Admiral Lord Cochrane: Scotland’s forgotten hero

He was the model for Horatio Hornblower and Captain Jack Aubrey, yet the feats of Scottish naval officer, Admiral Lord Cochrane, go largely unrecognised in his native land. Now, however, our reporter discovers a new exhibition in Edinburgh which aims to highlight the achievements of a truly remarkable man

‘FOR a moment the Spaniards seemed taken by surprise, as though unwilling to believe that so small a crew would have the audacity to board them; but soon recovering themselves, they made a rush to the waist of the frigate, where the fight was for some minutes gallantly carried on,” writes Admiral Lord Thomas Cochrane about the battle in 1801 that has come to define both his character and career.

“Observing the enemy’s colours still flying, I directed one of our men immediately to haul them down, when the Spanish crew… believing it the act of their own officers, gave in, and we were in possession of the Gamo frigate … who an hour and a half before had looked upon us as a certain, if not an easy prey.”

He had overcome a ship four times the size of his own, and this autobiographical tale of cunning and aggression on the high seas is what Cochrane became famous for. Despite the fact that his swashbuckling skirmishes inspired both CS Forester’s Horatio Hornblower and Patrick O’Brian’s Captain Jack Aubrey – and so the Hollywood blockbuster Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World starring Russell Crowe – the Scottish naval officer is largely unrecognised today.

Now a new exhibition honouring the character Napoleon nicknamed Le Loup de Mer (The Sea Wolf) seeks to change that. Running until Sunday 19 February 2012 at the National Museum of Scotland, Admiral Cochrane, The Real Master and Commander tells the truth about the man behind the tales.

“Cochrane’s story is as remarkable as any of the fictional exploits which he inspired,” says Dr Stuart Allan, the senior curator of military history. “Yet, despite the fact that he was publicly hailed as a hero in Scotland during his lifetime, today he has been rather forgotten. The aim of this exhibition is to honour the impact he made on the world by giving visitors a unique chance to see first-hand artefacts, documents and portraits from the time.”

Charting everything from his childhood in Fife and meteoric rise in the Royal Navy to his reinvention as a Chilean national hero – via stories of scandal, disgrace and a secret wedding to a girl half his age – the exhibition, which includes objects that have never previously been on public display, documents a life that, by anyone’s standards, was quite an adventure.

Entering the Royal Navy in 1793, Cochrane first found his sea legs as a 17-year-old midshipman and then as a lieutenant. However, it was as commander of the small warship HMS Speedy (where he spent a great deal of time cruising the Mediterranean looking for the enemy), that he gained a reputation among his foes for being rude and recklessness. But among friends he was regarded as a fearless fighter who inspired great loyalty amongst his crew.

“Extraordinarily courageous, pathologically rebellious, incredibly innovative and with an ability to spot an opportunity where most couldn’t, he was a dedicated naval man,” says Robert Harvey, author of the book Mavericks, which takes a looks at the world’s greatest military leaders, including Cochrane “Of course he took everything to extremes, but as a result, he won some of the major battles of the Napoleonic Wars with just a single ship.”

“He used to bluff all the time and was always one step ahead,” says Allan. “He would often creep up on his enemy and in this way captured some of the biggest fleets in the ocean. He never actually commanded a large fleet himself like Nelson or Duncan, but that wasn’t his thing – he preferred ship-to-ship warfare which was often nasty and brutal.”

As a result, Cochrane captured over 50 vessels at the helm of the Speedy, and during another cruise onboard HMS Pallas is said to have made around £40,000 (over £1 million today) in captured-shipping prize money. But with an eye for the daring hoax as much as the unexpected strike, it’s often the stories about how he escaped trouble – such as the time he avoided capture by a Spanish ship by flying a Danish flag and claiming his crew was infected by the plague – that entertain as much as those about victory.

Cochrane applied his talent as a master tactician back on dry land too. In 1806 he entered Parliament as an independent MP standing against corruption and championing reform. He kept the seat for a decade but was often sent back to sea as punishment for his continued assaults on the Establishment.

It was in 1809 – during one of these stints back at sea – that his idealistic but argumentative nature became a well-known matter of public record. Leading an attack on the French during the Battle of the Basque Roads, all but two of the enemy’s ships had been beached. However, Cochrane was incensed that his superior officer, Lord Gambier, had not followed up the attack in full. The pair ended up in court to settle the dispute.

But while he was often frustrated and constrained by authority (he was known to rail against what he saw as the stuffiness of the Admiralty throughout his career), Cochrane’s creativity did find an outlet thanks to his passion for invention.

During his life, he dedicated much of his time and most of his money on improving the efficiency and effectiveness of the navy, from inventing improvements in naval lighting to his biggest project: developing a viable steam rotary engine and propeller.

“He saw himself very much as a modern man interested in progress whether that was political or scientific,” says Allan. “From proposing the use of smokescreens long before they were used in war, to being one of the first to identify South America as the continent of the future later in life, he was an undeniably brilliant man.”

However, things took a dramatic nosedive in 1814 with his conviction for fraud. With rumours that the French had been defeated and Napoleon killed reaching Britain, one February morning a syndicate of speculators (including Cochrane) took advantage by selling its government bonds on the London Stock Exchange. However, by the time it became clear that this news was an elaborate hoax, they had already profited, leading to accusations that he had been involved in the scam. Despite protestations that he was innocent, he was fined, imprisoned, expelled from the navy and stripped of his knighthood.

Setting sail for South America four years later, he left the UK in disgrace but went on to become a hero abroad thanks to his skilful command of the Chilean, Brazilian and Greek navies in their respective wars of independence. In 1832, King William IV awarded him a free pardon for his crime and he was rewarded with both compensation and command of the West Indies and America station, which he held until the age of 77.

Having invested most of his fortune in his inventions, Cochrane died penniless in 1860 at the age of 85. However, what was more important to both the man and to history is that, at the end of his life, his reputation as one of the greatest seamen of the 19th century remained intact.

• Admiral Cochrane: The Real Master and Commander is at the National Museum of Scotland, Edinburgh until Sunday 19 February, 2012. For details, contact: 0300 123 6789, www.nms.ac.uk