Book Recommendation! [Archive] - Caithness.Org Forums

Jeemag_USA

18-Jun-08, 01:27

I recently have been studying the history of seafaring and piracy for something I am working on and I came across an absolute belter of a book. I actually enjoyed it so much I emailed the author from the publishers site and low and behold he wrote back to me personally and gave me his own insight into the subject and tipped me off to an upcoming documentary on National Geographic that he is doing.

When we think of "Scottish Heroes and Villains" there are many names that spring to mind from William Wallace to Rob Roy and so on and so forth. But how many of you actually think of the name of Captain William Kidd??

If your information or knowledge of this Scot is sketchy, then you should really read this book, its a work of non fiction but reads like a novel, I could not put it down. Its brilliantly written and as well as full covering in detail the life of Captain Kidd, it gives remarkable insight to seafaring and sailing, piracy and privateering and navies of the time. The build up to his trial in London is fascinating.

The book is called "The Pirate Hunter: The True Story of Captain Kidd" and the author is Richard Zacks. If this is the kind of subject that would
interest you, I guarantee you will not be disappointed if you find a copy.

There is no doubt in my mind after reading this and researching other information on Kidd, he was definitely no pirate, he was however a quite brilliant seaman and Captain and was wrongly convicted and murdered by an English King and Parliament (sorry for giving away the ending :)) Most reference materials and books on him previously would have people believe he was the most unsuccessful of pirates, however it would be more accurate to say if at any time he had decided to be a pirate, he would have been the best one the world had ever seen!

Get it read it, its brilliant, William Kidd is a Scottish Hero!!!

For those interested Zacks has since written another book called The Pirate Coast which covers such diverse things as piracy, the first US Marines and Thomas Jefferson. Also the author told me himself he has just finished filming a documentary based on one of Kidd's ships that was captured on a privateering commission, the Quedagh Merchant, they do a dive on it and tell the history, it will be on the National Geographic channel soon.

http://a3.vox.com/6a00c225236ba0549d00e398c636430005-500pi

JamesMcVean

12-Jul-08, 17:09

Jeemag

If you like adventure heroes from scotland...look no further than this amazing book...

Cochrane - Britannia's Sea Wolf...Thomas Cochrane - the 10th Earl of Dundonald...
This little recognised historic figure led an amazing life during the napoleonic wars...They reckon that "Master Commander" Movie a few years back was based upon this chap...

Here is a wee bit about him from wikipedia

He first served in the Baltic aboard HMS Hind (http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=HMS_Hind&action=edit&redlink=1), commanded by his uncle, and in 1795, was appointed acting lieutenant (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lieutenant) on HMS Thetis (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HMS_Thetis_%281782%29). The following year he was confirmed in the rank after passing the lieutenant's exam (http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Lieutenant%27s_exam&action=edit&redlink=1). After several transfers in America and a return home, he found himself as 8th Lieutenant on Lord Keith's flagship HMS Barfleur (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HMS_Barfleur_%281768%29) in the Mediterranean in 1798.
During his service on this ship, he was tried by a court martial (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Court_martial) for apparently showing disrespect to Philip Beaver (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Philip_Beaver), the ship's first lieutenant. Though found innocent of the serious charge he was reprimanded for being flippant. This began a pattern of Cochrane being unable to get along with many of his superiors, subordinates, employers and colleagues in several navies and Parliament; even those with whom he had much in common, and who should have been natural allies. It led to a long enmity with John Jervis, 1st Earl of St Vincent (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Jervis%2C_1st_Earl_of_St_Vincent).
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/4/48/10th_Earl_of_Dundonald_Thomas_Cochrane.jpg/300px-10th_Earl_of_Dundonald_Thomas_Cochrane.jpg (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:10th_Earl_of_Dundonald_Thomas_Cochrane.jpg)
Thomas Cochrane

In 1799, Cochrane briefly commanded the prize crew taking the captured French battleship Genereux (http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Genereux&action=edit&redlink=1) to the British base at Mahon. The ship was almost lost in a storm, with Cochrane and his brother personally going aloft in place of a crew that were mostly ill.
In 1800, Cochrane was appointed to command the brig sloop HMS Speedy (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HMS_Speedy_%281782%29). Later that year, he was almost captured by a Spanish warship concealed as a merchant ship. He escaped by flying a Danish flag and dissuading an attempt to investigate by claiming his ship was plague-ridden.
Chased by an enemy frigate, and knowing it would follow him in the night by the glimmer of light from the Speedy, he placed a candle on a barrel and let it float away. The enemy frigate followed the candle and Speedy escaped.
In February 1801 at Malta he got into an argument at a fancy dress ball with a French Royalist officer (Cochrane came dressed as a common sailor, and was mistaken for one) which led to Cochrane's only duel. The French officer was wounded by Cochrane's pistol but Cochrane was unharmed.
One of his most famous exploits was the capture of the Spanish frigate (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frigate) El Gamo, on 6 May (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/May_6) 1801 (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1801). El Gamo carried 32 guns and 319 men, compared with the 14 guns and 54 men on Speedy. Cochrane flew an American flag to approach so closely to Gamo that its guns could not depress to fire on the Speedy's hull. This left only the option of boarding, but whenever the Spanish were about to board, Cochrane would pull away briefly, and fire on the concentrated boarding parties with his ship's guns. Cochrane then boarded the Gamo, despite still being outnumbered about five to one, and captured her.
In the 15 month cruise of the Speedy Cochrane captured, burned, or drove ashore more than 50 ships before being captured on 3 July (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/July_3) 1801 (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1801) by three French ships of the line under Admiral Linois (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles-Alexandre_L%C3%A9on_Durand_Linois).
On 8 August (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/August_8) 1801 (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1801) he was promoted to the rank (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Military_rank) of post-captain (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Post-captain).
During the Peace of Amiens (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Treaty_of_Amiens), Cochrane attended the University of Edinburgh (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/University_of_Edinburgh).
Upon the resumption of war in 1803, St Vincent assigned him to command of a captured sixth-rate French privateer, HMS Arab (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HMS_Arab) (formerly Le Brave). This ship had poor handling, collided with Royal Navy ships on two occasions (the Bloodhound and the Abundance), and afforded Cochrane no opportunities. He would notably compare the Arab to a collier (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Collier_%28ship_type%29) in his autobiography. Despite this, he still managed to intercept and board an American merchant ship, the Chatham, and create an international incident, leading to the consignment of HMS Arab and her commander to fishing fleet protection duties beyond Orkney (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Orkney) in the North Sea (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/North_Sea).
In 1804, the new government of William Pitt the Younger (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Pitt_the_Younger) removed St Vincent and Cochrane was appointed to command of the 32-gun frigate HMS Pallas (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HMS_Pallas).
In 1807, he was given command of the 38-gun frigate Imperieuse (http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=HMS_Iphigenia_%281804%29&action=edit&redlink=1). One of his midshipmen was Frederick Marryat (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frederick_Marryat) who later wrote fictionalized accounts of his adventures with Cochrane.
Cochrane used this ship to raid the Mediterranean coast of France. In 1808, Cochrane and a Spanish guerrilla force captured the fortress of Mongat (http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Mongat&action=edit&redlink=1), which sat astride the road between Gerona (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gerona) and Barcelona (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barcelona). As a result, a French army under General Duhesme (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Duhesme) was delayed for a month. Another raid copied code books from a signal station, leaving behind the originals so the French would believe them uncompromised. When Imperieuse ran short of water, she sailed up the estuary of the Rhone (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rh%C3%B4ne_River) to replenish. When a French army marched into Catalonia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Catalonia) and besieged Rosas (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roses), Cochrane took part in the defence of the town by occupying and defending Fort Trinidad (Castell de la Trinitat) (http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Castell_de_la_Trinitat&action=edit&redlink=1) for a number of weeks.
While captain of Speedy, Pallas, and Imperieuse Cochrane became arguably the most effective practitioner of coastal warfare during the period. Not only did he attack shore installations but captured enemy ships in harbor by leading his men in boats in "cutting out" operations. He was a meticulous planner of every operation, limiting casualties among his men and maximizing success.
In 1809, he was chosen to command the attack of a flotilla of explosion and fire ships (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fire_ship) on Rochefort (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rochefort), as part of the Battle of the Basque Roads (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_the_Basque_Roads). Some damage was done, but Cochrane felt that a great opportunity was lost, for which he blamed the fleet commander, Admiral Gambier (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Gambier). As a result of the public expression of this opinion, he spent some time without a naval command....

Cheers

James