The gunfire it turned out was the Superb attacking and this time capturing another allied ship. As dawn lit the eastern sky I woke up from a fretful doze and almost wept with relief to see the Superb and her prize sailing back towards me with boats already in the water to look for survivors. A cutter pulled towards me on my raft and a sailor in the bows seeing me waving called back “It’s all right Pedro we’ve seen you.”
“I’m British” I called back.
“Well what the bleedin ‘ell are you doin ‘ere then?”
“I was held as a prisoner on the Real Carlos.”
By now the cutter was just a few yards away and the sailor in the bows cutter surveyed the scene revealed by the dawn. Hundreds of corpses were floating in the water with bits of planking, cordage and other flotsam and just a handful of other survivors waving pitifully for rescue. “Well” said the sailor as he looked around, “you are one lucky bugger then aren’t you.”
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Chapter 22
Less that twenty people survived from the two ships to be rescued that morning. Most had died in the explosion or from wounds afterwards. I am very happy to report that Abrantes was not one of those pulled onto the boats. It had been an incredibly one sided battle, the allied French and Spanish fleet had lost three ships and over seventeen hundred men killed, the British dead numbered just seventeen. The battle is known to history as the battle of the Gut of Gibraltar, although to this day I am not sure what the ‘gut’ bit is all about, must be one of those naval terms. Cochrane was to benefit directly from the battle too as he was to be formally exchanged for the captain of the ship that the Superb had captured.
Captain Keats of the Superb welcomed me aboard and I offered him my heart felt thanks. He had been amazed that the Spanish had continued firing after his ship had sailed past and so I explained to him what I had seen from the deck of the Real Carlos and how the Spanish had thought his ship was still between them. The officers and crew were delighted that they had effectively destroyed two of the biggest warships afloat and captured a third ship with so few casualties. It was double rum rations all round and then once the boats had collected the last of the survivors we set course for Gibraltar which was still visible on the horizon.
Word of the victory had reached the port before us and as we docked bands were playing and crowds gathered and Captain Keats was rightly being hailed a hero. Admiral Saumarez was one of the first up the gangplank to congratulate him. For getting me out of Abrantes’ clutches and killing the bastard to boot, he should have got a knighthood at the very least in my book. Other naval officers from the fleet were flooding aboard to congratulate Keats while I was trying to get off the ship. I looked up and there was Cochrane, looking even more astonished at finding me.
“Flashman, what the devil are you doing here, I have been looking for you everywhere.”
“That bastard Abrantes got me in Algeciras and was going to have me tortured and hung. We were travelling back to Cadiz on the Real Carlos and I only just managed to jump off the thing before it blew up.”
“Good God” says Cochrane and then there was nothing for it but for me to tell him the detail of what had happened and then others wanted to hear the story and even Admiral Saumarez showed an interest especially when he heard that the Real Carlos had been planning to put in at Cadiz. He wondered if without their big ships, the Spanish may return their fleet to port.
I was exhausted when a hand clapped my shoulder and I looked up to see the twinkling eyes of Governor O’Hara. “Well young Flashman, I have been hearing lots about you and your adventures. When we last met you promised to come back and tell me all about them and I have a strong feeling that this will be a tale worth hearing.” He smiled genially and continued “I have already had a letter of thanks from a French diplomat that you and Cochrane apparently rescued from under the nose of the Dey of Algiers. Come and stay with me at Government House. The only rent I charge is your story over a good dinner that I will provide, we will invite Cochrane to that dinner too. But not tonight for I am arranging a celebration dinner for Keats and you are both invited.”
Despite the short notice the celebration dinner was a grand affair, organised in the society rooms of Mrs Harris. Every army and naval officer in Gibraltar seemed to be there with piles of food and limitless wine. There were loads of congratulatory speeches to Keats that night and virtually everyone proposed a toast to him and his crew, I got a toast from all present simply for surviving. Reunited with Cochrane, Archie and Guthrie, we drank every toast with enthusiasm and when eventually I collapsed exhausted they got me sent me back to my rooms at Government House where I slept until noon the next day.
The following evening Cochrane and I joined Governor O’Hara for dinner. It was a very relaxed affair but I quickly realised that O’Hara was a very shrewd gatherer of information and passed frequent despatches back to London, which explained why Wickham knew him so well. Together Cochrane and I told the story of the last eight months since I first arrived in Gibraltar. He had already heard of the defence of the tower at Estepona but was interested to learn of Abrantes and the fear he spread amongst local officials. O’Hara expressed amazement at the ingenuity shown in evading the two frigates. Cochrane and I had told the tale for our mutual credit and Cochrane had implied that ‘Flashman’s broadside’ was my idea. While he had read the official report O’Hara wanted to know about the capture of the Gamo and probed about the level of morale amongst the Spanish forces. He asked why Cochrane had not been promoted as a result of the action. When we explained the circumstances surrounding our trip to Algiers he was appalled. He told us that Auclair has sent messages through him for both the Admiralty and the Foreign Office expressing thanks for his rescue. While we were at war with France, rescuing a diplomat from a pirate kingdom that threatened all nations would be seen as a worthy humanitarian gesture.
At the end of the tale he turned to us both and said that we had earned considerable credit. Cochrane was facing an automatic court martial for the loss of the Speedy but O’Hara was sure he would be acquitted. I was not so certain. Cochrane had not told O’Hara of the letter he had sent to St Vincent effectively accusing him of cowardice. I had been mentioned in despatches to the Foreign Office with Wickham extolling my virtues as a resourceful and courageous agent. This was the start of a reputation that like a millstone would drag me into countless dangerous situations in the future. O’Hara also gave me some post that had been sent care of Gibraltar and this included a letter from my father. He evidently still did not trust me with money and as I was under 21 he had persuaded the bank to hand over to him all the prize money I had earned to date. I would have been furious but for the fact that he was using it to build a row of apartments on some land in London that he already owned. He wrote to say that he was transferring the land into my name and the apartments, known as Flashman’s Row would provide me with a rental income of 250 guineas per annum, which he hoped would give me financial security.
I was more than ready to go home now but I had one final duty to perform, as a witness for Cochrane at his court-martialled for the loss of the Speedy. Everyone said that as Cochrane had done all that could be expected from him when confronted by three battleships he was bound to be acquitted. But you could never take things like that for certain with the Navy, especially when they involved Cochrane. What made it interesting was that Manley Dixon and the merchant were very anxious that their use of Speedy to carry the mail did not come to light. Cochrane was offered fifty guineas to keep this fact to himself but insisted that prize money for all his crew was confirmed before he gave evidence. Whether O’Hara pulled any strings behind the scenes or not I don’t know but in addition to the prize money I had already received, I had an Admiralty bank draft for three hundred guineas in my pocket when I finally sailed for home.
The court martial took place on the ship Pompeii a few days later. We all went aboard and waited in an anteroom as Cochrane submitted his evidence to the panel of captains
that served as judges. They sat with Cochrane’s sword lying on the table in front of them and when they gave their verdict the sword would be pointed blade first at him if he was found guilty or hilt first if he was innocent. In the event our evidence was not required as Cochrane was immediately acquitted with full honour and his sword was returned.
The very next day Cochrane, Archie and I set sail for home on the brig Louisa. We sailed for protection with Saumarez’s fleet that was returning to blockade the Spanish fleet back in Cadiz. Once the Spanish were confirmed back in port the Louisa continued on home with news of the recent engagements.
As the Spanish coast fell away over the horizon Cochrane and I stood on the quarterdeck looking back over the stern rail. Cochrane said “you know we made a good team, we should sail again together some time.” We did too, nearly twenty years later on the other side of the world. We helped liberate a nation and we nearly liberated an emperor and changed a continent, but that is another story.
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Historical Note
For those interested in learning more about Cochrane then the excellent biography of Cochrane by Donald Thomas, called Britannia’s Sea Wolf is recommended. Cochrane’s own description of his life is now back in print and called The Autobiography of a Seaman. It is an illuminating read and is now available through at least one leading online book retailer. Both of these books have been invaluable in helping check the historical facts detailed in Flashman’s memoirs.
All of the events involving Cochrane are confirmed in the above mentioned reference books with the exception of the defence of the tower at Estepona, although this does bear a striking similarity, including the use of the bug trap pit, to his defence of a fort in the town of Rosas a few years later. The visit to the Dey of Algiers is not mentioned in Donald Thomas’ work but is mentioned in Cochrane’s own autobiography. In that work Cochrane does question why the Speedy, the smallest ship on the station and least likely to intimidate anyone, was sent to threaten the Dey. He also confirms that the Gamo was sold to the Dey for a pittance but he stops short of suggesting that these facts were linked to get rid of him. This is probably because by the time he wrote his memoirs he was back in the Navy as a senior Admiral and he would not have wanted to embarrass the service.
Incredible as it may seem, the loss of the Real Carlos and her sister ship also took place as described.
While Cochrane had made an extraordinary start to his naval career it was nothing to what was to come. From the point where this book ends he was finally promoted to post captain, but initially not given a command. After a prolonged campaign by his supporters he was finally given a ship, a near wrecked collier called the Arab, which was even less suited to warfare than the Speedy. He was then given a series of mundane naval tasks such as guarding a non existent fishing fleet in the Orkneys as Lord St Vincent took his revenge after Cochrane’s slur against his courage. But St Vincent had made too many enemies with his reforms and was replaced in 1805, which enabled Cochrane to get the command he had always dreamed of, a fast frigate.
In the Pallas on just his first cruise he captured numerous prizes and evaded three French battleships. When he returned to port he had captured so much treasure that he had five foot solid gold candlesticks tied to each mast head and his personal share of the prize money was £75,000.
He subsequently entered Parliament, winning the seat of Honiton as described in this book and combined the career of an MP with that of a naval captain. He took a radical stance in politics and made enemies in parliament but at sea in a new frigate called the Imperieuse he had more success, particularly raiding the French and Spanish coast. He was made a Knight of the Order of the Bath but in 1809 was involved in an attack on Rochfort in France, an engagement called the Battle of the Basque Roads. Cochrane had been instrumental in planning the attack which involved the use of fire ships. While everything did not go according to plan, some fire ships got through and as a result the French ships cut their cables and many were beached and defenceless at the next low tide. Cochrane wanted the fleet to go in and destroy them but the commanding officer, Admiral Gambier, declined to attack. Cochrane launched an attack alone in the Imperieuse and then sent a false distress signal to force the Admiral to send some ships in to support. Due to time wasted and the lack of a full attack the French were able to refloat unharmed many of their ships. Cochrane was furious and openly critical of his commanding officer. When a vote of thanks to Gambier was proposed in Parliament he declared he would not support it. As a result Admiral Gambier asked for a court martial to clear his name. After a heated hearing to a panel of Admirals, Gambier was cleared. But the reputations of both Gambier and Cochrane had been damaged by the affair and neither was to have a command for the remainder of the war.
Cochrane concentrated on his political career but his radical views just resulted in more enemies. In 1814 these opponents struck when Cochrane was implicated in a stock exchange fraud. Despite some dubious evidence Cochrane was found guilty, sentenced to 12 months in prison, and a £1,000 fine. However his disgrace also resulted in him being expelled from the Navy and Parliament and he had his knighthood revoked. A month later he was re-elected unopposed to his old parliamentary seat after an outcry over the court case but was not able to appear in Parliament until after he had finished his prison sentence. He remained an MP until 1818 when, still in disgrace, he was offered command of the Chilean Navy in its war of independence against Spain. He had a series of spectacular victories before he achieved the capture of Valdivia, the last significant port held by the Spanish in an audacious raid with just 300 men.
Following this success he was offered command of the Brazilian navy in 1823 and after another series of creative deceptions and victories he helped secure the independence of that nation from Portugal. This appointment was followed by one to command the Greek navy in their war against Turkey. There were few ships to command and Cochrane was often disgusted at the savagery shown by both sides. In the event a combined French and British fleet destroyed the Turkish fleet at Navarino.
In 1832 Cochrane was granted a pardon for the Stock Exchange conviction and restored to the Navy list. He was an early proponent of steam warships having had one built for the Chilean Navy which arrived too late to take part in the war. In 1847 after the personal intervention of Queen Victoria he was restored as a Knight of the Order of the Bath.
In 1854 when Cochrane was 79 years old he was considered by the cabinet for command of the Baltic fleet during the Crimean war with Russia. With most of the action taking place in the Black Sea the ministers were looking for an Admiral to fight a holding action in the Baltic. Despite his age they felt that this near octogenarian was too “adventurous” and so declined to offer him the command. Some months later with the British army suffering heavy casualties at the siege of Sebastopol in the Crimea, Cochrane approached the Admiralty again this time with a proposal for ‘stink vessels’. These were fire ships with a mixture of chemicals in their holds that would create great amounts of noxious fumes forcing a defending army downwind of their approach to abandon their position. An attacking army could then move quickly in when these vessels sank and the fumes then stopped. In the event the siege was over before a decision could be made on their use and the details were covered by the Official Secrets Act until poison gas was used in the First World War.
Cochrane died a few weeks before his eighty fifth birthday. His grave is in the central part of the knave of Westminster Abbey and even now on a day every May the Chilean navy hold a wreath laying ceremony at his gravestone.
Other Characters:
Pitt, Castlereagh, Canning and Wickham all existed as described in this book and details on their lives can be found in various books and online sources.
Charles Stewart was Castlereagh’s half brother and held various posts and positions, often supporting his brother. His character seems to have been accurately described by Flashman as the book "Rites of Peace: The Fall of Napoleon and the Congress o
f Vienna" by Adam Zamoyski describes how he made a spectacle of himself at the Congress of Vienna with his loutish behaviour, being apparently rather often inebriated, frequenting prostitutes quite openly, touching up young women in public, and once even starting a fist fight in the middle of the street with a Viennese coach driver.
O’Hara was the Governor of Gibraltar at the time and did have the singular distinction of having surrendered to both Washington and Bonaparte. He was a lively soul as described and built a look out post at the very top of the rock of Gibraltar in the hope that it would enable the British to see the port of Cadiz on a clear day. This was not possible but the gun battery subsequently sited on the spot is to this day known as O’Hara’s Battery.
James Leander Cathcart is another extraordinary character from history and his biography, written by his daughter from his recollections can be read for free on various websites. The details in this confirm the situation that Flashman and Cochrane found in Algiers when they visited including the description of the galley slave prison and its adjoining menagerie, the means of punishment for prisoners and the political intrigues at the time in Algiers.
Flashman and the Seawolf Page 24