author
Baron George Anson Anson
1697–1762
A Royal Navy commander and statesman whose round-the-world voyage became one of the great sea stories of the 18th century. Remembered for daring action at sea and major reforms at the Admiralty, he helped shape Britain's rise as a naval power.
1 Audiobook
A voyage round the world in the years MDCCXL, I, II, III, IV
by Baron George Anson Anson
About the author
Born in Staffordshire in 1697, he entered the Royal Navy as a young man and built his career through active service in the early 18th century. He is best known for leading a difficult circumnavigation during the war with Spain, a voyage that brought him fame across Britain and fixed his place in naval history.
The journey was dramatic and costly, but it also included the capture of a richly laden Spanish treasure galleon in the Pacific, one of the great coups of the age. Later, as First Lord of the Admiralty, he became known not just as a fighting admiral but as an important naval administrator who helped strengthen and professionalize the navy.
Created Baron Anson and elected a Fellow of the Royal Society, he was admired in his own time as both a seaman and a public figure. He died in 1762, leaving behind a reputation for toughness, discipline, and lasting influence on Britain's maritime story.