty until decades later—the wooden hulls were relentlessly devoured by shipworms (Teredo navalis) and encrusted with barnacles.
This drastically reduced the fleet's speed and maneuverability while causing severe leaks. Unable to maintain structural integrity or crew their vessels, Anson was forced to scuttle or abandon five of his ships, including the Gloucester and the Tryal. Remarkably, Anson eventually captured a treasure-laden Spanish galleon with his remaining flagship, HMS Centurion, making him immensely wealthy.
However, the tragic expedition served as a stark, bloody lesson. It directly spurred James Lind’s famous 1747 scurvy trials and highlighted the urgent need for hull-protection technology, fundamentally altering future naval architecture and maritime medicine.