New books on Cochrane

[PMarione]

Amazon quotes 2 different new titles on Cochrane by David Cordingly.
I suppose they are the UK and American editions (the first title being the American one).

"Cochrane: The Real Master and Commander" (ISBN 978-1582345345).

"Cochrane the Dauntless: The Life and Adventures of Thomas Cochrane" (ISBN 978-0747580881).

I hope that this new biography shows some original research and is not a rewritting of Cochrane's Autobiography like most of the previous biogs.

But I have little hope after having read some of Cordingly's previous (disappointing) books like "Seafaring Women", "Heroines and Harlots" or " The Billy Ruffian". For me he is an opportunistic popularizer, and these books give nothing original.
Strangely he didn't follow the Nelsonian frenzy of 2005.
I didn't read his numerous books on pirates (not interested).

I'll wait to have read his new book and other opinions here before saying more.

There is an article by Cordingly in the "Telegraph" of 2nd September:
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/arts/main.jhtml?xml=/arts/2007/09/02/sv_lordcochrane02.xml&page=1

Other biographies of Cochrane:

Lord Cochrane: Seaman, Radical Liberator by Christopher Lloyd, 1947
A Life of Admiral the Earl of Dundonald by Warren Tute Cochrane, 1965
Cochrane: Britannia's Sea Wolf by Donald Thomas, 1978
The Audacious Cochrane: The True Life of a Naval legend by Brian Vale, 2004 (Conway)
The Autobiography of a Seaman by Thomas tenth earl of Dundonald, 1861 2 vols (can be found in reprint)

@+P Marione

PS: A novel "With Cochrane the Dauntless" by G.A. Henty was published in 1897.

[alexlitandem]

Patrick,

My understanding, from talking with the current Earl, is that Cordingly has accessed previously `unused' corespondence that had passed to archives in Scotland, via Cochrane's a) legal team at the time and then b) by descendants - who `offloaded' a lot of unread materials to archives in Scotland.

It may therefore be the case that `new data' enters the arena - how well DC has used such new data, I guess only a read of his book will tell

[PMarione]

Alex,

I ordered the book (the one already published) and let you know more when I have read it and wait for your comment when you have read it.

His book Seafaring Women was also announced with new material but was nothing to compare with the She Captains of Joan Druett and I learned nothing new from the article in the Telegraph you quoted.

So we'll wait and read!
Meanwhile I recommend Napoleon is dead by Richard Dale (ISBN 0750943815) that I consider the definitive book on the Stock Exchange scam.

@+P

[alexlitandem]

Hi P,

Yes, I agree - I read `Napoleon is Dead' a few months back, under the advice of another member of the Dundonald family

I certainly found that very interesting, particularly in the sense of perhaps offering some insights into the pysche ( paranoid /delusional?) of that most remarkable man.

It mayl be most interesting to directly compare DC's new work with `NID'

[PMarione]

As promised, I have done my homework and read "Cochrane the Dauntless".

I have difficulties to give an opinion.

On one side, the book is interesting: Cordingly didn't follow the "Autobiography" as usual but checked the facts with other sources like the logs and muster books of the various ships, and used the Dundonald archives in Scotland. He also tried to give a "complete" life of Cochrane and not only some aspects like the previous bios which concentrated on his RN life or the Stock Exchange scam or his South-American adventures.

On the dark side, this is certainly not a "page-turner" book. I sometimes have difficulties to leave a biography till I have turned the last page. No worry here: after one hour you are so bored that you fall asleep!
I am not a good judge on "style" in English but I think the problem is mainly stylistic.
You have the impression that DC is paid by the line! With Alexander Dumas that gave masterworks, here that gives a bombastic and confused story.
The book starts with 2 pages of description of Culross Abbey House!
And then the life of TC is continually interrupted by useless disgressions or details that just show that DC has done some research: who cares that TC travelled with "23 sailors and soldiers and 2 naval captains, a gunner, a boatswain and an army major" as passengers on board the Spider whilst returning to England after the loss of the Speedy!
DC has tried to mix two incompatible things: give a detailed life of TC and at the same time give the international context of the period.
In the end, his TC is fleshless and more sadly soulless, humourless and glamourless!
If I was his editor I would have asked him to cut 150 pages and to add 100 pages on TC.

My conclusion is that it's a good book if you are a TC's fan: you'll learn some interesting details but otherwise wait for the paperback and don't take it on holidays except if you are an insomniac: better than pills.

@+ P Marione

[alexlitandem]

Well Patrick,

That's probably just saved me a few £££'s. I'll take your advice and wait for the soft cover.

[PMarione]

A review from The Sunday Times, September 23, 2007

http://entertainment.timesonline.co.uk/tol/arts_and_entertainment/books/biography/article2500224.ece

Reviewed by Andrew Holgate

[chasbaz]

Patrick,

I appreciate your posting, as this was a book I was also thinking of buying.
Interestingly the review you point to says almost nothing about the book (but a lot about Cochrane), except the comment that its coverage is 'calm, perhaps too calm'. If it is as turgid as you suggest, then the reviewer has done the reader a disservice.

However, there must be something new, after all that research, so I may buy it anyway.

Best wishes,
Charles

[PMarione]

Brian Vale who is a major biographer of Cochrane has just published Cochrane in the Pacific: Fortune and Freedom in Spanish America, I B Tauris & Co, 2007. ISBN 978-1845114466

His previous books: Independence or Death: British Sailors and Brazilian Independence, 1822-25 (1996), A Frigate of King George: Life and Duty on a British Man-of-war (2001), and The Audacious Admiral Cochrane: The True Life of a Naval Legend (2004) where very good.

[PMarione]

I just finished the new book of Brian Vale.

Not the book to start if you have not already read some biography of Cochrane: it only deals with the activities of TC in Chile and Peru.

Otherwise a must read: clarifies the context, well researched, original, well written.

Must be in the library of anybody interested in the life of the "enfant terrible" of the RN.

@+P