On December 21, 1740 the fleet of seven ships led by Commodore Anson reached the island of Santa Catarina in what is today Brazil. At the time it was a Portuguese colony, and was deemed a safe haven since Portugal and England were in an alliance, and England was at war with Spain.
Anson had left Madeira on November 3rd, and this was his first landfall in South America; an important milestone in his mission to ”harass and annoy” the Spanish in South America. The element of surprise was also important, and it is alleged that the Portuguese governor of Santa Catarina, Silva Paiz, sent messages to the Spanish to inform them of Anson’s arrival. Apparently recent English visitors had been less than friendly, and Silva Paiz was not going to allow this to happen again.
In the images above, we went out into the harbour entrance to Santa Catarina to see the same view that Anson’s fleet described both in words and sketches. It wasn’t the best weather, but we did cruise past the locations where Anson set up camp for several weeks. He had a number of sick men on board, but December is the worst month for mosquitos and a further number fell sick with malaria. 28 men died while in port, and the number of sick increased from 80 to 96 by the time they left port. However they did manage to replenish provisions and take on fresh water for the long journey ahead.
Several of his ships required urgent work to their masts, so they stayed longer than they would have liked. After nearly a month, they finally set sail again on January 18, 1741.