Thomas Cochrane, 10th Earl of Dundonald

Who was Thomas Cochrane, 10th Earl of Dundonald?

Admiral Thomas Cochrane, 10th Earl of Dundonald, 1st Marquess of Maranhão, GCB, ODM, styled Lord Cochrane between 1778 and 1831, was a Scottish naval flag officer of the Royal Navy and radical politician.

He was a daring and successful captain of the Napoleonic Wars, leading the French to nickname him Le Loup des Mers.

He was dismissed from the Royal Navy in 1814, following a conviction for fraud on the Stock Exchange. He helped organize and lead the rebel navies of Chile, Brazil and Greece during their respective wars of independence through the 1820s. While in charge of the Chilean Navy, Cochrane also contributed to Peruvian Independence through the Freedom Expedition of Perú.

In 1832, he was pardoned by the Crown and reinstated in the Royal Navy with the rank of Rear Admiral of the Blue. After several more promotions, he died in 1860 with the rank of Admiral of the Red, and the honorary title of Rear-Admiral of the United Kingdom.

His life and exploits inspired the naval fiction of 19th- and 20th-century novelists, particularly the figures of C. S. Forester's Horatio Hornblower and Patrick O'Brian's protagonist Jack Aubrey.