vening, to their infinite joy, they came
safe to an anchor at Spithead. But that the signal perils which had so
often threatened them in the preceding part of the enterprise might
pursue them to the very last, Mr. Anson learned on his arrival that there
was a French fleet of considerable force cruising in the chops of the
Channel, which, by the account of their position, he found the Centurion
had run through and had been all the time concealed by a fog. Thus was
this expedition finished, when it had lasted three years and nine months,
after having, by its event, strongly evinced this important truth: That
though prudence, intrepidity, and perseverance united are not exempted
from the blows of adverse fortune, yet in a long series of transactions
they usually rise superior to its power, and in the end rarely fail of
proving successful.

GLOSSARY.

Anchors:

Bower anchors (the best bower and the small bower). The anchors carried
at the bows of a vessel.

The sheet anchor (= shoot anchor). An anchor to be shot out or lowered in
case of a great danger, carried abaft the forerigging; formerly the
largest anchor.

Bag-wig. See Wig.

Barge. See Boats.

Bilging. To bilge = to be stove in, or suffer serious injury in the
bilge, which is the bottom part of a ship's hull.

Boats:

Barge. The second boat of a man-of-war; a long narrow boat, generally
with not less than ten oars, for the use of the chief officers.

Cutter. A boat belonging to a ship of war, shorter and in proportion
broader than the barge or pinnace, fitted for rowing and sailing, and
used for carrying light stores, passengers, etc.

Longboat. The principal boat of the old man-of-war. Now replaced by steam
launches.

Pinnace. A boat for the accommodation of the inferior officers of a
man-of-war, resembling the barge.

Yawl. A small boat used for much the same purposes as the cutter.

Bow-chasers. See Chasers.

Bower. See Anchor.

Bring to. To bring a vessel's head up to the wind so that the wind blows
from bow to stern.

Broad pennant. See Commodore.

Cacao. Chocolate nuts.

Cackle. To cover a cable spirally with old three-inch rope to protect it
from chafing.

Callous (of a broken bone). The new bony tissue formed between and around
the fractured ends of a broken bone in the process of reuniting.

Careening is the operation of heaving down a ship on one side, in order
to expose the other side for cleaning.

Cartel. A written agree