Lord Cochrane: Seaman, Radical, Liberator- A Life of Thomas, Lord Cochrane, 10th Earl of Dundonald (Heart of Oak Sea Classics) - Hardcover

Christopher Lloyd

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0805059865 ISBN 13: 9780805059861

Publisher: Owl Books / Henry Holt, 1998

Synopsis

Traces the life of the controversial nineteenth century British captain

About this title

Review:

Thomas Cochrane (1775-1860), the 10th Earl of Dundonald, was a man distinctly of his time, and in some ways far in advance of it. Descended from a noble Scottish family that had fallen on hard times, Cochrane had a naval career spanning the Napoleonic wars and beyond, to the struggles for independence of Chile, Peru, Brazil, and Greece. His exploits showed such tactical genius that they have become textbook examples in military training, and his derring-do inspired the lives and fiction of Frederick Marryat (who sailed with Cochrane as a young man), C.S. Forester, and Joseph Conrad.

But Cochrane's career was a checkered one, due mostly to his dislike of authority and tendency to nurse grudges. The man whose meticulous naval strategies were masterpieces of preparation was prone to ill-considered attacks on those in command, and his career as a British naval officer came to an effective end when he prosecuted a court martial against his commanding officer Lord Gambier after his near-disastrous timidity at the Battle in the Aix Roads. His political career as a radical politician was similarly jeopardized by impulsive attacks against the sitting government, and while he had a series of stunning military victories later in life as the admiral of several South American navies, each was followed by political wrangling and disappointment.

Christopher Lloyd's popular biography (first published in 1947) is as brisk and engaging as the novels that Cochrane inspired. It is a well-balanced portrayal of a man who, despite his heroism, invention (he proposed poison gas as a weapon a full hundred years before its usage), and idealistic commitment to liberal causes, was never given the opportunity to achieve his true genius. --John Longenbaugh

About the Author:

Christopher Lloyd (1906-1986), one of Britain's premier naval historians, taught at the Royal Naval College, Dartmouth, and the Royal Naval College, Greenwich, from 1934 to 1966.

About this edition

• Publisher: Owl Books / Henry Holt
• Publication date: 1998
• ISBN 10: 0805059865
• ISBN 13: 9780805059861
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 214