The crew of the cutter were soon on board and search made, when upwards of a hundred officers and men belonging to the 14th Regiment of the line, intended as a reinforcement. to the garrison of Corfu, with part of a surgeon's staff, were discovered to be the cargo. The prisoners, all sturdy young men, were soon removed to the Kingfisher, and after a fortnight's passage, during which the sloop's small crew of seventy-five officers and men were kept constantly under arms, they were landed safely at Malta. The most remarkable occurrence in this affair was that the lady on deck was the wife of the surgeon, and had accidentally met the middy some months before while he was at Prevesa in a prize, to which place she had accompanied her husband and some French officers from the garrison of St. Maura on a shooting expedition, when an acquaintance and exchange of civilities, not uncommon in those war days, had taken place, and she stated she knew him directly he came on board the boat.* The man of all other men who linked in himself the best characteristics of the old school of gallant sailors and the new was Thomas Cochrane, tenth Earl of Dundonald, Admiral of the Red and Rear-Admiral of the Fleet. He succeeded in his young days in escaping from taking a position in the army by his extreme dislike to the stiff martinet rules of military drill and the "degradation" of the uniform, and persuading his father to let him go to sea, and thus follow what he conceived to be the only profession he could really love, he entered on board H.M.S. Hind as midshipman when in his eighteenth year. Although beyond the usual age, and much beyond the usual size, seeing that he stood over six feet in his stockings, he passed through the necessary training to good seamanship. Although a "lord," he was poor, and all that his father could have given him would have been his own gold watch. Happily a relation, the Earl of Hopetoun, came to his aid, and made him a present of £100 to defray necessary preliminary expenses. The first lieutenant of the Hind, Jack Larmour, was a genuine sailor of the old school, rough, almost brutal, and he cared not that the new-comer was the captain's nephew and a lord; he made him do the commonest work and submit to orders as any one of inferior position would have to do, and as nothing came amiss to young Cochrane, who was determined to master every detail concerning a ship, he got on well with his rough-and-ready instructor. At nineteen he was promoted to the rank of junior lieutenant. Soon afterwards he became acting lieutenant of the Africa, and spent five dreary years near the North American coast. Meanwhile, brilliant achievements were marking the maritime wars of Europe, and he longed to be in a post where he might distinguish himself. The chance seemed at hand when he received the appointment of junior lieutenant of the Barfleur, the flag-ship of the fleet with which Lord Keith was blockading the Mediterranean ports of Spain. *Giffard's "Deeds of Naval Daring." When Cochrane was at Palermo with the fleet, he met Lord Nelson, the idol of the navy, and entered into conversation with him. The great sailor gave the young beginner some sage advice, and amongst other things this maxim with regard to naval warfare, which Cochrane acted up to all through his subsequent career, "Never mind manœuvres; always go at them!" Lord Keith having recommended Cochrane for promotion, he was placed in command of a little sloop of 158 tons, the Speedy. So small was she that there was no room for a chair in the cabin, and when the commander wanted to shave he had to remove the skylight, and putting his head through, make a toilet-table of the quarter-deck; so absurd was his armament that he could carry the shot of a whole broadside in his pocket as he walked the deck. But with this little craft he did wonders, and boarded and captured several vessels, among them French and Spanish merchant-ships, privateers, and regular vessels of war. One of these he attacked and captured right under a fort near Bastia, and although pursued by fiye gun-boats, carried her off successfully. Another was "cut out" when actually lying within range of the guns of Cape Sebastian. But one of his most daring adventures was with the large Spanish xebec frigate, the Gamo. No sooner did he see the big ship preparing to give him chase than he determined to attack her. The relative size, armament, and manning of the two ships were as follows: Gamo. Main-deck guns-22 long 12-pounders. Quarter-deck guns-8 long 8-pounders; 2 24-pounder carronades. Number of crew-319. Broadside of shot-190 pounds. Tonnage―600 and upwards. Speedy. Main-deck guns-14 4-pounders. Number of crew-51. Broadside of shot-28 pounds. The Speedy was run close up to the frigate without firing a shot, although her broadsides were received; then when right under the lee of the Spaniard and safe from her guns, as the whole of her shot must necessarily go over the heads of those on board the tiny brig, she elevated her guns and let fly. With the first volley the captain and boatswain of the Gamo were killed, and a hot action ensued, disastrous to the Spaniard but without effect on the Speedy. Seeing that her guns were useless, the Spaniards set about boarding the vexatious little brig; but in this they were circumvented, for Cochrane had determined to board the Spaniard. Dr. Guthrie, the surgeon, 'took the helm, and every man-Jack on board the Speedy clambered up into the big ship. Knowing the policy of diverting the attention of the enemy, and reckoning on the superstitious disposition of the Spaniards, Cochrane had ordered a portion of his crew to blacken their faces; and when they came swarming up the bows of the ship in the most hideous and diabolical guise, the enemy was staggered, gave way, fell into confusion, and after a desperate hand-to-hand fight was vanquished. The stratagems-of which Cochrane was most fruitful on this and other occasions-succeeded, and the killed and wounded in the Gamo actually exceeded in number the whole crew of the Speedy. There was something almost ludicrous in the fact of the tiny brig taking away as prize the huge Gamo, with still 263 unhurt Spanish prisoners on board, and bringing all in safety to Minorca. Cochrane was most fertile in inventing novel expedients and engaging in ventures which some considered reckless, but which he determined should be successful, and made them so. The Speedy had grown SO notorious that Cochrane found it necessary to disguise her, and therefore had her painted in imitation of a well-known Danish brig, and shipped on board a Danish quartermaster with the uniform of that nation complete. One day a large ship, apparently a well-laden merchantman, was seen inshore, and Cochrane resolved to give chase. But on nearing her she raised her ports, which had been closed in order to deceive, and it was found that she was a SAN SEBASTIAN. formidable Spanish frigate, crowded with men and with a heavy broadside. For the Speedy to attack would have been rash indeed. Plot must be met by counterplot, and a ruse had been prepared beforehand. The Speedy hoisted Danish colours; the Danish quartermaster in uniform was placed in a prominent position and carried on the conversation; and when a boat was sent to board the little vessel, immediately they ran up the yellow quarantine flag, knowing the Spanish horror of the plague then prevalent along the Barbary coast. The mock officer then informed the Spaniards that the Speedy was only two days from Algiers, where the plague was violently raging. This was enough. The boat returned to the frigate, which filled and made sail, and so relieved the Speedy from a critical position. Another successful trick was played only a short time afterwards. A large frigate was seen, and, as she did not answer to the private signal, was evidently an enemy. Cochrane used all efforts to escape, whereupon the frigate gave chase; but notwithstanding the fact that the Speedy sprung her maintop-gallant-yard, and had to tarry to repair it, by nightfall she was some distance ahead of her pursuer. The chase continued all next day, and still the little brig kept out of shot. But Cochrane had had enough of it, and at nightfall had recourse to a dodge. Lowering a tub with a light in it, to do duty for the little brig, he altered his course, and by daylight the frigate was out of sight. For thirteen months Cochrane performed some of the most remarkable exploits on record with his little craft. He had captured 50 vessels, 122 guns, and 534 prisoners. At last he came to grief. He fell in with three large men-of-war; resistance was useless, flight impossible, and he was obliged to surrender, and was made prisoner by the French. So terrible had this little vessel become that the French had sent out three line-of-battle ships to take her; and so gallant was the effort Cochrane made to escape them, that when at last he went on board the French ship to give up his sword, the captain, Christie Pallière, declined it, saying chivalrously, "he would not accept the sword of an officer who had for so many hours struggled against impossibility." Lord Cochrane's imprisonment was not of long duration, an exchange of prisoners having been effected, and upon his return he was promoted to the rank of captain. His merits were not rewarded as they should have been; the rewards were wrung out, not freely given, and it was evident to Lord Cochrane, as he had long suspected, that he was the victim of unfair, perhaps jealous, officials. He felt confident some sinister influence was at work, and in endeavouring to extricate himself from the invisible meshes which he nevertheless felt were enclosing him, he made, by his injudicious but outspoken truthfulness, a bitter and implacable foe of Earl St. Vincent, the First Lord of the Admiralty, the upshot of which was that Cochrane's application for another ship was refused, and he was cast upon his scanty resources. It was a cruel return for all the gallant work he had done. Nothing was open to him but a Parliamentary career; nothing in that career could be more suited to his then mood than to expose the Admiralty, and show up the monstrous corruptions which at that time pervaded all its departments. The true nobleness of the man's character, his marvellous energy and determination, his unconquerable will, are exemplified in the fact that, although a "post-captain, fresh from the quarter-deck," he went to Edinburgh, took cheap lodgings, studied those subjects which had been neglected in his education, and qualified himself for a place in Parliament, in case he could not get command of a ship. In course of time he applied again to the Admiralty, and was appointed to the command of the Arab, a miserable old collier brig, with which he was to blockade the port of Boulogne. She was utterly useless for that purpose, could not beat to windward, and "sailed like a haystack;" so Cochrane was obliged to report her useless, and the Admiralty officials ordered her to cruise off the Orkneys to protect the fisheries. The brave spirit of the gallant seaman chafed under this insult, and he wrote, "The Board has fairly caught me; but a more cruel order could not have been devised by official malevolence. It is literally naval exile in a tub, regardless of expense to the nation." But "all things come round to him who will but wait." For fourteen months Lord Cochrane bore his exile, and then, Lord Melville succeeding Earl St. Vincent in office, he was appointed to the command of the Pallas, a new frigate of thirty-two guns, and sent on a cruise to the Azores. As usual, he distinguished himself, and the proceeds of the cruise amounted to £300,000. On one of the vessels he captured was a large quantity of Church plate, and among it three large golden candlesticks. When Cochrane entered the harbour at Plymouth no little astonishment and amusement were caused by these having been placed each at the top of a mast! A general election was pending on the arrival of Cochrane, and obtaining leave of absence, he offered himself as a candidate for the borough of Honiton; but as he objected to "bribery and corruption," he lost the day. He could not let the event pass without doing something eccentric, however, and so sent a present of ten guineas to each elector who had voted for him. In 1806, again in command of the Pallas, he joined the squadron of Admiral Thornborough to cruise off the French and Spanish coasts. In the course of four days he captured four prizes; the enemy was terrified with the audacity of his movements, and ran their corvettes ashore to afford escape for their crews; everywhere success attended him, and, of course, "envy, hatred, malice, and all uncharitableness" likewise. However, Admiral Thornborough wrote in high praise of his achievements, and the wonderful tricks and pranks and whimsical devices he employed in his movements became the talk of the whole navy. While others planned and manoeuvred, Cochrane always stuck to the advice given by Nelson, to "Go at them!" and this was a part of the secret of his power. In a desperate engagement with a frigate and three brigs, Cochrane covered himself with glory, but the Pallas was knocked almost to pieces. While she was being repaired he made another attempt to enter Parliament, and the "free and independent" Honiton electors, remembering perchance the ten guineas a head for voters, returned him by a large majority. So in the interval of fighting the enemy at sea he fought the Admiralty at home, threatening, unless they did justice in certain cases in which he conceived they had shown neglect, he would bring the whole subject before the House of Commons. He was soon off to sea again, this time in the Impérieuse frigate, but with his old crew of the Pallas. His ship was hurried off in a crank condition, and altogether unfit for service. Cochrane hove to as soon as he was out of sight of land in order to put things to rights, but the frigate drifted, struck on a reef near Ushant, and nearly fell into the hands of the enemy. At the end of a few months he returned to Plymouth, and then began in earnest his new and not less heroic struggles-the reform of abuses in the navy. He was returned as member for Westminster, and his "trumpet gave no uncertain sound" in the House. He lashed out against the official iniquities which, it is matter of history, prevailed to an extent hardly credible to us; exposed criminal neglect in a manner as bold as Mr. Plimsoll adopted at a subsequent period; and moved the appointment of a committee to inquire "how far any members of Parliament, in themselves or |