Cochrane in the Pacific Read online

  Unfortunately for him, in 1814, Cochrane was implicated in a Stock Exchange swindle engineered by the black sheep of the family, his uncle Andrew Cochrane-Johnstone, and some of his shadier associates. A fake colonel in a red uniform appeared at Dover, announced that Napoleon was dead and took a post-chaise to London spreading the good news and distributing gold Napoleons noisily on the way. Share prices soared at the promise of peace; and none rose higher than a volatile stock called Omnium. The conspirators - for Napoleon was still jauntily alive - had invested heavily in Omnium, which they now sold at a handsome profit. Unfortunately for Cochrane, as soon as he had arrived in London, the 'colonel' went straight to his house in Green Street where he borrowed clothes to cover his red uniform. Clearly implicated in the conspiracy - not only by this incident, but by the heavy purchases of Omnium he had made in the previous weeks and his intimacy with those who were clearly responsible -Cochrane was found guilty of fraud at the resulting trial, fined and briefly imprisoned. Stunned by the verdict, he vociferously protested his innocence; but his case was not helped by his refusal - or inability - to offer an explanation. He continued to enjoy the support of the electors of Westminster, but his public career was over and he was officially disgraced. His Knighthood of the Bath was stripped from him and he was dismissed from the Navy.

  The year 1817 was a particularly bad one for Lord Cochrane. His naval career was over, he had been publicly humiliated, and he was becoming politically frustrated. Cochrane needed a change: he was depressed by what he regarded as the injustice of the Stock Exchange trial, and was short of money. He also needed a job, and he began to look around for a profitable way of using his military talents. A meeting with José Antonio Alvarez in London was therefore providential. On arrival, Alvarez had sought out leading radicals who were sympathetic to the cause of independence, many of whom - like Sir Francis Burdett, Henry Brougham and Sir James Macintosh - were intimates of Lord Cochrane. Alvarez had no orders to sign up a commander-in-chief for the new Chilean Navy, but learning of Cochrane's situation and finding his military and political credentials compelling, he offered him the post. To his delight, Cochrane accepted. On 12 January 1818, Alvarez passed the good news back to his masters in Santiago, writing:

  I have extreme satisfaction in informing you that Lord Cochrane, one of the most famous and perhaps the most valiant seaman in Great Britain, has determined to travel to Chile in order to direct our navy and cooperate decisively in the consolidation of liberty and independence. He is a person highly commendable, not only for the liberal principals with which he has upheld the cause of the English people in Parliament, but because he possesses a character superior to any ambition ... and has been watching with enthusiasm the progress of South America. As a consequence, I have not hesitated one moment in using the plenary powers with which you honoured me, to offer him the rank of admiral and commander-in-chief of the naval forces of Chile; and to authorise him to select and nominate officers and men who will be capable of fulfilling their destinies in a manner satisfactory to the Supreme Director.1

  The Chilean Government was quick to confirm Cochrane's appointment. Cochrane too was pleased. The offer was exactly what he was looking for and the cause of liberty in the Pacific fired his imagination. So much so, that he did not even ask how much money he was to be paid. Indeed so enthusiastic did he become that his second son, born on 8 March 1818, was christened William Horatio Bernardo in honour of O'Higgins.

  And there was more. Alvarez announced that Cochrane intended to bring an armed steamship of 410 tons with him called the Rising Star. The vessel was already being adapted at Brent's Yard at the Greenland Dock on the Thames to a revolutionary design that included twin funnels and an internal retractable paddle wheel. She was driven by 60 horse-power engines supplied by a manufacturer called Galloway, although she was rigged to carry sail on two masts as a precaution. So great was Cochrane's confidence in the future of steam power, that he had put £3000 of his own money into the venture. Another £4000 had been supplied by a well-known South American trader, Edward Ellice, on condition that he was allowed to import 200 tons of goods into Chile free of duty.2 Alvarez was keen on the project and had clearly been convinced by Cochrane that with such an example of modern naval technology at their disposal, the Chileans would make short work of their enemies.

  Neither was Alvarez's enthusiasm confined to steamships. In January 1818, possibly reflecting Cochrane's influence once more, he wrote enthusiastically to Valparaiso reporting that he had gained access to the secrets of one of Britain's latest weapons of war - the incendiary rockets invented by Sir William Congreve - and was taking steps to send out a supply and to ensure that they could be made in Chile.3 True to his word, the following month one of Congreve's assistants, Stephen Goldsack, accompanied by a subordinate called Taylor and a military adviser in the form of a Major James Charles, were on their way to the Pacific with their families charged with establishing a local factory for the manufacture of rockets. They were to arrive in Valparaiso on the Ann on 12 November.

  To equip a war steamer on the Thames for a revolutionary struggle against a friendly power was, nevertheless, a risky undertaking and efforts were made to conceal the Rising Star's real purpose. Cochrane put it about for example, that her name was actually the North Star, and that she was to be used in an attempt to win the £20,000 prize offered to the first man who could sail to the North Pole. Attention was focused on the fact that her figurehead was a bear -presumably a Polar Bear - and that her stern was decorated with a painting of the constellation of the Bear rather than on the fact that she was pierced to carry ten guns.4 The story may have deceived the readers of the Naval Chronicle, but it did not fool the Spanish authorities. Madrid was made fully aware of what Alvarez and Cochrane were up to by its ambassador in London.5

  The adaptation of the Rising Star seemed likely to take some time and Chile needed Lord Cochrane urgently. Alvarez therefore persuaded him to leave the supervision of the project to Galloway and his brother Major William Cochrane and to leave without delay.6 Cochrane agreed, concluded his preparations and wound up his affairs. In June, he made his last speech in the House of Commons. It comprised an expression of thanks to the electors of Westminster, a final swipe at sinecures and pensions, and a plea to the government for reform before it was too late. He then headed for Boulogne to embark on the merchantman Rose. With him went his wife Kitty, his sons Thomas aged four years and William Horatio (nicknamed Horace) aged six months, a relation called Jane Frith Cochrane, the Argentine lawyer and politician Antonio Alvarez Jonte and a group of servants and secretaries. On 15 August 1818, the party set sail for Chile, on the other side of the world.7

  Chile was the country cousin of the wealthy Viceroyalty of Peru. Wedged between the Pacific and the Andes, it was a long straggling country extending from the waterless Atacama desert in the north, to the wooded province of Concepcion, beyond which was a dramatic wilderness of islands, mountains and fiords which stretched southwards as far as Tierra del Fuego and Cape Horn.

  Within these limits, Chile - with its Mediterranean climate, mountainous backdrop, gushing streams, lush central valleys and wooded coastal hills, which English travellers compared with Devonshire - was a delightful location. But there were no silver or gold mines to generate the same opulence and wealth as in neighbouring Peru. There was some copper mining, but the Chilean economy was based on agriculture and stock raising, and its society was made up of a small number of landed gentry and a mass of peasants. Its neatly laid-out colonial style capital of Santiago could boast some 30,000 people, but most of its towns were little more than big villages of only regional importance with populations of less than 6000.

  One exception was the town of Valparaiso, located three days journey from the mountain capital of Santiago. The port had boomed following independence. Freedom from the old Spanish restrictions had brought foreign goods and merchants flocking to the city that became Chile's gateway to the world. Valparaiso was Lord Co
chrane's destination and, at the end of November 1818, the Rose, having fought her way round Cape Horn into the Pacific, was in sight of the jagged white peaks of the Chilean cordillera. On the 29th, driven by a brisk sea breeze, the brig rounded a rocky headland, sailed into the bay on which the city was built, and dropped anchor in the cold, blue water before the port. Valparaiso was a straggling town wedged onto a narrow semi-circular strip of land between the sea and the slopes of the hills which rose precipitously all around. In this space were huddled shops, churches, the customs house, meat and fish markets, and rows of one-storey whitewashed houses with red tiled roofs that spread inland up a number of narrow ravines which cut into the hills. The most prominent of these was the suburb of Almendra, which occupied a sandy plain to the east and was named after the almond trees that grew there in such abundance. The whole scene was dominated by the governor's palace in the centre of the bay and a citadel that was perched on the dry slopes behind. The population of Valparaiso at the time was around 8000, of which 500 were British, mostly seafarers, merchants and their families. There were plenty of grog shops and other facilities for low life, but there were also two coffee houses to cater for the more respectable members of the community, and a school, run on the Lancaster model by a Mr Thompson.

  The news that Lord Cochrane had arrived spread rapidly. Bernardo O'Higgins hurried down the coach road from Santiago to greet him and to inaugurate days of junketing and celebration. The Governor of Valparaiso offered a special dinner at which the newly arrived British were entranced by the beauty and style of the local ladies who had 'dark abundant hair falling to the shoulders adorned with jasmine and other flowers', although -according to Major William Miller - all were put in the shade by 'the two presiding belles ... Lady Cochrane and Mrs Commodore Blanco, both young, fascinating and gifted'.8 Lord Cochrane reciprocated by throwing a lavish party on St Andrew's night, appearing in kilt and the full highland dress that the Prince Regent and Sir Walter Scott had so recently made popular. There was infectious good cheer, food, champagne and good wine punctuated by innumerable toasts. Even Cochrane, who was impatient to get on with the job and who disliked parties, drank little and smoked less, seemed to enjoy himself.

  Soon the partying was over and the Chileans got down to business. On 11 December 1818, Lord Cochrane became a Chilean citizen and was appointed Vice Admiral and commander-in-chief, while Commodore Blanco Encalada was promoted to the rank of Rear Admiral.9 Both officers were happy with these appointments, which reflected exactly their respective ages and experience. There was never any chance of their positions being reversed (as was suggested later by Cochrane in his tendentious Narrative of Services)10 nor is it true - as suggested by later biographers - that Blanco Encalada 'stepped down' in Cochrane's favour. Indeed, Cochrane's appointment as commander-in-chief of the Chilean Navy was known in Valparaiso before Blanco Encalada had even been appointed Commandant-General, and he expected nothing more. Cochrane also learnt for the first time that his pay and allowances in the Chilean service were to be $6000 a year - that is, the equivalent of £1200.11 This was considerably less than the pay and allowances earned by a Vice Admiral in the Royal Navy, but at this stage Cochrane's preoccupation with money seems to have been overlaid by his pleasure in the appointment and his enthusiasm for the cause.

  Cochrane was anxious to familiarise himself with the ships and men he was to lead. But first he had to find a house and see his family comfortably settled. Then he had to appoint a staff. To discharge his enormous responsibilities as commander-in-chief, Cochrane needed a staff that was experienced, efficient and trusted. He needed them to write his correspondence, do his accounts, handle his prize business and provide him with dispassionate information. In London, Cochrane had been authorised to recruit suitable people to accompany him to Chile, and he had brought with him a former Royal Navy Purser called Henry Dean who claimed to be an expert on naval administration and prize matters. William Jackson, who had served as his secretary for many years and was to work with him for the rest of his life, had remained behind, expecting to follow in the Rising Star whose departure was believed to be imminent. Once in Chile, Cochrane immediately appointed two more individuals. One was William Hoseason, a locally resident merchant who was to act as his prize agent and handle his finances. Unfortunately,

  Hoseason had arrived in Chile only recently and had little experience of the country. Neither did he have much capital or credit to back his business activities. His only qualification for the job was that he was the father of Dean's attractive and popular wife. The second appointee was William Bennet Stevenson, who joined Cochrane's team in March 1819 as his adviser on local affairs. Hailing originally from Lincolnshire, Stevenson had been resident in Chile and Peru for decades where he was known by his middle name in the Spanish fashion as 'Don Luis Bennet'. Stevenson had a fund of local knowledge and was later to publish an account of his adventures called A Historical and Descriptive Narrative of 20 years Residence in South America. He was also well known as a raconteur and gossip, but his inexperience of legal or finance matters was to prove a problem.

  The tone was set almost immediately when Cochrane was told by his entourage that two of his captains - John Tooker Spry and the American Charles Worster - had been criticising him for using his title when he was now in the service of a republic. It was later reported that they were 'caballing' against him under the slogan 'two commodores and no Cochrane.' In other words, that the Chilean Navy should have no single commander-in-chief but should be led by two equally ranking commodores. According to Stevenson, the idea was that Spry and Worster would then be able to 'control' Rear Admiral Blanco who was inexperienced and spoke no English.12 There was clearly not the slightest chance that a 'two commodores' arrangement could ever come to pass, and it is fanciful to see these comments - if they were true at all - as anything more that loose, tap room talk. Certainly, the republican atmosphere of Chile seems to have encouraged some officers to talk too much.

  Cochrane's staff nevertheless had a cuckoo in the nest.

  To solve the language problems inevitable in the command of the squadron and to provide advice on judicial and financial matters, the government appointed Antonio Alvarez Jonte to double as Cochrane's Secretary and Auditor of Marine. In view of the fact that Jonte was fluent in English and had got to know Cochrane both in London and on the voyage out in the Rose, it seemed a sensible decision. But the Vice Admiral was hostile from the beginning. Suspicious by nature, he saw it as an attempt by the authorities to control his activities and to deny him the freedom to pick his own immediate entourage. For six months he looked for an excuse to get rid of him. It finally came in July when Jonte innocently opened a box containing delayed dispatches from Cochrane and removed those addressed to O'Higgins and San Martin. Cochrane objected violently, accused him of being a spy,13 and forced his resignation on health grounds. His place as Secretary was taken by the already available William Stevenson.

  Before the organisation of the squadron was complete in January 1819, there was, however, another appointment to be made - that of Captain of the Fleet and therefore, technically, it's third in command. This caused a problem. Before Cochrane's arrival, the obvious candidate was Captain Martin Guise. Guise had arrived in Valparaiso too late to take part in the capture of the Maria Isabel, but the fact that he was the only senior officer with regular naval experience gave him an undisputed claim. Neither Wilkinson nor Worster, who ranked equally with Guise as captains-of-frigate, had this. Born in 1779 to a Gloucestershire family, Martin Guise had joined the Royal Navy on Marlborough at the age of 15. He had then spent three exciting and profitable years in Captain Charles Stirling's frigate Jason when it formed part of the commerce raiding squadron commanded by Sir John Borlase Warren in the Channel and off the east coats of France. He had then moved to the line-of-battleships London, Ville de Paris and Foudroyant where he had been promoted to lieutenant in 1801. Guise's career during the next eight years is unknown, but he reappears in 1809
as flag-lieutenant to Vice Admiral George Cransfield Berkeley when the latter was appointed to the Lisbon station to support the recently landed British expeditionary force under the future Duke of Wellington. Berkeley was a member of an influential West Country family and had political clout as Member of Parliament for Gloucestershire, so that Guise's links in the county may have had something to do with the appointment. However, it only lasted three months before he was replaced by the Vice Admiral's nephew, Maurice Frederick Fitzhardinge Berkeley. Guise then left on Conqueror for two years of duty on the Mediterranean coast of Spain and in the blockade of Toulon under the command of Sir Charles Cotton. Between 1811 and 1813, Guise was employed in the West Indies, where he commanded the cutter Liberty and the brig Swaggerer before returning to England. He was promoted commander on 29 March 1815 and spent the post-Waterloo period commanding the bomb vessel Devastation.14

  Unfortunately for Martin Guise, Cochrane wanted one of his 'followers', Robert Forster, to fill the job of senior captain in the Chilean Navy. Forster too was a veteran with vast experience of both frigates and 74-gun ships. Born in Bamborough in Northumberland, one of ten brothers who all followed army or naval careers, Forster had entered as a First Class Volunteer in Camelion in 1795 and then served in Home waters and the Mediterranean on the frigates Garland, Alceme and Leda, the line-of-battle ship Majestic, and on Kent and Ville de Paris when they were flying the flags of Admirals Duncan and St Vincent. Following promotion to lieutenant in 1802, he had spent the next four years on Nemesis, Charwell and Gibraltar. Transferred to Mars, he had been present when the squadron of which she formed part had captured four heavy French frigates leaving Rochfort for a commerce raiding trip to the West Indies; and, in 1807, had participated in Lord Gambier's attack on Copenhagen. Serving then in the Baltic as First Lieutenant of the frigate Owen Glendower, he had played a leading part in the capture of Anholt in 1809. In 1814, Forster had been appointed First Lieutenant of HMS Tonnant, the ship which - but for the Stock Exchange scandal - would have taken Lord Cochrane to North America, and had subsequently joined Asia commanded by the latter's uncle, Sir Alexander, where he had distinguished himself in land operations in the war against the United States. Forster had been recruited for the Chilean service in London, and had been promised the post of second-in-command by Cochrane himself, who at that time had no knowledge of what was going on in Chile. Unfortunately, Forster's seniority as a Royal Navy commander dated from only 13 June 1815,15 making him junior to Guise by three months - a small but important difference since Chile had decided to use British rules to regulate its naval service. Nevertheless, Cochrane felt that his promise had put him under an obligation to Forster, and insisted that he got the job. As a result, Forster was made flag-captain of O'Higgins and Guise, the more senior man, was left without an appointment though, as compensation, he was promised command of one of the American built corvettes when they arrived from the United States.