Cochrane (16 page)

The
Pallas
was riding at anchor with sails furled. Cochrane ordered all his men aloft with instructions to fasten the furled sails with rope yarn and undo the ropes by which they were normally reefed. The canvas thus remained furled by the extra ropes which had been used. At a given signal, the men were to cut through the rope so that the sails billowed out in a sudden cloud, a manoeuvre which would require the entire crew if it had been carried out in the orthodox manner. The captains of the French corvettes concluded that the sudden spread of canvas indicated "a numerous and highly disciplined crew" on board the frigate. "The manoeuvre," Cochrane recorded, "succeeded to a marvel." The three corvettes, believing that they were sailing into a trap, turned about and began to head along the shore. The
Pallas
set off in pursuit, her two chase-guns in the bows firing at the fleeing enemy. Had the French captains only known it, the two chase-guns were the only ones for which Cochrane had gun crews. The
Pallas
was otherwise defenceless.

The nearest of the corvettes, desperate to escape, ran ashore on the sandy coast, the captain and crew hastily abandoning their vessel. Cochrane allowed them to get clear and then crippled her with his chase-guns, ensuring that she would never float off with the tide. Running up the British ensign for the first time in the engagement, he then closed on the second corvette which also ran ashore, dismasting herself in the process, and was abandoned and destroyed. The third corvette sailed out of range while Cochrane was disposing of the second. Indeed, he had no more leisure to spend in the action, since he was shortly due to rendezvous with the
Tapageuse
and her prize crew off the Cordouan lighthouse. As he approached the lighthouse, he found himself quite by chance on a course to intercept the third corvette which had escaped out to sea and was now circling back in as she attempted to reach the Gironde. At the sight of the
Pallas,
the captain of the corvette ran his ship aground as well, allowing her to be destroyed as the others had been. Cochrane collected the
Tapageuse
and her captors, as well as an entire crew of French prisoners who were shortly transferred to Admiral Thornborough's ships. Before Cochrane's arrival off the mouth of the Gironde, the waterway to Bordeaux had been defended by six corvettes. But twelve hours later, three of these had been destroyed and one captured, while the defences of one of the great cities of France had been thrown into alarm and disarray.
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News of Cochrane's raids on the Biscay coast reached Napoleon, embroiled in his eastern campaign against Austria, Prussia, and the Czar. He recognised the man and the tactics, knowing of Cochrane from the
Gamo
incident and a number of other Mediterranean exploits. The great Consul listened to the catalogue of disasters, and then he bestowed that soubriquet which, like so many of its kind, was part insult and part grudging flattery. "Le loup des mers!"
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Sea wolf or not, Cochrane's reputation as a prize-taker reached new heights in Plymouth and Portsmouth. As he came ashore from the
Pallas
there was a new audacity and self-confidence in his dealings with friend and foe alike. He never needed a press gang again to fill the vacancies on his ship. It was enough to placard the dockyard walls with his simple message "WANTED. Stout, able-bodied men who can run a mile without stopping with a sackful of Spanish dollars on their backs."
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The Board of Admiralty and its civil servants were unimpressed by Cochrane's exploits in the Gironde. Alone among the prizes of the squadron, the
Tapageuse
was not bought for the navy and no prize money was allowed for her. There was, of course, the consolation of the captured merchantmen and their contents. Moreover, on the voyage home, the
Pallas
had attacked, grounded, rammed, and disabled a French frigate, with such vigour that Cochrane's ship itself had to be towed away by the
Kingfisher.
He
also led his marines on to the Ile de Ré
, drove off a hundred French militia, destroyed the signal station and blew up the artillery battery. Though Cochrane was no favourite of St Vincent's, the latter acknowledged Thornborough's despatches and added that the deeds of the
Pallas
"reflect very high honour on her captain, officers, and crew, and call for my warmest approbation". Apart from this, it was left to the press and the public, rather than to the Admiralty, to acknowledge the valour of Cochrane and his men.
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Reflecting the fame of the
Pallas,
matters seemed more promising in respect of Cochrane's political career. With the death of Pitt in January
1806,
the "All-the-Talents" coalition of the Whigs with some Tory support was formed by Grenville. Soon the shining talent of Charles James Fox, was also extinguished. In October, there was a further general election. Cochrane returned to the scene of his previous defeat at Honiton.

If he felt intimidated by his opponent's triumph in the Honiton election of the previous year, his entry into the town in October
1806
certainly showed no sign of it. He drove into the main street in a smart carriage, known as a vis-a-vis, drawn by six fine horses. Behind him came a procession of carriages-and-four filled with officers and seamen of the
Pallas
who were once again the eager volunteers in his election campaign. Those citizens who had supported him before were ready to do so again, but his victory would depend on some of Cavendish Bradshaw's paid voters changing sides. His appearance and demeanour were such, however, that even these political realists did not yet dare to raise the question of a bribe with him.

When the polls opened, no man could predict the outcome. Many of the voters who were up for hire seemed strongly tempted to settle for Bradshaw's five guineas and give him their vote. On the other hand, they were tormented by the knowledge that they had lost ten guineas in the last election by doing so. Some of these civic heroes succumbed to greed and some yielded to discretion, remaining with Bradshaw. But when the final day of polling arrived and the result was announced, more than enough of them had taken a chance on Cochrane's generosity to make him the winner of the contest and Member of Parliament for Honit
on. Among the jubilation of the
Pallas's
crew and the carnival of celebration in the streets of the little town, Cochrane was approached by the same smiling faces who had assured him in the last election that they always "votes for Mr Most". They had come for their ten guineas.

"Not one farthing!" said the tall uniformed post-captain disdainfully.

"But, my lord, you gave ten guineas a head to the minority at the last election, and the majority have been calculating on something handsome on the present occasion."

"No doubt," said Cochrane coolly. "The former gift was for their disinterested conduct in not taking the bribe of five pounds from the agents of my opponent. For me now to pay them would be a violation of my own previously expressed principles."

The smiling, hopeful faces assumed an air of affronted dignity. For a man who had just been elected to parliament to start talking about "principles" was sickening enough. But Cochrane had done the almost unheard of thing of getting himself elected without either bribery or an influential patron. The cost of rewarding his supporters on the first occasion was less than it would have cost him in bribes so that, financially and morally, he had outmanoeuvred his opponents. But, worst of all, he had triumphed at the expense of the voters in one of the most corrup
t boroughs of England. The Honi
tonians already felt an uneasy suspicion that when the story spread, they would be a political laughing-stock. It might be many years before they could command the fat prices for their votes which they had enjoyed before the advent of Cochrane.
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The men of the borough took such small revenge as lay in their power. Of course Cochrane would never be returned for Honiton again but, for the time being, they were content to persuade him that the least he could do would be to give a dinner for those who had elected him. To this he agreed. When the dinner took place, the electors brought their wives, relations, and friends, who included those who had voted for Cavendish Bradshaw. The dinner was "converted into a public treat", the entire borough eating and drinking itself into a stupor at the victor's expense. When the evening was over, Cochrane was presented with a bill for
£1200.
He refused to pay it and the money was eventually extracted from him, some years later, after a good deal of unpleasant litigation. For the time being, he was content to shake the dust of Honiton off his feet and prepare for battle in the House of Commons.
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The Board of Admiralty and its civil servants learnt with dismay that Cochrane had succeeded in defeating the ministerial candidate at Honiton. Before they could recover themselves, he had set himself up in lodgings at Old Palace Yard, Westminster, and had opened the attack. A letter arrived for the attention of the Commissioners of the Admiralty on the subject of their refusal to promote the gallant Lieutenant Parker of the
Speedy
and Lieutenant Haswell, who had captured the
Tapageuse
in the Gironde. In Haswell’
s case, the Admiralty had denied him a right to prize money as well as promotion. The Secretary to the Admiralty board replied evasively, whereupon Cochrane delivered a sharp reminder. He informed the Secretary that if there were any more prevarication over the promotion of the two lieutenants, "it would be my duty to bring before the House of Commons a partiality so detrimental to the interests of the navy".
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Much as they might detest Cochrane, the men of the Admiralty were obliged to consider that he now entered the Commons as the hero of the Mediterranean and Biscay. It would be necessary to fight him sooner or later, but perhaps not over so small a matter as this. After five years of repeated refusal, their Lordships promoted Parker to the rank of commander and bestowed the same seniority on Haswell.

Cochrane made no formal complaint about the injustice done to himself and his crew after the latest cruise of the
Pallas.
Most of the prize money due to the frigate depended on the Bordeaux wine seized from
chasse-marees
in the spring of
1806.
But before the wine could even be brought ashore at Plymouth, customs officers boarded the
Pallas
to assess the duty on the cargo. The price offered to Cochrane for the wine was actually less than the duty which the authorities proposed to charge on it. In vain, he offered the wine, which was finest claret, to the Victualling Board, in order that it might be served out to the men of the fleet in place of beer. The Admiralty declined his offer of the gift. Determined that he and his men would not surrender the value of the prize for which they had fought so hard, Cochrane ordered that the bungs should be knocked out of the casks and the wine emptied overboard into Plymouth harbour.

Seven pipes of the claret were spared, Cochrane arranging to pay duty on these and forward them to the cellars of his uncle, Basil Cochrane, late of the East India Company and now of Portman Square, in the fashionable residential area just north of Oxford Street. Following his election to Parliament, Cochrane drew on this supply for the dinners which he gave at his lodgings in Old Palace Yard.

One of his guests was a clean-shaven young man with dark, receding hair, full face, and cold appraising eyes. The deceptive softness of his gaze concealed the calculating and keen intelligence of John Wilson Croker. The election of
1806
had given the Whigs a majority in the House of Commons, and Croker, as a Tory, had little to hope for. His malice as a literary reviewer was such that he went down in the history of English poetry as the man who killed John Keats, while Macaulay vowed that he detested Croker more than "cold boiled mutton".

However, Croker showed an evident interest in naval affairs and Cochrane was only too glad to inform him of the abuses which bedevilled the efficient conduct of the war against France. Croker listened, sipped his wine, and remarked softly, "Superb claret." Cochrane continued to expound the problems of the war against France. Croker listened and then asked him if he would be so good as to let him have some of the excellent Bordeaux. Cochrane promised that he should have as much as he liked for no more than the cost of duty and bottling. Then the host returned eagerly to the discussion of naval affairs.

In the spring of
1807,
George III demanded an assurance from the Whig leaders that they would not press the issue of Catholic emancipation. They refused to give the pledge and were duly dismissed. The Tories, under the Duke of Portland, came in and confirmed their position by winning yet another general election a few months later. Now that his party was in power, Croker kept clear of Cochrane's dinner table. Shortly afterwards, the two men met in Whitehall, Cochrane amiable and talkative, Croker smooth and reserved. Despite their party difference, Cochrane thought they had interests in common. Croker remained cool and evasive. Cochrane inquired when Croker proposed to collect the "superb claret" which awaited him. Croker turned his pale face and cold eyes on the young captain. "Why, really," he said, "I have no use for it, my friends having supplied me more liberally than I have occasion for!"
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