Cochrane The Dauntless : The Life and Adventures of Thomas Cochrane

[xxii] 420pp. Black cloth-covered boards with gilt titles to spine. Illustrated with full colour and black and white photographic pictures; includes maps. Very slightly bumped on upper leading corner. Previous owner's small and neat inscription on title page. In its original, illustrated dust jacket (very slightly bumped at edges in places). Patrick O'Brian, C S Forester and Captain Marryat all based their literary heroes on Thomas Cochrane but, as David Cordingly shows in this detailed biography, Cochrane's own exploits were far more daring and exciting than those of his fictional counterparts. The stereotype of a romantic hero, Cochrane was a man of action whose bold and impulsive nature meant that he was often his own worst enemy. His early successes upset admirals and politicians alike and he was blackballed by the Establishment. So he took himself off, with his very pretty wife, to South America where he helped to librerate Chile, Peru and Brazil from their colonial masters; then fighting for Greek independence before returning to the UK. 8vo.