Cochrane in the Pacific: Fortune and Freedom in Spanish America

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In 1818, the revolutionary government of Chile was poised to attack Peru, the last bastion of Spanish power on the continent. The new ruler, the half-Irish Bernardo O'Higgins, threw his energies into creating a navy. Short of local naval manpower, the Chileans looked to Britain and the United States for the sailors needed to man and command their squadrons, many of them unemployed veterans of the Royal Navy. And, to be the new navy's commander-in-chief, they recruited one of the most fearless and controversial officers of the age: Thomas, Lord Cochrane. The story of the naval war in the Pacific is an exciting one. Under Cochrane's audacious leadership, coasts were blockaded, fortresses stormed and ships seized in bloody hand-to-hand fighting. The result was that Chile and Peru gained their freedom from Spain, while Cochrane enhanced his reputation and made a fortune in pay and prize money. For one hundred and fifty years, the accepted story of the war has been based on Cochrane's own version of events. But how accurate is Cochrane's account To find out, Brian Vale goes back to the original documents, despatches, diaries and newspapers. The result is a new and vivid account of the war in the Pacific and a reassessment of one of Britain's legendary naval heroes seen at the peak of his career.

Reviews

'The most spectacular and controversial of Nelson's contemporaries, Thomas Cochrane inspired the novels of C.S. Forester and Patrick O'Brian and readers of this fast-paced history will see why. Cocrane's astonishing exploits in the Pacific have never been fully recounted before. Now, with unprecedented authority, Brian Vale provides a rigorous, no-nonsense narrative that strips the legends from one of great naval campaigns of the nineteenth century. Unquestionably the standard work, and one to be enjoyed by aficionados of Nelson's navy and historians alike' - John Sugden, author of Nelson: A Dream of Glory 'This is another informative and well-written book by the acclaimed biographer of Cochrane and the acknowledged expert on the contribution of British subjects to South American independence. Brian Vale penetrates beyond the myths generated by Cochrane and his supporters to provide a comprehensive and judicious account of his contribution as Vice Admiral of the Chilean navy to the liberation of Chile and Peru from Spanish rule' Michael Duffy, Reader in History and Director of the Centre for Maritime Historical Studies, University of Exeter. Brian Vale...narrates the history of Cochranes years in the Pacific in clean, direct prose. The book is highly readable and thoroughly enjoyable. ..Vales assessment goes a long way to counteracting the defamations Cochrane and his supporters hurled against the leaders of the independence movements and early governments in Peru and Chile...This is high quality and well researched revision, and long overdue. - Timothy E. Anna, Journal of Latin American Studies.

Author Bio

Brian Vale is a naval historian. He was a British Council officer in Brazil, the Middle East and Spain and from 1987-1991 he served as Assistant Director General in London. He was a contributor to the official history of the Brazilian Navy and is the author of Independence or Death, A War Betwixt Englishmen, and A Frigate of King George (all I.B.Tauris).