The exhibition at the National Gallery of Scotland, in Edinburgh, runs from 7th October 2011 to 19th February 2012. Entry is free of charge, and throughout the duration, the Museum will also have some single, in-depth events for those desiring to know more about this relatively little-known but fascinating person, as famous in Chile and Brazil as he is in Britain.
Thomas Cochrane in the Napoleonic Wars
Thomas was the nephew of Admiral Sir Alexander Cochrane, so it's not surprising that he enlisted in the Royal Navy in 1793 with the outbreak of the French Revolutionary war against Britain. Thanks to his uncle he was able to become an officer at once: in his case nepotism was not ill-placed and the young Cochrane soon distinguished himself for intelligence, seamanship, and character.
His first command was the sloop Speedy, very small and lightly armed for a warship. The resourceful Cochrane had no intention of limiting his duty to escorting convoys. The Speedy cruised around between Italy and Spain for a year, capturing French ships and, memorably, a much larger and better-armed Spanish frigate, the Gamo. This operation was characteristic of Cochrane's actions, full of cunning (hoisting false flags, going in close so as to be under the line of fire from the bigger ship, calling on the only man left on board the Speedy while Cochrane and all his crew boarded the Gamo to “send up another fifty men”) and yet very careful in the use of the men under his command. For all his courage and seeming recklessness, Cochrane was always attentive with the lives of those under his command. In fact, he was taken prisoner and lost the Speedy at Gibraltar when he judged that to fight further would take too heavy a toll of his men.
His adventures, along with those of Sir Sidney Smith and Lord Horatio Nelson, are recounted by Roy and Lesley Adkins in the book The War for all the Oceans, from Nelson at the Nile to Napoleon at Waterloo. This highly readable book is rich in excerpts from documents and letters with eye-witness accounts of many battles and skirmishes, the conditions of officers, midshipmen and ordinary sailors, chronic problems like corruption and lack of munitions, the notorious press-gangs, the women on board, wives with small children or prostitutes, the treatment of prisoners of war and the sometimes gentlemanly exchanges of prisoners.
Le loup des mers
Outspoken as he was, Cochrane was a favourite with his men, admired by his enemies. Napoleon called him “le loup des mers” (wolf of the seas), a grudging compliment specially for Cochrane or perhaps just the French translation of the Italian “lupo di mare” used for centuries to describe a particularly experienced seaman, always on watch, always knowing what to do, always his own man. Napoleon was Corsican, that is, Italian by birth, and probably this term was in use there. “Lupo di mare” indicates experience, inventive, but not ferocity.
Cochrane could be fierce with the enemy – his use of fireships at the battle of the Basque Roads was devastating although every attempt was made to save enemy sailors from drowning– but he could also be fierce with his superiors, including Lord Gambier, who delayed the order to attack at Basque Roads.
Parliament and Disgrace
Cochrane had been elected in 1806 to the House of Commons, where he was an uncomfortable figure. His immense popularity buoyed him up while he criticized the way the war with France was conducted, the corruption in the Navy, and refused to support the vote of confidence for the Admiral Lord Gambier, whom he considered cowardly and incompetent.
Disgrace came in 1814, year of the Great Stock Exchange Fraud. This event is variously described as a hoax or as a fraud. If it was intended as a hoax, it certainly meant that a few people made a lot of money selling certain government bonds when they peaked at the (false) news of Napoleon's death and the end of the war. Thomas Cochrane was one of these, as was one of his uncles. An enquiry was held and some witnesses gave evidence linking Cochrane to the man who first brought the news to Dover. He was sentenced to a year's imprisonment, a fine of £1000 and an hour in the pillory, stripped of his knighthood, expelled from the Royal Navy and Parliament. A total fall from grace which he attributed to his enemies in Parliament.
Thomas Cochrane always proclaimed his innocence. After all, many people instruct their stock-broker to sell in case of significant increase in stock value. He was so popular that he was immediately re-elected to Parliament in the by-election caused by his expulsion! As to the pillory sentence, it was prudently never applied, since the authorities realized belatedly that this might cause a public uprising. In fact legislation soon came into place restricting use of the pillory.
Struggle for Independence in Chile, Peru and Brazil
Embittered by his disgrace and awaiting a full pardon, Thomas Cochrane and his young wife left Britain in 1817. His position n the Royal Navy was lost, so when the Chilean government offered him the command of their fleet in their war of independence from Spain, he accepted enthusiastically. It is said that he planned to stop off en route at St. Helena where Napoleon was exiled, with the idea of taking his former enemy to South America and installing him as Emperor of a free united South America. He postponed this visit because of an imminent Spanish attack in Chile. The rather sudden and suspicious death of Napoleon in 1821 put an end to the scheme. This was in any case an example of the respect often existing between enemies at war, far from political and press hate propaganda.
Cochrane spent the next ten years supporting the battles of Chile, Peru and Brazil for independence. The memorial flagstones in his old hometown of Culross describe him as Marquess of Maranham – Brazil, one of the titles bestowed upon him. His South American experiences, for all the glory, ended in quarrels over payment and prize-money, the money due to ship's commanders for captured enemy ships, to be shared with the crew.
Failure in Greece
Returning to Europe, Cochrane joined the Greek battle against Ottoman control. This was his only campaign without resounding successes, which he blamed on lack of discipline on the part of the Greeks. His exploit in Greece was short-lived and he returned to Britain.
Pardon and Return to Service in the Royal Navy
Finally in 1832 he received a royal pardon for his fraud conviction and rejoined the Royal Navy. However his knighthood was not returned until 1847. During these years he served mainly abroad, and found time to dedicate to various inventions including a system of pneumatic caissons (air-locks) which he patented in 1830. This technology used in harbour building was important for his hometown of Culross where coal-mining under the waters of the Firth of Forth started about 1590. The system later formed the basis for the technology used in building bridges from Brooklyn Bridge to the Forth Bridge.
Culross
Thomas Cochrane was born near Hamilton but spent most of his childhood in Culross (Fife), which is one of the most interesting historical places in Scotland's Forth Valley.
Culross grew up around its abbey, founded in 1217, in honour of St Mungo and St Serf. The monks seem to have been the first to start mining coal! This brought industry to this tiny village and in the late 16th century, Culross's most famous inhabitant, Sir George Bruce, created an underwater pit (called the Moat Pit) in the Firth of Forth, kept dry by water power from a dam on the hillside.
The mined coal was used locally and for export to the Netherlands. It also served for Culross' s second industry, salt-panning, and for the making of iron girdles for oat cakes.. At its apex, Culross had 50 salt pans and was producing more salt than anywhere else in Scotland. There was a busy port and in 1592 the tiny town obtained its Royal Charter, becoming the Royal Burgh of Culross.
Sir George Bruce had the fine Palace built as his home, the cobbled streets had a “crown” of flatter stones laid so that the wealthy could more around more easily. The burgh, only 15 miles from Edinburgh, prospered until in 1625 a storm destroyed the underwater mine and the pier. Culross never recovered although the mining and salt-panning industry continued on Preston Island, a shallow island in the Firth of Forth developed by Sir Robert Preston. Preston Island became home to coal mines, and salt pans, and some houses were built for the workers. Conditions were however always difficult, and an explosion caused the closure of the mine in 1811. This environment stimulated the interest of the versatile Thomas Cochrane for underwater working.
The end
Sir Thomas Cochrane died in London in 1860. Although he was one of Britain's greatest admirals in the nineteenth century, he is comparatively unknown, unlike Horatio Nelson.
Yet his personality inspired several fictional characters, such as C. S. Forester's Horatio Hornblower. Frederick Marryat of Mr Midshipman Easy fame, also served under Cochrane's command and drew inspiration from him and his exploits.
The small memorial in Culross was erected more after pressure from South American tourists than from Britons.
He certainly deserves the National Museum's special exhibition, which can be well completed by a trip to Culross, less than 20 miles away, to see the Firth of Forth as it is now, a little piece of history tucked into the industrial Forth Valley between Longannet Power Station, and looking across to Grangemouth.
Sources
- National Museum of Scotland
- National Trust for Scotland
- The War for all the Oceans by Roy Adkins and Lesley Adkins, first published in Great Britain in 2006 by Little, Brown, published in paperback by Abacus 2007 ISBN 978-0-349-11916-8
Valerie Wilson - Valerie Wilson has lived, studied and worked in Scotland, Germany and Italy; mainly employed in multi-national companies in shipping ...
