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Edited on Wed Dec-03-03 05:49 PM by Vitruvius
as are the Aubrey/Maturin novels and the novels by Captain Marryat that originated the genre (Marryat was a midshipman under Cochrane). In turn, Gene Roddenberry based the Star Trek series on the Hornblower novels.
Cochrane was an incredible captain, scientist and radical politician. His exploits as a captain were so incredible that nobody would believe them in a work of fiction. He first came to notice when, as captain of a 14-gun brig, he and his 54 men took the Spanish 32-gun frigate Gamo, 319 men; some of his subsequent exploits were even more astounding.
In addition, he achieved his feats with very few casualties, unlike most captains of his era; he used surprise, speed, and intel in an utterly modern way. His tactics and methods are studied in naval war colleges to this day.
He also agitated for decent treatment of RN seamen, both thru RN channels, and as a MP; this had him in continuous hot water with the British naval establishment of his day. And he was a thoroughly decent individual; he never lied, never had a man flogged, never took advantage of his position, never philandered, and always stood up for the underdog.
He also had considerable scientific, engineering, and weapons design talents; he was an early pioneer of screw propulsion for steamships, was an inventor of gas-lighting (along with his father), invented both the smoke-screen and gas warfare, and his amazingly modern plans for an explosion vessel to devastate a harbor, if implemented, would have been a nineteenth century equivalent of a nuclear device.
He was also a radical politician, with such radical notions for his time as 'one person, one vote', plus the still-novel notions that government funds should be used for public purposes rather than graft and subsidies for the rich, that rich people should pay taxes, and -- most importantly -- that poor people should get a fair shake.
Accordingly, the powers-that-were subjected him to a political prosecution and sent him to prison. After his release, he got the chief witness against him convicted of perjury; then fought in the wars-of-independence of Chile, Peru, Brazil, and Greece; the few ships under his command destroyed or neutralized the Spanish and Portuguese fleets in the new world.
Cochrane had the good fortune to outlive the years of repression that followed the Napoleonic Wars, and saw some but not all of his novel tactics & methods & politics achieve acceptance. In his old age (he lived until 1860), the old hero saw his honors restored and was a favorite of Queen Victoria and Prince Albert. He is buried in Westminster Abbey.
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For more information, see:
- Christopher Lloyd -- Lord Cochrane: Seaman, Radical, Liberator
- Robert Harvey -- Cochrane: The Life and Exploits of a Fighting Captain
- Thomas Cochrane -- The Autobiography of a Seaman
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