This is an account of the life and adventures of the daring seaman Thomas Cochrane, who rose from midshipman to admiral and was called "the sea wolf" by Napoleon. His exploits were so compelling that the novelist Patrick O'Brian used them as the basis for the character Jack Aubrey, the main protagonist of naval novels set during the Napoleonic War. Thomas Cochrane was framed in a Stock Exchange scandal, sentenced to the pillory, escaped prison by means of a rope and fled the country to become a mercenary admiral fighting for independence. Off the coast of Chile, Peru, Brazil and Greece, always outnumbered and outgunned, he became a legend of daring and courage. On one occasion he chased the entire Portuguese fleet in a single ship.
Robert Harvey has been a columnist for the Daily Telegraph, assistant editor of The Economist and an MP. He is the author of many books, including a highly popular biography of Lord Cochrane.
He is a former member of the House of Commons Foreign Affairs Committee, was assistant editor of The Economist, and foreign affairs leader writer for the Daily Telegraph. His books include The Undefeated: The Rise, Fall and Rise of Modern Japan, Portugal: Birth of a Democracy, Liberators and Cochrane. Robert lives in Powys, Wales.