LORD ADMIRAL THOMAS ALEXANDER COCHRANE
PENINSULAR WAR AUTOGRAPH LETTER SIGNED
Rear-Admiral of the United Kingdom

"Le Loup de Mer" seeks aid and comfort for Portuguese Soldiers after stealing and decoding French Telegraphic signals for Wellington

THE INIMITABLE MODEL FOR JACK AUBREY IN PATRICK O'BRIAN'S FICTIONALIZED NAVAL SERIES AND C.S. FORRESTER'S HORNBLOWER AND ARBUABLY BRITAIN'S MOST NOTORIOUS ADMIRAL AFTER NELSON.

 A WONDERFUL, INSIGHTFUL LETTER INTO THE CHARACTER AND CONCERNS OF ONE OF ENGLAND'S GREAT ADMIRALS, AS HE PLEADS WITH SIR CHARLES STUART FOR AID AND "TO DO SOMETHING IN THIS FOR THE SAKE OF HUMANITY".

This is indeed a rare offering. If you do not think so - let us know if you find another. This letter shows Cochrane's compassion and concern for the everyday warrior, be it navy or army, British or Portuguese. What is particularly nice about this set is that it includes the cover letter signed by his nefarious uncle Andrew Cochrane Johnstone, who in a few short years would lead him down the path of ignominy and disgrace in the famous Stock Market Scandal of 1814. Also included is General Blunt's reply to the efforts to send aid. As Cochrane was out of favor with the Admiralty due to his unmitigated success and unabashed forthrightness about corruption and inequality, he spent this interlude in the Peninsula - at one point intercepting and decoding semaphore telegraphic signals for Wellington during the defense of The Lines at Torres Vedras. A truly unique piece tying together the Army and Navy, Hero and Scoundrel - never before offered.

Transcription:

Peniche 27 October [1810]

My dear uncle,

     I wrote to you by a dragoon to say that we were thus far and no farther. The weather has been extremely bad and wind contrary. We are now however getting under sail as it is pretty moderate at least enough so to enable us to proceed.
     I wish Mr. Stuart saw the poor Portuguese recruits here who are actually destitute of covering of any kind & are dropping off by hundreds - upwards of 2000 out of four thousand are in the hospitals and deaths amount to six or seven hundred in the last two months. I declare before God I never saw such misery - men standing as Sentinels without almost a rag upon them. Nothing except thin ragged trousers of linen and a tattered shirt! In the Hospitals, if such they can be called, their bed is the floor not even straw & they have no other covering but such as their rags afford. General Blunt has made representations till he is tired so pray enstruct Mr. Stuart to do something in this for the sake of humanity - I suspect there is some Portuguese necessary? in the matter - perhaps to disgust? the recruits who certainly are in a deplorable condition.
     A German officer goes from this with us - I think he will from his knowledge of the country and acquaintance with the Guerillas of Galicia be of use to us.

                              Ever affectionately yours,
                                                   Cochrane

[To] A Cochrane Johnstone [c/o]
Honorable Admiral Berkeley
Buenos Ayres near Lisbon

Notes

Sir Charles Stuart was His Britannic Majesty's Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary for the British Government in Lisbon, Portugal during the Peninsular War. The British General Blunt referred to was the Military Governor of the District of Leiria with his Headquarters at the Peniche Fortress situated on a peninsula. There is an anchorage there which provides shelter from contrary winds. This fortified outpost was supposed to anchor the left flank of Wellington but was really outside of the Lines of Torres Vedras, where the Duke of Wellington took his brilliant defensive stand and which where at that time invested by French General Massena. Other letters of General Blunt talk of the pillaging and sacking by French dragoons, themselves foraging for much needed supplies. Being cut off from Lisbon the Peniche troops suffered dreadfully from want of supplies, clothing and disease, hence Lord Cochrane's plea for aid "for the sake of humanity". From other letters from his uncle, Andrew Cochrane Johnstone, we know that Cochrane had recently recovered from illness himself and had visited the Lines of Torres Vedras where he intercepted the telegraph codes and signals of the French and passed them on to the Duke of Wellington.

Peniche is north along the coast from Lisbon (Lisboa) at Cape (Cabo) Carvoeiro

BIOGRAPHICAL NOTE

VICE-ADMIRAL OF THE FLEET LORD THOMAS ALEXANDER COCHRANE, GCB, RN
(1775-1860)

Admiral Thomas Cochrane, 10th Earl of Dundonald, Marquês do Maranhão GCB RN (14 December 1775 – 31 October 1860), styled Lord Cochrane between 1778 and 1831.

Thomas Cochrane was born at Annsfield, near Hamilton, South Lanarkshire, Scotland, the son of Archibald Cochrane, 9th Earl of Dundonald and Anna Gilchrist. One of his better uncles included Alexander Cochrane, later Admiral Sir Alexander Cochrane, a son of the 8th Earl of Dundonald. Cochrane spent his early years on the family estate at Culross in Fife. His father, the 9th earl of Dundonald, lost most of the family fortune in a scheme to protect the hulls of ships with pitch, and, in 1793, the family estate was sold to cover debts. However, through the influence of his uncle Alexander, Cochrane was listed as a member of the crew on the books of four Royal Navy ships starting when he was age five. This common though unlawful practice (called false muster) was a tactic to have “on paper” a record of some length of service, necessary before he could be made an officer, if and when he joined the navy. His father secured a commission in the British army at an early age but Lord Cochrane preferred the Royal Navy which he joined in 1793 upon the outbreak of the French Revolutionary Wars.

He first served in the Baltic aboard HMS Hind, commanded by his uncle, and in 1795, was appointed acting lieutenant on HMS Thetis. The following year he was confirmed in the rank after passing the lieutenant's exam. After several transfers in America and a return home, he found himself as 8th Lieutenant on Lord Keith's flagship HMS Barfleur in the Mediterranean in 1798. During his service on this ship, he began what was a running series of altercations with superior naval officers who he felt were either incompetent, cruel, corrupt, lazy or unintelligent. Among other enemies earned, this led to a long enmity with John Jervis, 1st Earl of St Vincent, who as a result, often stood in his way of advancement.

In 1799 Cochrane briefly commanded the prize crew taking the captured French battleship Genereux to the British base at Mahon. The ship was almost lost in a storm, with Cochrane and his brother personally going aloft in place of a crew that were mostly ill. But it opened the way to a command position and he was named Lieutenant in Command of his first ship, the sloop Speedy. Cochrane soon established a reputation as one of the navy's most audacious and feared Commanders. The most famous engagement, illustrating the brilliance and daring that typified his career, was the capture of the Spanish frigate El Gamo on 6 May 1801. El Gamo carried 32 guns and 319 men, compared with the 14 guns and 54 men on Speedy. Cochrane flew an American flag to approach so closely to Gamo that its guns could not depress to fire on the Speedy's hull. This left only the option of boarding, but whenever the Spanish were about to board, Cochrane would pull away briefly, and fire on the concentrated boarding parties with his ship's guns. Cochrane then ordered the boarding of the Gamo, despite still being outnumbered, and captured her. Cochrane stormed the Spanish ship with a boarding party who included the entire crew, except Speedy's surgeon. He ordered one man to climb the mast and haul down the colours, whereupon the Spanish crew of 319 surrendered.

In another notorious adventure, Cochrane and the Speedy were almost captured by a Spanish warship concealed as a merchant ship. He escaped by flying a Danish flag and dissuading an attempt to investigate by claiming his ship was plague-ridden. Chased by an enemy frigate, and knowing it would follow him in the night by the glimmer of light from the Speedy, he placed a candle on a barrel and let it float away. The enemy frigate followed the candle and Speedy escaped. In the 15 month cruise of the Speedy, Cochrane captured, burned, or drove ashore fifty ships, 122 guns and 534 prisoners before being captured on 3 July 1801 by three French ships of the line under Admiral Linois. Despite his rough relations with some of the Admiralty hierarchy, on 8 August 1801 he was promoted to the rank of post-captain.

During the Peace of Amiens, Cochrane attended the University of Edinburgh. In 1804, the new government of William Pitt the Younger removed St Vincent and Cochrane was appointed to command of the 32-gun frigate HMS Pallas. In 1807, he was given command of the 38-gun frigate Imperieuse. One of his midshipmen was Frederick Marryat who later wrote fictionalized accounts of his adventures with Cochrane, paving the way for Forrester and O'Brian.

Cochrane used this ship to raid the Mediterranean coast of France. In 1808, Cochrane and a Spanish guerrilla force captured the fortress of Mongat, which sat astride the road between Gerona and Barcelona. As a result, a French army under General Duhesme was delayed for a month. Another raid copied code books from a signal station, leaving behind the originals so the French would believe them uncompromised. When Imperieuse ran short of water, she sailed up the estuary of the Rhone to replenish. When a French army marched into Catalonia and besieged Rosas, Cochrane took part in the defense of the town by occupying and defending Fort Trinidad (Castell de la Trinitat) for a number of weeks.

At the legendary Battle of Basque Roads in 1809 Cochrane used fireships and explosion vessels to cause terror among the French squadron, many of which were run aground. Unfortunately the Commander-in-Chief, Admiral Lord Gambier, hesitated to deploy the main fleet and the opportunity to annihilate the French was lost. Infuriated, Cochrane, who had been elected as a radical MP in 1806, opposed a motion of thanks for Gambier in the House of Commons. This led to an official inquiry and the court-martial of Gambier, who was cleared of wrong-doing despite considerable countervailing evidence which the naval court refused to accept. This episode again alienated Cochrane from the established powers in the Admiralty and resulted in his inability to gain a command for some years, which no doubt was of some relief to Napoleon.

While captain of Speedy, Pallas, and Imperieuse, Cochrane had become arguably the most effective practitioner of coastal warfare during the period. Not only did he attack shore installations but captured enemy ships in harbor by leading his men in boats in "cutting out" operations. He was a meticulous planner of every operation, limiting casualties among his men and maximizing success. Cochrane terrorized shipping along the French and Spanish coasts to such an extent that Napoleon referred to him as “Le Loup de Mer” or “The Sea Wolf”.

Now comes the great hiatus in Cochrane’s career, brought about by the Great Stock Scandal. Cochrane was tried and convicted as a conspirator in the Great Stock Exchange Fraud of 1814, although he maintained his innocence throughout his life. The greater thrust of the case was directed at Cochrane’s less well thought of uncle, Alexander Cochrane Johnstone, who acted as Lord Cochrane's financial advisor (more about see below), and who was found to be a leading conspirator to defraud the public markets by having some men disguised as French officers land at Dover and announce that Napoleon had been killed by Cossacks and that the war was over, having bought stocks on the cheap in the days before and selling them into the short lived and fraudulent "post war" rally. In our review of our other Alexander Cochrane Johnstone letters, it is easy to see how this might have been the case, as Johnstone always seemed to be finagling for some sweetheart deal (see Wellington's Peninsular War dispatches). Lord Cochrane’s part seems to have been marginal and perhaps unintentional, but he had many enemies including Judge Ellenborough who presided at the impromptu trial and whose patent bias led to a family feud with the Cochrane's for three generations to follow. With Cochrane’s history as a radical reformer MP and thorn in the side of the Powers of the Admiralty, they lost no time in implicating him in the full scandal. Later historians seem to agree that the weight of circumstantial evidence against Cochrane indicated that at most, he had been the pawn of his uncle Andrew Cochrane-Johnstone, a conspirator. By Victorian times, however, he was widely believed to have been innocent.

He was sentenced to the pillory (a more severe form of the stocks), fined £1000 and given a year's imprisonment (from which he subsequently escaped!). He was excused from doing pillory for fear that his supporters might riot. He was also expelled from Parliament and the navy. As an additional humiliation he was stripped of his knighthood and a degradation ceremony performed. He was, however, immediately re-elected for Westminster. There was considerable public anger at his trial and sentence, especially the degrading pillory sentence. For the rest of his life, Cochrane would campaign to have his conviction reversed and his honours restored. It should be noted that his "loyal" uncle Cochrane Johnstone managed to slip away to the Continent to avoid the inconvenience of such verdicts.

Cochrane later went on to have a continued successful and an iconoclastic career as a naval officer. From 1817 to 1827 he went on to command the Chilean, Brazilian and Greek navies in their wars for independence, where he also achieved remarkable feats of daring and seamanship.

In 1831 his father died and Cochrane became the 10th Earl of Dundonald and was eligible to sit in the House of Lords. Cochrane completed his remarkable comeback when he received a royal pardon in 1832 from a new King, William IV, and a sympathetic Whig government. He was restored to the Navy List and gazetted Rear Admiral. Not until 1847, however, would his knighthood be restored, by the personal intervention of Queen Victoria. And only in 1860 would his banner return to Westminster Abbey, just in time for his funeral.

His final appointment 1847-1851 was to be Commander-in-Chief of the North American and West Indies Station. During the Crimean War the government publicized the possibility of Cochrane commanding a Baltic fleet. With Cochrane's unrivalled reputation for coastal warfare, the Russians correctly interpreted this as a threat to their capital St Petersburg. He was deeply disappointed not to have been given a command in the Crimean War, but there were concerns that he would be “too rash” – at 80!! In 1854 Cochrane was appointed to the honorary rank of Rear-Admiral of the United Kingdom.

During his career Cochrane always strived to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of the Navy. He invented improvements to gas lighting, convoy lanterns, tubular boilers, steam propulsion and proposed the use of smoke-screens and gas warfare as early as 1812. He was also well known for his concern for the lot of the common sailor - as demonstrated in this letter – albeit for the common soldier. Cochrane died in 1860 at the age of 85. He is one of Britain's most extraordinary naval heroes and his life is summarized in his own Autobiography of a Seaman, published in the year of his death. Admiral Lord Thomas Cochran is buried in Westminster Abbey.

Andrew Cochrane Johnstone - Peninsular War Autograph Letter Signed

Here is Lord Cochrane's Uncle, Andrew Cochrane Johnstone's transmittal letter to
Sir Charles Stuart, England's Envoy to Portugal at Lisbon

Transcription:

29 October 1810

Dear Sir,

     I have just received the enclosed from Lord Cochrane which I send you for your information, confident that you will examine into the statement he gives - pray return me the letter after perused

I am Dear Sir yours faithfully.

                          A Cochrane Johnstone

No 7 Rua de Sacramento

[To Sir Charles Stuart, Lisbon]

BIOGRAPHICAL NOTE

Colonel The Honourable Andrew James Cochrane-Johnstone
(24 May 1767-1833)

This is a much tougher nut to crack and we confess to the inadequacy of our research. Andrew Cochrane Johnstone was at best a "shady" opportunist and at worst a nefarious scoundrel whose "criminal acts included tyranny, extortion, slave trading, gun running and pimping whilst Governor of St. Dominica." He was variously styled the "Honorable" as he was for a time the MP for Stirling and later to one of the infamous "rotten boroughs" Grampound. He also managed a Colonelcy in the Army and did spend time as the Governor of St. Dominica.

Andrew James Cochrane was the son of Thomas Cochrane, 8th Earl of Dundonald and Jane Stuart. He married, firstly, Lady Georgiana Hope Johnstone, daughter of James Hope Johnstone, 3rd Earl of Hopetoun and Lady Elizabeth Carnegie, on 20 November 1793 and assumed the additional family surname of Johnstone. They had one daughter and his wife died four years later. He subsequently, on 21 March 1803, married, Amelia Constance Gertrude Etiennette de Clugny, widow of Reymond Godet of Martinique and the daughter of Baron de Clugny, the Governor of Guadeloupe. He certainly knew how to marry fortunes - and as quickly dissipate them. The remainder we know only from his other letters which are rife with schemes, plans, and speculations in currencies, army supplies and sheep! all the while using his famous nephew's name to open doors. While Sir Charles Stuart occasionally accommodated this fortune hunter out of his respect for Lord Cochrane, anything that was passed on to Wellington, under the aegis of Cochrane Johnstone, was immediately quashed, as can be seen in several of Wellington's dispatches politely telling Johnstone to bugger off.

Document Specifications:  A very fine handwritten ALS letter signed by Andrew Cochrane Johnstone and dated October 29th 1810, Buenos Ayres, near Lisbon. Single sheet letter measures 9" tall x 7¼" wide (230mm x 186mm). On one sheet of batonne laid paper, with partial watermark. Writing on one page as shown. This is a very fine handwritten letter by the nefarious uncle of Lord Cochrane, the 10th Earl of Dundonald. A scarce ALS Cochrane Johnstone letter from the man who would bring Lord Cochrane into disrepute and discharge from the Royal Navy less than four years later. Apparently Stuart never got around to returning the letter to Cochrane Johnstone.

Brigadier General Richard Blunt - Peninsular War Autograph Letter Signed

Here is the result of Lord Cochrane's efforts

Transcription:

Peniche 7th Nov^r 1810

Sir,

     I beg leave to Express to your Excellency my gratitude for your prompt consideration of the miseries of this Garrison, but I must candidly acknowledge I fear it is too late. Disease has put on too serious a form - & we are without even sufficient means to take care of within? 300 of our numbers - notwithstanding 200 setts of bedding that we procured from Caldas? - every possible measure of prevention is resorted to but hitherto ineffectually 50-60-70 men daily go into the hospital & few return - those that do are in the most emaciated form - The bad weather has prevented the cloathing yet reaching us - but some responsibility which I have rested? & the charitable feeling, of the officers, will lessen the evils - I have the honor to be with respect Your Excellency's most obed^t Humble Servant

                          R(ichar)d Blunt B^rGen^l

[To] His Ex^cy The Envoy Extraordinary of His Britannick Majesty Sir Charles Stuart, Lisbon]

GENERAL RICHARD BLUNT, KTS
GOVERNOR OF PENICHE
(1770 - 1859)

Richard Blunt was the son of Robert Blunt and christened at St Martin-in-the-Fields on 6th September 1770. He joined the army on 31st January 1787 as an Ensign in the Buffs (3rd Regiment of Foot). He was promoted to Lieutenant (1791), Captain (1793), Major (1796) and commanded the Regiment as Lt. Colonel 1799, serving with the Buffs in the West Indies (1787-1790), Flanders (1793-1795), West Indies again (1797-1802), Hanover (1805), & Madeira (1807). He was seconded to the Portuguese Army in 1809 as a Brigadier-General under Marshal William Carr Beresford for the duration of the Peninsular War, serving as Governor of Peniche from 1st July 1810. He commanded a brigade of the Portuguese Army, "Blunt's Brigade", and was the Inspector of Recruiting, Portuguese Army 1810. He made Major General in 1812, Lt. General in 1814, serving in the Portuguese Service until 1817. He was Inspector General of the Infantry, Portuguese Army 1814-1817 and was made a Knight Commander of the Portuguese Order of the Tower and Sword (KTS). He was Colonel-in-Chief to the 66th Regiment from 1835 and attained the full rank of General in 1841. He died at Barnfield House, Millbrook, Southampton on 25th December 1859.

Document Specifications:  A very fine handwritten ALS letter signed by Richard Blunt as Commander in Peniche and dated November 7th 1810. Single sheet letter measures 9¼" tall x 7½" wide (236mm x 192mm). On one sheet of batonne laid paper, with partial watermark. Writing on one page as shown. This is a very fine handwritten letter by the Commander of the Portuguese Forces at the fortress of Peniche, Leiria District, which anchored the Atlantic end of the Lines at Torres Vedras, as they tried to starve Massena out of Portugal. A scarce ALS Blunt letter datelined Peniche and missing in most collections. A nice enhancement to a collection of Peninsular War Letters.

All letters are from the Sir Charles Stuart, Lord Rothesay, Correspondence. Stuart was His Britannic Majesty's Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary to Portugal during the greater part of the Peninsular War (10 January 1810 to 26 May 1814). He was a personal friend and confidante of the Duke of Wellington, Admiral Lord Cochrane and Admiral Lord Horatio Nelson, also a member of the Portuguese Regency (the only British Subject in the war ever permitted to hold an official position in a foreign government while also representing Britain), and later ambassador to Netherlands, France and Russia. The most important foreign diplomat of the Peninsular War, his archive of diplomatic, military and intelligence dispatches are second only to Wellington's Dispatches.