Turbulent life, and times of scandalous Cochrane

Napoleon called him “le loup des mers”. His foes dreaded him, his men adored him, his political overlords regarded him as impossibly rebellious. He was often his own worst enemy, courting the enmity of his own family for marrying a girl less than half his age, and eventually being dismissed from naval service for participating in a stock market fraud. Yet no-one ever doubted that Thomas Cochrane, restored to the Royal Navy after 18 years in foreign service and promoted to admiral, was a seaman to his fingertips, as this exhibition Admiral Cochrane, the Real Master and Commander, at the Scottish National Museum in Edinburgh amply demonstrates. The title of the exhibition echoes of course the first novel in the series by Patrick O’Brian, whose hero, Jack Aubrey, partly inspired by Cochrane, also comes under a shadow and is forced to clear himself before he is able to resume his naval career. Thomas Cochrane was born in 1775 near Hamilton, South Lanarkshire, the son of Archibald Cochrane, 9th Earl of Dundonald. His father wanted him to serve in the Army, but Cochrane was determined on the Royal Navy, and joined as a midshipman in 1893. He soon became notorious for insubordination and was court-martialled (though acquitted) for thumbing his nose at the first lieutenant of Lord Keith’s flagship Barfleur while serving in the Mediterranean. His first command was the brig Speedy, with which he made his name through the capture of the much more powerfully armed Spanish xebec frigate, El Gamo, in May 1801. In subsequent operations in Speedy, then Pallas and Impérieuse, Cochrane established himself as a master of coastal warfare attaching shore installations and capturing ships in enemy harbours. Although his naval career was going spectacularly well, Cochrane’s real interest was Parliament which he entered in 1806 in an undoubtedly corrupt election in which he paid bribes – though he had no need to repeat this in subsequent elections. He campaigned vigorously for political reform and was a vituperative critic of the conduct of the war and the corruption of the Navy, views which won him many enemies. In 1814 he was convicted of playing a role in the Great Stock Exchange Fraud – he had been one of those who bought and then sold stock which had risen sharply on a rumour of Napoleon’s death. Sentenced to 12 months in jail, fined and sentenced to stand in the pillory, Cochrane was ejected from Parliament, stripped of his knighthood in the Order of the Bath and dismissed from the Royal Navy. His constituents showed their belief in him by immediately re-electing him to Parliament but in 1817 he accepted a commission in the Chilean Navy. It was the beginning of a second remarkable naval career, in which he defeated Spanish forces in a series of brilliant actions between 1819 and 1822 which secured independence from Spain for Chile and Peru. He was next offered command of the Brazilian Navy which he led in the war of independence against Portugal, before then being made an admiral in the Greek navy. In 1831 he returned to Britain where he had inherited his father’s title and was reinstated to the Royal Navy as a rear-admiral the following year. Cochrane did not, however, rest on his laurels. He was a proponent of steam propulsion, also urging the adoption of screw propellers in warships. He is held in honour in Chile, and of the five of her warships which have borne his name since 1879, the most recent is the frigate Almirante Cochrane, which entered service with the Chilean Navy in 2006. Among the artefacts and personal effects in the exhibition are decorations conferred on him by a grateful Emperor of Brazil. The handsome portrait of Cochrane is by James Ramsay. Admiral Cochrane, the Real Master and Commander, National Museum of Scotland, until February 19; www.nms.ac.uk. The Times, 7 January 2012.