COCHRANE, koleran. THOMAS, tenth Earl of Dundonald (1775-1860). A British admiral, familiarly known as Lord Cochrane. The son of the ninth Earl of Dundonald, he was born at Annsfield, Lanarkshire, December 14. 1775. His father, a scientist, ruined himself by experi mental invention, and Thomas received such desultory education as was volunteered by the village minister and schoolmaster. Ile was des tined for the army, hut in his seventeenth year joined his uncle's ship, on which he had been en rolled five years previously. and, in consequence of this priority, received rapid promotion. After serving in the Norway fiords and on the North American station, he won recognition in 1801 by a successful series of daring exploits in the Mediterranean, the most brilliant being the cap ture of a Spanish frigate of 600 tons and 319 men, which had been sent in quest of his small brig of 15S tons and 54 men. Shortly afterwards his vessels were captured by three French line-of battle ships, after several hours' resistance, but he was himself immediately released on parole, In 1802 he took advantage of the peace to repair his defective early by a six months' assidu ous course at Edinburgh University. Ile had im prudently offended Lord Saint Vincent by a comparis-on, and at the renewal of hostilities in 1803 he was maliciously appointed to the stag nant Orkney station to protect non-existent fish eries. But with a change of admiralty in 1504, he received a new ship, and AN; ithin ten days cap tured several prizes. By a daring ruse he clev erly evaded a spiadron of French battle-ships and sailed his prizes into Plymouth Harbor, three golden candlesticks, each five feet high, decorating his mastheads as specimens of spoil. in 1806, after a rejection, owing to his refusal to bribe the electors, he was returned as mem ber of Parliament for Honiton. The next year he was elected for Westminster, but his indis criminate exposure of naval abuses led to his being immediately ordered off' to the :\lediter ranean. During four years lie added to his repu tation by a sequence of minor naval exploits. and in 1809 was selected to burn out the French fleet which Lord Gambier had blockaded in Aix Roads, near Ilochefort. Ile drove almost the whole squadron ashore, and destroyed four ships; but, as he was unsupported by his superior, Gam bier, who deliberately ignored his signals. the victory was incomplete. Cochrane received the Knighthood of the Bath, but he emphatically expressed his disgust at the incompetency of Gambier. who demanded a court-ma rtial. Through influence and a friendly court, Gambier was ex onerated, while Cochrane. discredited, was forced to retire 011 half pay. In Parliament Coch rane continued his unsparing criticism of naval corruption, and thereby he made enemies who were glad to encompass his downfall, when, through a French officer who had applied to him for service, and whom he delivered to justice, he was implicated in an attempt to influence the stock market by spreading the rumor of Na poleon's death. His uncle and another were found
guilty and punished ; and Cochrane, although in nocent, was fined £1000, struck of the navy list, expelled from Parliament, degraded from his knighthood, sentenced to a year's imprisonment, and to stand for an hour in the pillory. Owing to popular indignation, the pillory punishment was omitted. His Westminster constituents re mained his friends and reelected him. He es caped from jai] in 1815, took his seat in the Douse. hut was expelled by force, imprisoned for the rest of his term, and fined anew £100. Disgusted with vain attempts at justification, he accepted an invitation to organize the Chilean Navy, and in ISIS proceeded to Valparaiso. He put the wretched Chilean vessels into the hest possible condition, and gained a series of remark able successes over the Spanish fleet. In 1S20 lie took Valdivia and carried San Martin's army to Peru, having previously destroyed Spanish com merce on the Pacific coast. and performed a brilliant exploit in cutting out the Spanish frigate Est/tem/dr( from under the enemy's guns at the Castle of Callao. Non-fulfillment of con tracts and the refusal of arrears of pay caused him to resign, and soon afterwards he became admiral in the Brazilian Navy. During this appointment (1823-25) he compelled the Portu guese to evacuate Bahia, reduced "Maranhao. and for his services received the marquisate of Maranldio; but the same causes as in the Chil can service led to his resignation from the next appointment was the command of the Greek Navy (1827-28) ; but an insuffi ciency of ships and men prevented the accom plishment of anything of importance. In 1831 he succeeded to the Dundonald peerage; in the fol lowing year, William IV.satisfied a general wish by granting him a free pardon for the offense of which he had been convicted, and in 1847 Queen Victoria reinstated him in the Order of the Bath and to his naval rank. In 1S77 his heirs received compensation for his unjust con demnation in a restoration of eighteen years' loss of pay and allowances as a naval officer. From 1848 to 1851 he was commander-in-chief of the North American and West Indian stations, and became rear-admiral of the United Kingdom in 1854. To an advanced age he busied himself with scientific inventions for the navy, and early recognized the advantage of steam•po•er and of the application of the screw propeller to war ships. He published: Notes on the Mineralogy, Gorernment, and Condition of the British West India Islands (1851) ; ..Var•ative of in the Liberation of Chile, Peru, and Brazil (1859) : and an Autobiography (2 vols.. 2d ed., 1860): the same completed by the eleventh Earl and H. R. Fox Bourne (2 vols., London. 1869). Ik died at Kensington, and was buried in \Vest niinster Abbey. Consult: Fortesene, Unndouald (London, 1895), and Atlay. Trial of Lord Coch rane Before Lord Ellenbo•ough (London, l897).