Full name: Cochrane: The Life and Exploits of a Fighting Captain

Author: Robert Harvey Rank: Rating: Original Rating: Pop Rating: Genres/categories: Purchase/reserch links: LibraryThing Amazon Goodreads ISBNs: 9780736660464 0736660461

You think that you don't know anything about Commander Thomas Cochrane (1775-1860), but you do. The seafaring 10th Earl of Dundonald was the real-life model for Patrick O'Brian's immortal "Lucky" Jack Aubrey. But don't suppose that Cochrane holds our attention for merely derivative reasons. In the words of the authoritative Times Literary Supplement, this hotheaded sea-warrior was "the great naval commander in the history of the British Navy -- probably in the history of naval warfare -- and certainly no one, not even Nelson, could claim his quicksilver genius in action, and his life was all action." Action, one might add, well captured in this rousing biography.