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    Cochrane: The Real Master and Commander
    Cochrane: The Real Master and Commander
    Cochrane: The Real Master and Commander
    Audiobook13 hours

    Cochrane: The Real Master and Commander

    Written by David Cordingly

    Narrated by John Lee

    4/5

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    About this audiobook

    From the bestselling author of Under the Black Flag comes the definitive biography of the swashbuckling nineteenth-century maritime hero upon whom Jack Aubrey and Horatio Hornblower are based.

    Nicknamed le loup des mers ("the sea wolf") by Napoleon, Thomas Cochrane was one of the most daring and successful naval heroes of all time. In this fascinating account of Cochrane's life, historian David Cordingly unearths startling new details about the real-life "Master and Commander," from his daring exploits against the French navy to his role in the liberation of Chile, Peru, and Brazil, and the shock exchange scandal that forced him out of England and almost ended his naval career. Drawing on previously unpublished papers, his own travels, wide reading, and the kind of original research that distinguished The Billy Ruffian, Cordingly tells the rip-roaring story of the archetypal romantic hero who conquered the seas and, in the process, defined his era.
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherTantor Media, Inc
    Release dateOct 2, 2007
    ISBN9781400175420
    Author

    David Cordingly

    David Cordingly was Keeper of Pictures and Head of Exhibitions at the National Maritime Museum for twelve years, where he organised such exhibitions as Captain James Cook, Navigator, The Mutiny on the Bounty and Pirates: Fact and Fiction. His other books include Life among the Pirates, Heroines and Harlots and the highly praised Billy Ruffian.

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    Reviews for Cochrane

    4/5

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    • 4/5
      Fans of Napoleonic military history will probably enjoy this biography. The exploits of Captain Thomas Cochrane have been incorporated into several historical novels – Cochrane’s capture of the Spanish xebec-frigate El Gamo with the sloop-brig Speedy becomes Jack Aubrey’s taking of the Cacafuego with the Sophie in Patrick O’Brian’s Master and Commander; Cochrane’s raids along the Spanish and French Mediterranean coasts in the frigate Imperieuse become Horatio Hornblower’s cruise with the 74 Sutherland in C. S. Forester’s Ship of the Line; O’Brian uses Cochrane’s involvement in the Stock Exchange Fraud of 1814 as the central plot element of The Reverse of the Medal; and Bernard Cornwell has Lieutenant Colonel Richard Sharpe hook up with Cochrane to storm the “impregnable” fortress of Valadivia in Sharpe’s Devil.
      The actual Cochrane turns out to be just as interesting (although with a few more flaws) as the fictional counterparts. Cochrane got off to a late start in his naval career, joining the RN as a midshipman at 17 (although a friendly uncle made up for some of the disadvantages of this by putting him on his ship’s muster rolls starting at age 5). Despite being a Scottish lord, Cochrane threw himself into his new trade by temporarily abandoning his midshipman’s uniform and (with his captain’s permission) working as a ordinary seaman on his first ship (many years later this proved lifesaving, as Admiral Cochrane turned out to be the only one on board who knew how to repair the ship’s pumps on his badly leaking flagship O’Higgins). Once Cochrane got a ship of his own, his worth immediately became apparent, as his audacious tactics resulted in the Speedy capturing more prizes than any other ship in the Mediterranean fleet. Although contemporaries and later critics described Cochrane as “rash”, author David Cordingly notes that Cochrane always did careful planning and reconnaissance before attacking; for example, in the capture of the El Gamo, which had five times as many men and seven times the weight of broadside as the Speedy, Cochrane correctly noted that the larger ship would be unable to depress its guns enough to hit the hull of the Speedy when the ships were alongside. Cochrane got lucky when his first broadside killed El Gamo’s captain, but, as Pasteur commented, “luck favors the prepared”.
      Cochrane was unlike his fictional counterparts in that he repeatedly and foolishly clashed with his military superiors and with politicians; if he had just been a little more prudent his career might have gone better. Cordingly is on Cochrane’s side in the Stock Exchange Fraud, a “pump and dump” scheme where the conspirators spread a convincing rumor that Napoleon had been killed. Cochrane claimed innocence but the fact that an uncle and an acquaintance profited immensely, and that Cochrane himself made ₤139000, was enough to convince a jury. Cochrane was imprisoned, dismissed from the Navy and expelled from the Order of the Bath (by the traditional midnight ceremony where his banner was kicked out the door of Westminster Abbey).
      After his release, Cochrane was recruited as a mercenary by several independence movements, ending up successively as Admiral of the Chilean, Brazilian, and Greek navies (he declined an Admiral’s commission in the Peruvian navy along the way). Finally reinstated in the Royal Navy (with the help an admirer, Queen Victoria), he got to hoist his Admiral’s flag in one more nation (I wonder if that’s a record?). He was seriously considered for Commander of the Baltic Fleet during the Crimean War (at age 79), but it was feared that he would live up to his reputation and be “too rash”. He died at 84 in 1860, and is buried in Westminster Abbey. There is still an Almirante Cochrane in commission in the Chilean Navy.
      A great book if you’re interested in the Napoleonic period or military history in general. Cordingly is a curator at the National Maritime Museum in Greenwich and has authored several other naval history books; I think they will all go on the wish list.
    • 4/5
      Well done. Quick read about a great naval captain who like all of us had some flaws. Thorough and balance analysis of the controversies in this sailor's life. Some interesting books in the bibliography
    • 5/5
      Many readers will come to David Cordingly's The Real Master and Commander from a desire as fans of Patrick O'Brian and C.S. Forester to learn more about the remarkable man whose life provided the raw material for the tales of Jack Aubrey and Horatio Hornblower. Make no mistake, however, Cordingly's excellent historical biography deserves to be read on its own merits. Lord Thomas Cochrane executed such stunningly audacious feats - successfully attacking much larger ships with his small sloop Speedy, leading an attack of fireships on the French fleet at Basque Roads, and helping Chile and Brazil establish their independence - that one might cry `what pitiful stuff' if one read it in a work of historical fiction. But it really happened. Cochrane was a flawed man who could not restrain himself from reckless attacks on powerful forces in the navy and the government generally. When he found himself entangled in an infamous stock exchange fraud (the leaders spread false rumors that Napoleon had died and then sold their shares when the market predictably spiked), he discovered that powerful men were only too happy to see him convicted and drummed out of the navy. Cordingly judiciously sifts the evidence of Cochrane's guilt or innocence from our vantage point nearly 200 years later. In addition to his naval feats Cochrane also fought for reform causes as a member of parliament. His intemperate tactics and language did him little good. Of course, he was quite right in insisting that either the electoral system would be reformed from within or reformed from without with a vengeance from without. After several years in the `wilderness', Cochrane sailed to South America and successfully aided the rebellion against Spain and Portugal. He eventually wore out his welcome there as well, in part due to fights over prize money. From there he went to the Greek Fiasco, as Cordingly aptly names it. He spent his remaining years fighting with some success to restore honor to his name. A sad dwindling away for this remarkable man. A must read for fans of Age of Sail historical fiction and an excellent histroical biography.
    • 3/5
      Very interesting biography of Lord Cochrane, on whom Patrick O'Brian based some of the career and personality of Jack Aubrey, even if sometimes overly detailed (hour-by-hour reconstructions of perfectly uneventful convoy voyages). The most exciting part was a battle I never heard of called Basque Roads, where Cochrane entered a French harbor and almost destroyed their entire fleet. I'm very surprised O'Brian never worked it into one of the books, because it was such a perfectly Jack-like episode: a daring plan, valiant acts of seamanship, success limited by a conventional commander who wouldn't back him up, followed by a court martial where he managed to alienate almost everyone in power.As a side note: good God, are there no copy editors anymore who understand the use of commas? This is a major book from a major publisher, and I wanted to go through the whole thing with my red pen.