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EspañolTHOMAS COCHRANE, 10TH EARL OF DUNDONALD
Rear Admiral 'Thomas Alexander Cochrane, 10th Earl of Dundonald, Marquês do Maranhão' GCB RN (14 December 1775 – 31 October 1860), styled 'Lord Cochrane' between 1778 and 1831[1], was a radical politician and naval officer. He was one of the most daring and successful captains of the Napoleonic Wars, leading the French to nickname him "''le loup des mers''" ("the sea wolf"). After being dismissed from the Royal Navy, he served in the rebel navies of Chile, Brazil and Greece during their wars of independence, before being reinstated as an admiral in the Royal Navy. His life and exploits served as inspiration for the naval fiction of twentieth-century novelists C. S. Forester (the character of Horatio Hornblower) and Patrick O'Brian.
Family
Thomas Cochrane was born at Annsfield, near Hamilton, South Lanarkshire, Scotland, the son of Archibald Cochrane, 9th Earl of Dundonald and Ann Gilchrist. She was daughter of Captain James Gilchrist RN and Ann Roberton, (daughter of Major John Roberton 16th Laird of Earnock ).
Cochrane had six brothers, one of whom was Major William Erskine Cochrane of the 15th Dragoon Guards. He served with distinction under Sir John Moore in the Spanish wars of 1808-11.
Cochrane perpetuated lines of Scottish aristocracy and military service from both sides of his family. His uncles included Alexander Cochrane, later Admiral Sir Alexander Cochrane, a son of the 8th Earl of Dundonald. The family fortune had been spent, and in 1793, the family estate was sold to cover debts.
Early life
Through the influence of his uncle, he was listed as a member of the crew on the books of four Royal Navy ships although he probably never went aboard them. This common though unlawful practice was a tactic to have on record some of the length of service necessary before he could be made an officer, if and when he joined the navy. After a brief enlistment in the British army, which ended in fiasco, he did join the Royal Navy in 1793 upon the outbreak of the French Revolutionary Wars.
Service in the Royal Navy
He first served in the Baltic aboard HMS ''Hind'', commanded by his uncle, and in 1795, was appointed acting lieutenant on HMS ''Thetis''. The following year he was confirmed in the rank after passing the lieutenant's exam. In 1798, he transferred to HMS ''Barfleur''.
During his service on this ship, he was tried by a court martial for apparently challenging Philip Beaver, the ship's first lieutenant, to a duel. Though found innocent of the serious charge he was reprimanded for impoliteness. This began a pattern of Cochrane being unable to get along with many of his superiors, subordinates, employers and colleagues in several navies and the parliament; even those with whom he had much in common, and who should have been natural allies. It led to a long enmity with John Jervis, 1st Earl of St Vincent.
Thomas Cochrane
In 1799, Cochrane briefly commanded the captured French battleship ''Genereux''. The ship was almost lost in a storm, with Cochrane and his brother personally going aloft in place of a crew that were mostly ill.
In 1800, Cochrane was appointed to command the sloop HMS ''Speedy''. Later that year, he was almost captured by a Spanish warship concealed as a merchant ship. He escaped by flying a Danish flag and dissuading an attempt to investigate by claiming his ship was plague-ridden. Chased by an enemy frigate, and knowing it would follow him in the night by the glimmer of light from the ''Speedy'', he placed a candle on a barrel and let it float away. The enemy frigate followed the candle and ''Speedy'' escaped.
One of his most famous exploits was the capture of the Spanish frigate ''El Gamo'', on 6 May 1801. ''El Gamo'' carried 32 guns and 319 men, compared with the 14 guns and 54 men on ''Speedy''. Cochrane flew an American flag to approach so closely to ''Gamo'' that its guns could not depress to fire on the Speedy's hull. This left only the option of boarding, but whenever the Spanish were about to board, Cochrane would pull away briefly, and fire on the concentrated boarding parties with his ship's guns. Cochrane then boarded the ''Gamo'', despite still being outnumbered about five to one, and captured her. St Vincent, not wishing to enrich an officer recently reprimanded, refused to purchase the ''Gamo'' for the navy: as a result Cochrane and the crew of the Speedy received no prize money.
On 8 August 1801, he was promoted to the rank of post-captain.
In Malta he got into an argument at a fancy dress ball (Cochrane came dressed as a common sailor, and was mistaken for one) which led to a pistol duel.
On a subsequent cruise he was trapped by three French battleships; he was captured, but soon exchanged for a French captain. On Cochrane's return, and the resumption of war in 1802, St Vincent assigned him to command of a converted collier, HMS ''Arab''. This ship was only suited to the most routine missions and afforded Cochrane no opportunities.
In 1804, the new government of William Pitt the Younger removed St Vincent and Cochrane was appointed to command of the 32-gun frigate HMS ''Pallas''. Once more he found himself cornered by three battleships and he again used the barrel trick to escape.
In 1807, he was given command of the frigate ''Imperieuse''. One of his midshipmen was Frederick Marryat. Cochrane used this ship to raid the Mediterranean coast of France. In 1808, Cochrane and a Spanish guerrilla force captured the fortress of Mongat, which sat astride the road between Gerona and Barcelona. As a result, a French army under General Duhesme was delayed for a month. Another raid copied code books from a signal station, leaving behind the originals so the French would believe them uncompromised. When ''Imperieuse'' ran short of water, she sailed up the estuary of the Rhone to replenish. When a French army marched into Catalonia and besieged Rosas, Cochrane took part in the defence of the town by occupying and defending Fort Trinidad (''Castell de la Trinitat'') for a number of weeks.
In 1809, he was chosen to command the attack of a flotilla of fire ships on Rochefort, as part of the Battle of the Basque Roads. Some damage was done, but Cochrane felt that a great opportunity was lost, for which he blamed the fleet commander, Admiral Gambier. As a result of the public expression of this opinion, he spent some time without a naval command.
Political career
In 1805, Cochrane stood for the British House of Commons on a ticket of parliamentary reform (a movement which would bring about the reform acts) for the rotten borough of Honiton. This was exactly the kind of borough Cochrane wished to abolish; there was no secret voting and votes were mostly sold to the highest bidder. The going rate for votes at that time was five guineas. Cochrane offered nothing, lost the election, and afterwards made a gift of ten guineas to each person who had voted for him. In 1806, he again ran for Parliament in Honiton. He was elected, probably because the electors expected a repeat of his previous generosity. Cochrane paid nothing. In 1807, there was obviously no hope of being elected again in Honiton. Cochrane was elected by Westminster. He would hold this seat until 1818. (He was expelled in 1814, but re-elected at the resulting by-election).[1]
Cochrane campaigned for parliamentary reform, allied with such Radicals as William Cobbett and Henry Hunt. His outspoken criticism of the conduct of the war and the corruption in the navy made him powerful enemies in the government, and his criticism of Admiral Gambier's conduct at the Battle of the Basque Roads (so severe that Gambier demanded a court-martial to clear his name) made him enemies in the Admiralty.
In 1810, Sir Francis Burdett, a Member of Parliament and political ally, had barricaded himself into his home at Piccadilly, London, resisting arrest by the House of Commons. Cochrane went to assist Burdett's defence of the house. His approach to this, however, was essentially similar to the approach he had taken in defending forts against enemy attack and would have led to numerous deaths amongst the arresting officers and at least partial destruction of Burdett's house, along with much of Piccadilly. On realising what Cochrane planned, Burdett and his allies took steps to end the siege.
Cochrane was popular, but unable to get along with his colleagues in the House of Commons, let alone the government. He rarely achieved a great deal for his causes. An exception was his 1812 confrontation of the Admiralty's prize court.
Cochrane made his last speech in Parliament (in favour of parliamentary reform) in 1818. In 1830, he was invited to stand for Parliament by the reform-minded government of Lord Brougham. After initially expressing interest, Cochrane declined, partly because Lord Brougham's brother decided to run for the seat, and partly because he thought it would look bad to be publicly supporting a government from which he sought pardon of a fraud conviction (see ''The Great Stock Exchange Fraud'' below).
In 1831, his father died and Cochrane became the 10th Earl Dundonald. As such, he was eligible to sit in the House of Lords, but not in the House of Commons.
Marriage
In 1812, Cochrane married Katherine "Kitty" Barnes, a beautiful half-Spanish, half-English girl more than twenty years his junior. This was an elopement and a civil ceremony, due to the opposition of his wealthy uncle Basil Cochrane, who disinherited his nephew as a result.
Cochrane and Kitty would remarry in the Anglican Church in 1818, and in the Church of Scotland in 1825. The confusion of multiple ceremonies led to suspicions that Cochrane's first son, Thomas Barnes Cochrane, 11th Earl of Dundonald, was illegitimate, and delayed his accession to the Earldom of Dundonald on his father's death.
Kitty often accompanied her husband on his campaigns in South America.
The Great Stock Exchange Fraud
Cochrane was tried and convicted as a conspirator in the Great Stock Exchange Fraud of 1814, although he maintained his innocence throughout his life. The summing up of the presiding judge, Lord Ellenborough, was biased against Cochrane. Most historians agree that the weight of circumstantial evidence against Cochrane indicated that at the least, he had been the pawn of his uncle Andrew Cochrane-Johnstone, a conspirator. In 1830, Charles Grenville wrote how much he admired Cochrane, despite his guilt. By Victorian times, however, he was widely believed to have been innocent.
He was sentenced to the pillory (a more severe form of the stocks) and a year's imprisonment. He was excused from doing pillory for fear that his supporters might riot. He was also expelled from Parliament and the navy. As an additional humiliation he was stripped of his knighthood and a degradation ceremony performed. He was, however, immediately re-elected for Westminster. There was considerable public anger at his trial and sentence, especially the degrading pillory. The fine of one thousand pounds that was also imposed was paid by popular subscription.
For the rest of his life, Cochrane would campaign to have his conviction reversed and his honours restored. He would receive a royal pardon in 1832, and be restored to the navy list and gazetted rear admiral. Not until 1847, however, would his knighthood be restored, by the personal intervention of Queen Victoria. And only in 1860 would his banner return to Westminster Abbey, just in time for his funeral.
Service with other navies
Service in the Chilean Navy
A painting of the Capture of Valdivia in the Chilean naval and maritime museum
Cochrane left the UK in official disgrace in 1818. At the request of Chilean leader Bernardo O'Higgins, he took command of the Chilean Navy in Chile's war of independence against Spain.
Accompanied by Lady Cochrane and his two children, he reached Valparaiso on November 28, 1818. Cochrane was named vice-admiral and reorganized the Chilean navy. He took command of the frigate ''O'Higgins'' and raided the coasts of Chile and Peru as he had France and Spain. He introduced British naval customs into the Chilean navy. He organized and led the capture of Valdivia, Spain's most important base in Chile. In 1820, forces under his command cut out and captured the ''Esmeralda'', the most powerful Spanish ship in South America. He failed to capture Chiloé Island for Chile. Later, he was ordered by O'Higgins to lead the Chilean fleet to free Peru from Spain, while Jose de San Martin would lead the Freedom Army. This resulted in Peruvian independence, which O'Higgins considered indispensable to Chile's independence and security.
Cochrane made plans to free Napoleon from his exile on Saint Helena and make him ruler of a unified South American state. Before he could carry out his plan, Napoleon died in 1821.
Chilean naval vessels named for Cochrane
The Chilean Navy has named five ships ''Cochrane'' or ''Almirante Cochrane'' (Admiral Cochrane) in his honour.
The first was a famous battleship which fought in the War of the Pacific (1879-1884).
The second ship was a dreadnought battleship to be built in Britain, and laid down in 1912, but never completed for Chile due to World War I.
The third ship was an American ''Fletcher'' class destroyer, formerly USS ''Rooks'', acquired in 1962.
The fourth ship was a British County class destroyer, formerly HMS ''Antrim'', acquired in 1984.
The fifth and current ship to bear the name is a Type 23 Frigate, formerly HMS ''Norfolk'', acquired in November 2006.
Service in Brazilian Navy
Brazil was fighting its own war of independence against Portugal. The southern provinces were under rebel control, but Portugal still controlled the north, in which Maranhão was the most important city.
Cochrane took command of the Brazilian navy and its flagship the ''Pedro Primeiro''. By bluff, he convinced the Portuguese army in Bahia to evacuate to Maranhão, captured much of the escaping convoy, then sailed ahead of the convoy to Maranham and bluffed Maranhão into surrendering as well. Finally, he sent a subordinate Captain Grenfell to Pará, who used the same bluff to extract Para's surrender.
As a result of rebellions and attempted palace coups, Cochrane found himself Governor of the province of Maranhão. Dissatisfied with his situation, Cochrane boarded a frigate and sailed it to England.
During his government, Emperor Pedro I of Brazil created him 'Marquess of Maranhão' (Marquês do Maranhão).
Service in Greek Navy
An Ottoman army raised in Egypt had been suppressing the Greek rebellion. Cochrane's efforts were generally of limited success, due to the poor discipline of the Greek soldiers and seamen. One of his subordinates, Captain Hastings, attacked at the Gulf of Lepanto. This indirectly led to intervention by Britain, France and Russia, the destruction of the Turko-Egyptian fleet at the Battle of Navarino and the end of the war under mediation of the Great Powers. This was probably the only campaign in Cochrane's naval career in which the results of his efforts were disappointingly slight.
Return to Royal Navy
Despite his restoration to the navy list, Cochrane's return to Royal Navy service was delayed by his refusal to take a command until his knighthood had been restored. Cochrane served as Commander-in-Chief of the East Indian station, and as Commander-in-Chief of the North American and West Indies station from 1847 to 1851. During the Crimean War, he was considered for a command in the Baltic, but it was decided that there was too much risk he would lose his fleet in a risky attack. In 1854, he was appointed to the honorary rank of Rear-Admiral of the United Kingdom.
In his final years he wrote his autobiography in collaboration with G.B. Earp. Cochrane died on October 31, 1860, in Kensington. He was buried in Westminster Abbey. His grave is in the central part of the nave.
Innovation in technology
Convoys were guided by ships following the lamps of those ahead. In 1805, Cochrane entered a Royal Navy competition for a superior convoy lamp. Believing that the judges were likely to be biased against him, he asked a friend to enter for him. When Cochrane won, he revealed his identity. However, the Royal Navy never purchased any of the lamps.
In 1806, Cochrane had a galley made to his specifications, which he carried on board ''Pallas'' and used to attack the French coast.
In 1812, Cochrane proposed attacking the French coast using a combination of bombardment ships, explosion ships and "stink vessels" (gas warfare). A bombardment ship consisted of a strengthened old hulk filled with powder and shot and made to list one side which was then anchored at night to face the enemy behind the harbor wall. This allowed saturation bombardment of the harbor closely followed by landings of troops. He put the plans forward again before and during the Crimean War. The authorities decided not to pursue his plans, partly because they would cause terrible destruction and might later be used against Britain. The plans would be kept secret until 1895.
In 1818, Cochrane patented, together with the engineer Marc Isambard Brunel, the tunneling shield, which Brunel and his son later used in the building of the Thames Tunnel in 1825-1843.
Cochrane was an early advocate of steamships. He attempted to bring a steamship from England to Chile, but its construction took too long and it arrived as the war was ending. The same thing happened to steamships he had hoped to bring to the Greek War of Independence. In the 1830s, he experimented with steam power, developing a rotary engine and a propeller. In 1851, Cochrane received a patent on powering steamships with bitumen.
Fictional references
Influence on naval fiction
His career inspired a number of writers of nautical fiction. The first was Captain Marryat who had served under him as a midshipman. In the 20th century, the fictional careers of Horatio Hornblower in the novels by C. S. Forester and of Jack Aubrey in the Aubrey–Maturin series of novels by Patrick O'Brian were in part modelled on his exploits.
Appearance in fiction
The novel ''The Sea Lord'' (originally ''The Frigate Captain'') by Showell Styles is explicitly about Lord Cochrane.
In the alternate history series ''The Domination'' by S.M. Stirling,[2] Lord Cochrane leads the occupation of Cape Colony.
The novel ''Sharpe's Devil''[3] by Bernard Cornwell features an episode from Cochrane's time in Chile.
References
1. The eldest son of an Earl bears the courtesy title of Viscount or Lord. (see Earl for details)
2. ''The Domination'' (Omnibus edition of first 3 works) ISBN 0-671-57794-8
3. ''Sharpe's Devil: Chile 1820 (Sharpe's Adventures)'' ISBN 0-06-093229-5
★ Earnock and its Early Proprietors, nd Hamilton Advertiser, n.d. July 1874
★ Dundonald, Thomas Cochrane, Earl of, 1775-1860. ''The Autobiography of a Seaman''. Introduction by Richard Woodman.
New York: Lyons Press, 2000. ISBN 1-86176-156-2
★ Grimble, Ian. ''The Sea Wolf: The Life of Admiral Cochrane''. Rev. ed. Edinburgh: Birlinn, 2000. Original edition 1978,
London: Blond & Briggs. ISBN 1-84158-035-X
★
★ Harvey, Robert. ''Cochrane: The Life and Exploits of a Fighting Captain''. New York: Carroll & Graf, 2000. ISBN 0-7867-0923-5
★ Thomas, Donald. ''Cochrane: Britannia's Sea Wolf''. 2nd Edition 2001, Cassell Military Paperbacks, London, 383pp, ISBN 0-304-35659-X.
★ Vale, Brian. ''The Audacious Admiral Cochrane: The True Life of A Naval Legend''.
London: Conway Maritime Press, 2004, ISBN 0-85177-986-7.
See also
★ John Dundas Cochrane, his brother
★ Cochrane
External links
★ The Scotsman newspaper - Great Scots - Admiral Thomas Cochrane
★ Spartacus Educational - Thomas Cochrane
★ BBC UK
★ Gazeteer for Scotland - Thomas Cochrane
★ Royal Navy - Admiral Lord Thomas Cochrane, 10th Earl of Dundonald 1775-1860
★ Chilean Navy - Admiral Lord Thomas Alexander Cochrane, First Admiral of the Chilean Navy(Spanish)
★ Napoleonic Guide - Thomas Cochrane
★ Details of Thomas Cochrane's grave in Westminster Abbey
★
★
★ Project Gutenberg edition of the continuation of ''Autobiography of a Seaman'', comprising the years 1814 to 1827
★
★ Project Gutenberg edition of Narrative of Services in the Liberation of Chili, Peru and Brazil, from Spanish and Portuguese Domination, Volume 1
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★ Project Gutenberg edition of Narrative of Services in the Liberation of Chili, Peru and Brazil, from Spanish and Portuguese Domination, Volume 2
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