Stranger than fiction...

Lord Cochrane, by Christopher Lloyd, is one of the best biographies I have ever read. Not so much because the writing is excellent, though it is certainly well written, but because the man whose life fills its pages lived a life that should never be forgotten.

This man, Thomas Lord Cochrane, was a man whom Napoleon feared as much as he did Nelson, but whose genius was not even recognized by his own countrymen. This Scottish sea captain and politician lived a life that was even more engrossing than the many captains of naval fiction who are based off of him.

This is the sort of man that, when he was only twenty-six, and captain of a ship that had only 14 cannons, took on and captured Spanish ship with twice his guns, and, with those same two ships, captured 120 Portuguese ships in one raid.

This is the sort of man that, because of his commanding presence, was able to convince the Portuguese in northern Brazil that they should all evacuate, even though, had they looked more carefully at his claims, they would have seen that it was pure bluff, and that he still only had two ships.

This is the sort of man that, when he was running for parliament, and found that his opponent bribed the electors with £5, offered nothing at all. When he lost the election, he gave all those who had voted for him £10. The next election, when he won, the electors went to him for their £10. He refused, saying that he did not offer bribes, but rewards to those who were disinterested enough to vote for him.

This is the sort of man who, when he protested the unfair decision of an Admiralty court in Jamaica and was arrested, declared that he would starve rather than pay for prison food. The worried jailer contacted the Admiralty, who said that they didn't want to make a fuss, so they granted Cochrane carte blanche of the food at the inn next door. Cochrane, when he realized the situation, took advantage of it by having large parties in prison, knowing that the Admiralty would pay the bill. Eventually, the Admiralty secretly gave him equipment to escape from prison, begging him to leave before he bankrupted them.

This is the sort of man that, when his friend blockaded himself into his home, refusing to pay his bills, Cochrane assisted him by planting mines around his house in case the police should try to break in.

Stubborn, rebellious, idealistic, radical, Thomas Lord Cochrane led a life that should never be forgotten. His biography is, from beginning to end, full of adventure and spirit, and is better summer reading than most fiction. For Anglophiles, for British Navy lovers, for anyone who has ever loved the story of an amazing man...this book is for you.