The Islands of
Juan Fernandez
 

During the years 1740 to 1744 Commodore George Anson circumnavigated the globe.

From the original five ships only one survived.

Click for large view

When the ships reached the Pacific Ocean they agreed to meet at Juan Fernandez Island.

Because of the uncertainty of the island's longtitude, Anson wasted time by heading towards the mainland of Chile. Anson's ship, The Centurion reached Juan Fernandez in June 1741. Many men had died and the survivors were in desparate need of the food resources available on the island of Masa-Tierra.
Patrick O'Brian's novel:
'The Golden Ocean' is inspired by the voyage of the Centurion.
Accounts of the journey survive in the following:
Sources
The 'authorised' account was compiled by Richard Walter and Benjamin Robins and published in 1748 as 'A Voyage Around the World in the Years 1740 to 1744'. There appears to be some controversy over the contribution of Benjamin Robins and in some later additions his name is ommitted. Here is the title page of my own copy of a 1928 edition (London: Martin Hopkinson Ltd, Boston: Charles E. Lauriat Co.)
Extracts from the section about Juan Fernandez
  Philip Saumarez was Anson's first lieutenant on the Centurion and he kept a private journal during the voyage.
Extracts from Philip Saumarez's journal.
  In 1745 Pascoe Thomas, the 'teacher of mathematicks on board the Centurion' published his:
'A True and Impartial Journal of a Voyage to the South Seas and Round the Globe in His Majesty's Ship the Centurion'.
  Piercy Brett was a lieutenant on the Centurion and was responsible for many drawings. It seems that from these drawings engravings were made for the authorised account of the Anson voyage.
Click to see some of the illustrations