The Prize of All the Oceans: Commodore Anson's Daring Voyage and Triumphant Capture of the Spanish Treasure Galleon [Paperback]

Glyn Williams (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: October 2, 2001

In 1740, the first year of the war with Spain, Commodore George Anson set sail with a squadron of six British warships. His secret mission: to seize the legendary Spanish galleon on her yearly voyage from Acapulco to Manila laden with Peruvian silver, "the prize of all the oceans." It was to be four years of hardship, disaster, mutiny, and, finally, heroism.

Historian Glyn Williams's The Prize of All the Oceans shapes Anson's dramatic voyage into a powerful narrative threaded with incisive analysis and commentary, giving readers a vivid portrait of an intrepid commander who never wavered in his resolve to capture the prize and return home triumphant. Glyn Williams tells the full story for the first time in a book that will rivet history buffs and armchair survivalists alike.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

In 1740, during England's war with Spain, Commodore George Anson set sail for the South Pacific with a squadron of six ships. He was to seize the legendary galleon that carried Spain's annual plunder from South America to Manila, but almost immediately Anson's mission turned to one of survival. The squadron's ships were overcrowded and poorly equipped. The outbreaks of scurvy were among the worst in recorded maritime history. About 74% of the crew died from disease or starvation, and the squadron was so late in sailing that they tried to round Cape Horn at the worst possible time, when the autumn storms were reaching their furious heights. There the squadron was scattered. Two ships, Anson's and a sloop, made it into the Pacific, two turned back, and one was wrecked. Nonetheless, Anson pushed the Centurion on in search of the galleon. That he managed to take the Spanish ship and get her treasure home to great acclaim provides a remarkable ending to his painful, four-year journey. But Williams seems more interested in chronicling events than in telling a great story, and he often bogs down the plot while resolving countless discrepancies in the various survivors' stories. Such painstaking accuracy will please academics, but it will probably keep this book from taking off. (Nov.)
Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Booklist

In 1740-44, six British ships under Commodore George Anson circumnavigated the globe, capturing a Spanish treasure galleon in transit. The total cost was high. Only one ship completed the voyage, and 1,400 of the 1,900 men who left England never came home, thanks to shipwreck, starvation, and scurvy. Harrowing details of ships slowly disintegrating and crews slowly dying squelch the heroic romantic tone of many sea epics and demonstrate that this was definitely one of the grislier examples of nautical exploration. Williams incidentally casts considerable light on various aspects of Georgian-era seafaring, including the extent to which the China trade was conducted on terms set by the Chinese. Anson, who put to use what he learned on his most famous voyage to become a founding father of the modern Royal Navy, emerges from these pages most creditably. All we need now is a biography as up-to-date as this admirable volume that fills a gap too long left open in the annals of the sea. Roland Green
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 288 pages
• Publisher: Penguin Books (October 2, 2001)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0141002263
• ISBN-13: 978-0141002262
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 6.1 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 10.4 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (12 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,008,148 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars I am a little bit biased, November 2, 2000

By 

david milne (northeast, usa) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Prize of All the Oceans: Anson's Voyage Around the World (Hardcover)

I have to confess, I have the original accounts referred to in this book, both the principal work and the ancillary books. And I have read Mr. Williams book on the Great South Sea. He is somewhat scholastic and his scholarship gets in the way of the story a bit, but what a story ! We have never known the thrill that these adventurers experienced, the fears, the unknown, the injury and death. We just do not know their world. It's a great book of a great adventure. I thank Mr. Williams for it.

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars worse things happen at sea, August 12, 2001

By 

pete saussy (columbia sc csa) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Prize of All the Oceans: Anson's Voyage Around the World (Hardcover)

Williams, Glyn, The Prize of All the Oceans: The Dramatic True Story of Commodore Anson's Voyage Round the World and How He Seized the Spanish Treasure Galleon, New York: Viking1999

"Commodore George Anson's voyage of 1740-44 holds a unique and terrible place in British maritime history. The misadventures of this attempt by Royal Navy ships to sail round the world make a dramatic story of hardship, disaster, mutiny and endurance. Only one of Anson's squadron, the flagship Centurion, completed her mission. The other vessels were wrecked, scuttled, or forced back in shattered condition. Out of more than 1,900 men who sailed from Spithead in September 1749, almost 1,400 died, most from disease or starvation. There were circumstances of particular horror about he departure from England, for crammed on board Anson's ship as soldiers were hundreds of disabled veterans from past wars, almost all of whom died before the ships reached their destinationi of the South Sea." Preface

Review by pete saussy: excellent explication of a tortuous web of accounts and incidents, profusely illustrated with drawings and maps from the original accounts. If you thought the disaster at sea stories about the Titanic and the Perfect Storm were horrific, imagine four years of the torture! Of interest to South Carolinians, Anson had been Naval station commander at Charleston prior to his long voyage and quite a property owner of what is now Ansonborough. He started a long tradition of naval involvement in development of the holy city

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Prize of a book., April 14, 2005

By 

lordhoot "lordhoot" (Anchorage, Alaska USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Prize of All the Oceans: Commodore Anson's Daring Voyage and Triumphant Capture of the Spanish Treasure Galleon (Paperback)

I found The Prize of All the Oceans to be well written and nicely researched book. George Anson's voyage around the world which resulted in a captured of a major Spanish treasure ship haven't been told in such details in a long time. I believed the author did good justice to this subject. This book recounts this amazing story of a four year journey where the British fleet of six became one and over 80% of the original crew didn't make it back to England thanks to dieases, mutiny, the elements of mother nature and callous disregards by the British naval authorities who outfitted this mission. By all regards, this voyage should have been considered as a total disaster for the British Navy and its leader should have been court-martial and shot on the deck of his own flag ship. But one single act redeem this voyage and its commander, the captured of the rich and legendary Spanish galleon. This book tells the story of such voyage and the men who sailed it. Its also a story of George Anson, one determined commander who probably realized that he was falling into the pits of hell unless he can redeem himself and what was left of his men by peforming one major task which will correct all the wrongs that have happened so far.

Its pretty amazing to read a story like this, where the human ignorance, the sea and the elements were the true enemies instead of their human opponents. Also considering that there isn't too many books written during this time period on naval affair, I would say that this book should interest any one who got any interest in the world of wooden ships and iron men.