July 26, 2025 • 11 mins
Immerse yourself in the thrilling tales of Lord Cochrane, a renowned sea captain from the Napoleonic era, whose life was rich with high-seas adventures that later inspired numerous naval fiction series. This second volume of his biography, penned by his secretary and son, completes the unfinished Autobiography of a Seaman. Discover how Cochrane valiantly assists the Greeks against the Ottoman Empire, marks his presence in the House of Lords, regains his knighthood, and makes a striking comeback to the Royal Navy.
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Chapter twenty nine of the Life of Thomas Lord Cochrane
by Richard fox Bourne. This LibriVox recording is in the
public domain recording by Timothy Ferguson eighteen fifty one to
eighteen fifty three. The Earl of dund Donald's time of
service as Admiral of the West Indiana North American Stations
expired in April eighteen fifty one. On the thirty first
of December eighteen fifty Sir Francis Bairing wrote to inform
(00:24):
him that Sir George Seymour had been appointed his successor.
It is with some regret, said Sir Francis, that I
have performed this duty, as it has been my pleasure
to have been in communication with you, and feel that
an important command has been placed in the hands of
an officer of your Lordship's high professional character and merits.
You must permit me in making this announcement to add
my sincere thanks for the manner in which you conducted
(00:46):
the duties of your position, and particularly for the valuable
information you have communicated to the board, and the attention
you have paid to the many points you have brought
before you letter hands. On the fourteenth the may Lord
dun Donald left Halifax and reached Portsmouth at the beginning
of June. During the next few years his mind was
much occupied with the further consideration of various topics suggested
(01:06):
by his observations and explorations on the other side of
the Atlantic. It will be enough to make brief allusion
to the most important of these subjects of hearty regret
to him repeatedly brought under his notice during the three
years stay in the North American and West Indian Waters,
where the great depression of the British fisheries in the
neighborhood of Newfoundland, and yet greater depression of trade consequent
(01:28):
on the remission of slavery in the more southern colonies,
for both he sought to provide a remedy. He urged,
as has already been shown in the extracts from his journal,
which was published and attracted much attention in the summer
of eighteen fifty two, that special help should be given
to these colonies, not only by the removal of all
restrictions upon their commerce and manufactures, but by protective enactments
(01:51):
in their favor. His reasons for this view as regards
the Newfoundland fisheries in which he thought not alone over
the interests of the colonists, were set forth by him
in a letter addressed to the Times in August eighteen
fifty two. When not the question of maintaining our nurses
for seamen, he said, more important than commercial considerations, I
should not venture, through your favoured to trespass on public
(02:12):
attention regarding the North American fisheries. But perceiving that impressions
are likely to be made by writers avoiding responsibility for
erroneous opinions by withholding their names, I have felt it
a duty explicitly to state that it is not the
amount of fish court and cured to the price at
which it can be sold at home or abroad, or
to the number of persons employed in the fishery, but
(02:34):
to their nationality and vocation to which I attach importance
in order that our fisheries shall form hardy British seamen
in Oceanic vessels, like those employed under the bounties paid
by North America and France. These being the considerations, the
question is not whether it is consistent with the enlightened
theory of free trade to pay a premium which shall
(02:55):
transfer capital from the pockets of one class to those
of another. But whether it is wiser and more economical
for the community at large to uphold such nursery, or
to maintain even a skeleton of warlike establishments, perhaps to build,
equip and employ additional ships of war, squadrons or fleets
to watch perchance contend with power thus cheaply developed by
(03:15):
rival nations. I ask whether the bounty given to enable
steam packets to cross the ocean is more consistent with
free trade principles than a bounty awarded to our fisheries
as a nursery for seamen. A colonial premium is indeed
talked of and by those unacquainted with facts who do
not foresee its operation. It may be deemed a substitute
for a bounty by the parent state. But I advisedly
(03:37):
assert that such colonial premium would not rear one disposable
seamen for our naval service, and that even the colonial
fishermen would derive no commensurate advantage, such as the impoverishing
effect of the inveterate system of truck dealing. That boat fishermen,
even from the harbour of the capital of Newfoundland, are
chiefly paid by daily wages the advantages derived from the
(03:58):
employment of two half idle fishermen being greater to the
truck master in the absence of an available market, than
the like amount of fish caught by one customer. It
is manifest by the true theory of free trade that
it is unimportant whether the French and Americans obtain their
bait and catch fish within our limits or not, or
even whether the world is supplied by them or by us.
(04:20):
But it is not so be foreign nations thereby rear
employ and maintain in time of peace fifty thousand seamen, who,
in the event of war are at the beck of
their respective governments, while Britain, the rightful owner, has not
one available seamen from the fisheries. On subjects of such
vital importance, it is essential to general theories. However, good
shall not be supported in detail by false reasoning or
(04:43):
by captivating appellations inconsistent with the truth. Nine tenths of
our western colonies are still taxed on every article of food,
and on all existing property, animate and inanimate, a state
of things alike adverse to production and trade. Is it
reasonable to imagine if the interests of colonists are not
considered jointly with those of the parent state, that they
(05:03):
can continue to administer to our wants, comforts and luxuries,
above all to our commercial nursery for seamen, the source
of a national great nurse. A parliamentary investigation is indispensable
to afford a chance of escape to these noble possessions
of the Crown from impending ruin letter ends for the
relief of the West Indian colonies. Lord dun Donald was
(05:24):
anxious to obtain the intervention of Parliament, but he believed
that he himself had discovered one source of possible advancement
for them. His remarks concerning the Pitch Lake of Trinidad
have already been partly quoted. Having first explored the lake
in the beginning of eighteen forty nine, he at once
recognized the importance of its stores of bitchmen, and much
of his leisure from official duties was employed in observations
(05:46):
and experiments with a view to its being utilized. He
was soon convinced as to its great and various importance.
The decomposed bitchmen that lay in vast beds around the
lake he found exceedingly valuable as a manure, and he
perceived that the liquid mass mass of which boundless supplies
might be obtained, could be put to many very valuable uses.
Here he discerned the presence of a new material of
(06:07):
commerce which might prove of incalculable benefit, not only to Trinidad,
but to all the other West India islands. Therefore he
urged its employment, and though but little heed was paid
to his advice, the successful results of the few cases
in which it was adopted fully justify his opinions. After
his return to England, he also sought zealously to make
(06:27):
his discovery beneficial to himself. He was to a great
extent baffled by the obstacle's common to new projects, But
his projects afford curious illustration of the activity of his
mind and the fertility of his inventive powers. Used as
a mastic he said, in a concise enumeration of the
uses to which he found that the bitumen might be put,
(06:48):
it is peculiarly suited to unite and ensure the durability
of hydraulic works. It renders the foundations and superstructure of
buildings impermeable to humidity. It is admirably adapted by its
resistance to decomposition by the most powerful solvents, to the
construction of sewers, and being tasteless, it is an excellent
coating to water pipes, aqueducts, and reservoirs. When masticated and prepared,
(07:12):
it is a substitute for costly gums as applied to
numerous purposes. Combined with a small portion of ligneous matter,
it constitutes a fuel of greater evaporating power than coal,
and when pulverized and scattered over growing potato plants or
other vegetables, it prevents their destruction by insects or blight,
and act as a fertilizer of the soil. Essential and
(07:32):
viscid oils are obtained by various well known processes from
bituminous substances, but none in such abundance and possessing such
valuable properties as the oils extracted from the bitchumen of
the Lake of Trinidad, as well as from the petroleum
of springs still in activity. Reader's note footnote. The following
patents for the use of the Trinidad bitchumen were taken
(07:53):
out by Lord dun Donald eighteen fifty one. Improvements in
the construction a manufacture of sewers, drains, water ways, pipes,
reservoirs and receptacles for liquids or solids, and the making
of columns, pillars, capitals, pedestals, bases, and other useful and
ornamental objects from a substance ever heretofore employed for such
manufacture eighteen fifty two. Improvements in coating and insulating wire
(08:17):
eighteen fifty two, improving bituminous substances, thereby rendering them available
for purposes to which they never heretofore have been successfully applied.
Eighteen fifty three. Improvements in producing compositions or combinations of bitumenous,
resinous and gummy matters, and thereby obtaining products useful in
the arts and manufactures. Eighteen fifty three. Improvements in apparatus
(08:41):
flying pipes in the earth, and in the juncture of
such pipes. The observations on the long desired, yet still
unaccomplished proceeding whereby to affect the embankment of the Thames
and free the river from pollution by the Earl of Dundonald,
are especially interesting at the present time. It will probably
be admitted that the Thames above bridge is unnecessarily broad
(09:06):
unless considered as a recipient for back water, and that
the long margin of shallow water between London Bridge and
that of Vauxall is of little importance even for that purpose,
as gravel, sand and other substances may advantageously be removed
from the central bed of the river fully to compensate
for the water that would be excluded by an embankment
(09:27):
of one sixth on both sides of the channel. An
easy method of accompanying this object would be to cut
a ditch on each shore equidistant from the center, and
fill it with bituminous concrete. Within this a main sewer
might be excavated and constructed in like manner of conglomerated
gravel and sand from the spot. It will, of course
occur that roads may be carried over the entrances of
(09:50):
the various docks by swing bridges. Yet these entrances present
obstacles to a direct line of sewers. To enable the
difficulty to be overc come very solid tunnels floored with
hard pavement stones set in bitchumen may be caused to
descend in subverted curves below the entrances of the docks,
(10:11):
where all matters deposited may occasionally be removed by sea
saw locomotive dredges on wheels, worked either by mechanical power
or by the current acting directly on the dredge. Ruder's
note footnote ends. While this urging of the importance of
bitchumen and initiating many mechanical operations which have quickly and
extensively been turned to the great advantage of society, Lord
(10:33):
Dundonnell was not unmindful of his older inventions and the
arguments by which he had long sought to promote the
naval strength of England. Of these inventions, one in particular,
that of his improved steam boilers, had been largely adopted
and found beneficial during his absence from England, and its
use continued after his return from them. He hoped, and
not in vain, that good would result to the general
(10:55):
extension of naval science. He was cheered during the last
years of his life by seeing the adoption many of
the views on these matters which he had advocated long before.
Others have yet to be enforced. End of chapter twenty nine.
Recording by Timothy ferguson Gold Coast, Australia,
Chapter twenty nine of the Life of Thomas Lord Cochrane
by Richard fox Bourne. This LibriVox recording is in the
public domain recording by Timothy Ferguson eighteen fifty one to
eighteen fifty three. The Earl of dund Donald's time of
service as Admiral of the West Indiana North American Stations
expired in April eighteen fifty one. On the thirty first
of December eighteen fifty Sir Francis Bairing wrote to inform
(00:24):
him that Sir George Seymour had been appointed his successor.
It is with some regret, said Sir Francis, that I
have performed this duty, as it has been my pleasure
to have been in communication with you, and feel that
an important command has been placed in the hands of
an officer of your Lordship's high professional character and merits.
You must permit me in making this announcement to add
my sincere thanks for the manner in which you conducted
(00:46):
the duties of your position, and particularly for the valuable
information you have communicated to the board, and the attention
you have paid to the many points you have brought
before you letter hands. On the fourteenth the may Lord
dun Donald left Halifax and reached Portsmouth at the beginning
of June. During the next few years his mind was
much occupied with the further consideration of various topics suggested
(01:06):
by his observations and explorations on the other side of
the Atlantic. It will be enough to make brief allusion
to the most important of these subjects of hearty regret
to him repeatedly brought under his notice during the three
years stay in the North American and West Indian Waters,
where the great depression of the British fisheries in the
neighborhood of Newfoundland, and yet greater depression of trade consequent
(01:28):
on the remission of slavery in the more southern colonies,
for both he sought to provide a remedy. He urged,
as has already been shown in the extracts from his journal,
which was published and attracted much attention in the summer
of eighteen fifty two, that special help should be given
to these colonies, not only by the removal of all
restrictions upon their commerce and manufactures, but by protective enactments
(01:51):
in their favor. His reasons for this view as regards
the Newfoundland fisheries in which he thought not alone over
the interests of the colonists, were set forth by him
in a letter addressed to the Times in August eighteen
fifty two. When not the question of maintaining our nurses
for seamen, he said, more important than commercial considerations, I
should not venture, through your favoured to trespass on public
(02:12):
attention regarding the North American fisheries. But perceiving that impressions
are likely to be made by writers avoiding responsibility for
erroneous opinions by withholding their names, I have felt it
a duty explicitly to state that it is not the
amount of fish court and cured to the price at
which it can be sold at home or abroad, or
to the number of persons employed in the fishery, but
(02:34):
to their nationality and vocation to which I attach importance
in order that our fisheries shall form hardy British seamen
in Oceanic vessels, like those employed under the bounties paid
by North America and France. These being the considerations, the
question is not whether it is consistent with the enlightened
theory of free trade to pay a premium which shall
(02:55):
transfer capital from the pockets of one class to those
of another. But whether it is wiser and more economical
for the community at large to uphold such nursery, or
to maintain even a skeleton of warlike establishments, perhaps to build,
equip and employ additional ships of war, squadrons or fleets
to watch perchance contend with power thus cheaply developed by
(03:15):
rival nations. I ask whether the bounty given to enable
steam packets to cross the ocean is more consistent with
free trade principles than a bounty awarded to our fisheries
as a nursery for seamen. A colonial premium is indeed
talked of and by those unacquainted with facts who do
not foresee its operation. It may be deemed a substitute
for a bounty by the parent state. But I advisedly
(03:37):
assert that such colonial premium would not rear one disposable
seamen for our naval service, and that even the colonial
fishermen would derive no commensurate advantage, such as the impoverishing
effect of the inveterate system of truck dealing. That boat fishermen,
even from the harbour of the capital of Newfoundland, are
chiefly paid by daily wages the advantages derived from the
(03:58):
employment of two half idle fishermen being greater to the
truck master in the absence of an available market, than
the like amount of fish caught by one customer. It
is manifest by the true theory of free trade that
it is unimportant whether the French and Americans obtain their
bait and catch fish within our limits or not, or
even whether the world is supplied by them or by us.
(04:20):
But it is not so be foreign nations thereby rear
employ and maintain in time of peace fifty thousand seamen, who,
in the event of war are at the beck of
their respective governments, while Britain, the rightful owner, has not
one available seamen from the fisheries. On subjects of such
vital importance, it is essential to general theories. However, good
shall not be supported in detail by false reasoning or
(04:43):
by captivating appellations inconsistent with the truth. Nine tenths of
our western colonies are still taxed on every article of food,
and on all existing property, animate and inanimate, a state
of things alike adverse to production and trade. Is it
reasonable to imagine if the interests of colonists are not
considered jointly with those of the parent state, that they
(05:03):
can continue to administer to our wants, comforts and luxuries,
above all to our commercial nursery for seamen, the source
of a national great nurse. A parliamentary investigation is indispensable
to afford a chance of escape to these noble possessions
of the Crown from impending ruin letter ends for the
relief of the West Indian colonies. Lord dun Donald was
(05:24):
anxious to obtain the intervention of Parliament, but he believed
that he himself had discovered one source of possible advancement
for them. His remarks concerning the Pitch Lake of Trinidad
have already been partly quoted. Having first explored the lake
in the beginning of eighteen forty nine, he at once
recognized the importance of its stores of bitchmen, and much
of his leisure from official duties was employed in observations
(05:46):
and experiments with a view to its being utilized. He
was soon convinced as to its great and various importance.
The decomposed bitchmen that lay in vast beds around the
lake he found exceedingly valuable as a manure, and he
perceived that the liquid mass mass of which boundless supplies
might be obtained, could be put to many very valuable uses.
Here he discerned the presence of a new material of
(06:07):
commerce which might prove of incalculable benefit, not only to Trinidad,
but to all the other West India islands. Therefore he
urged its employment, and though but little heed was paid
to his advice, the successful results of the few cases
in which it was adopted fully justify his opinions. After
his return to England, he also sought zealously to make
(06:27):
his discovery beneficial to himself. He was to a great
extent baffled by the obstacle's common to new projects, But
his projects afford curious illustration of the activity of his
mind and the fertility of his inventive powers. Used as
a mastic he said, in a concise enumeration of the
uses to which he found that the bitumen might be put,
(06:48):
it is peculiarly suited to unite and ensure the durability
of hydraulic works. It renders the foundations and superstructure of
buildings impermeable to humidity. It is admirably adapted by its
resistance to decomposition by the most powerful solvents, to the
construction of sewers, and being tasteless, it is an excellent
coating to water pipes, aqueducts, and reservoirs. When masticated and prepared,
(07:12):
it is a substitute for costly gums as applied to
numerous purposes. Combined with a small portion of ligneous matter,
it constitutes a fuel of greater evaporating power than coal,
and when pulverized and scattered over growing potato plants or
other vegetables, it prevents their destruction by insects or blight,
and act as a fertilizer of the soil. Essential and
(07:32):
viscid oils are obtained by various well known processes from
bituminous substances, but none in such abundance and possessing such
valuable properties as the oils extracted from the bitchumen of
the Lake of Trinidad, as well as from the petroleum
of springs still in activity. Reader's note footnote. The following
patents for the use of the Trinidad bitchumen were taken
(07:53):
out by Lord dun Donald eighteen fifty one. Improvements in
the construction a manufacture of sewers, drains, water ways, pipes,
reservoirs and receptacles for liquids or solids, and the making
of columns, pillars, capitals, pedestals, bases, and other useful and
ornamental objects from a substance ever heretofore employed for such
manufacture eighteen fifty two. Improvements in coating and insulating wire
(08:17):
eighteen fifty two, improving bituminous substances, thereby rendering them available
for purposes to which they never heretofore have been successfully applied.
Eighteen fifty three. Improvements in producing compositions or combinations of bitumenous,
resinous and gummy matters, and thereby obtaining products useful in
the arts and manufactures. Eighteen fifty three. Improvements in apparatus
(08:41):
flying pipes in the earth, and in the juncture of
such pipes. The observations on the long desired, yet still
unaccomplished proceeding whereby to affect the embankment of the Thames
and free the river from pollution by the Earl of Dundonald,
are especially interesting at the present time. It will probably
be admitted that the Thames above bridge is unnecessarily broad
(09:06):
unless considered as a recipient for back water, and that
the long margin of shallow water between London Bridge and
that of Vauxall is of little importance even for that purpose,
as gravel, sand and other substances may advantageously be removed
from the central bed of the river fully to compensate
for the water that would be excluded by an embankment
(09:27):
of one sixth on both sides of the channel. An
easy method of accompanying this object would be to cut
a ditch on each shore equidistant from the center, and
fill it with bituminous concrete. Within this a main sewer
might be excavated and constructed in like manner of conglomerated
gravel and sand from the spot. It will, of course
occur that roads may be carried over the entrances of
(09:50):
the various docks by swing bridges. Yet these entrances present
obstacles to a direct line of sewers. To enable the
difficulty to be overc come very solid tunnels floored with
hard pavement stones set in bitchumen may be caused to
descend in subverted curves below the entrances of the docks,
(10:11):
where all matters deposited may occasionally be removed by sea
saw locomotive dredges on wheels, worked either by mechanical power
or by the current acting directly on the dredge. Ruder's
note footnote ends. While this urging of the importance of
bitchumen and initiating many mechanical operations which have quickly and
extensively been turned to the great advantage of society, Lord
(10:33):
Dundonnell was not unmindful of his older inventions and the
arguments by which he had long sought to promote the
naval strength of England. Of these inventions, one in particular,
that of his improved steam boilers, had been largely adopted
and found beneficial during his absence from England, and its
use continued after his return from them. He hoped, and
not in vain, that good would result to the general
(10:55):
extension of naval science. He was cheered during the last
years of his life by seeing the adoption many of
the views on these matters which he had advocated long before.
Others have yet to be enforced. End of chapter twenty nine.
Recording by Timothy ferguson Gold Coast, Australia,
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