The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1901-10-06
The STING OF ENVY
%'7 81 sserHa- -fj5
CAREER OF LORD CocHRANE A
PARALLEL TO ADMIRAL
SCHLEY'Sio ae51. ss'
VICTIM OF NAVY RED TAPE
Made Great Record Under. Adverse
circumstances, bufo Was KS
B1acklisted for His
Success.

l
| Admiral Schley is not the first naval
officer in the history of English-speaking
people who has had to face serious
criticism, amounting, aslanaany of his
| ccuntrymen think, to persecution, after
having won brilliant victory over mis-
nation's seneInies, says the Chicago Trib-
! une. Envy is too conspicuous a trait
in humanity to permit ofnthe elevations
| of one man in public esteem while Others
who rank themselves as deserving, are
passed by unnoticed. There are few in
stances, however, in which an officer has
been dealt with as severely by his asso-
ciates, and as strenuously upheld by the
people. as has Admiral Winfield s. Schley.
But the history of the English navy fur
nishes at least one case that exceeds
IN malignity and .persistency anything
that has thus far befallen the hero of the
naval fight off Santiago. ssI 80
The career of Thomas Cochrane, tenth
earl of Dundonald, is a story that might
be considered unworthy ofsbelief. were it
not written in the records of the Eng
1shH navy He entered the service on
June Il. 1793 as midshiprnar, aboard
his uncle's ship, the Hind. Though but
seventeen years of age. he soon learned
all the details of seamanship and became
thoroughly versed in the theory of naval
warfare. England was then at war
with France and Spain, and for a time
he was employed harassing the enemy:s
commerce, He soon became a, lieuten-
ant, and developed such fertility of re-
source in action, such excellent seaman.
ship, and achieved such marked success
tnat Jealosy was excited and Influences
We're set in motion that operated against
him until the day of his death.
The trouble probably arose from the
natural conflict hntWpan na i,,to
the seagoing and the non-seagoing por-
tlon OF the navy. It is the jealousy.
IL is sald5 between these interests that
mas caused the present inquiry at WASH
ngton. Be this, as it may, 1t is certain
that Lord Cochrane became earlv in his
career persona non grata at the adj
mlfalty office. He knew what he wanted
ana ne was never slow to ask for It.
He was "a stormy spetrel and when in
service never rested. Forced to promote
MIN to a captaincy, the admiralty gave
MIN the! Speedy a boat. which he de-
scfloed as little more than burlesouc
on a vessel of wap,' even for those
tlmes. 1t was 1853 tons burden and was
crowded, rather than manned, che said Il
with crew Of eighty-four men and siv
otncers It's armament consisted of fou--
teen four=pounders, and; knowing the in.
eiiclehcy OF such guns, he asked for heav-
VHyCNt
tWelve-pounders, which he desired ~
mount as bow and stern chasers hIt
Iound there was not room enough to
manipulate them. The weight of
oroadside, from his ship4was twenty-eight
POUNDS, and, to show how insignificant
IL was, he once put an entire broadside of,
>shot In his coat pockets and walked his
quarter deck with it. "a "a ~
,;l hhoW wing ne mad received all he was
led
cruise of thirteen months cant,,ra,.
more than fifty vessels. with 122 enns ~
954 prisoners. One of these CAPTURES p,e,s
the Spanish frigate Gamo. thirtv-tuo
guns ana 3ls men, which was taken in
May, 1901 off Barcelona The fight was a
terrlnc one By reason Of putting men
ABOARD prize vessels Speedv's crew Dras
reduced to fifty men. hut thev +ooI.
thelr little craft alongside, their bie on
poheht, filled her huh with shot from
t6elr 'pop-gun four FOUNDERS" as tho
captain called them, and finally boarded
ana captured the ship. The Spanish com
mander, the boatswain and thirteen 500
men were Killed In the action and forty
| one men were wounded Sneedv loci
| three seamen killed and ono oftioer 49,
seventeen seamen wounded. To take into
| port a vessel with 263 unhurt prisoners
| was no light task, but the Speedv,s CAM
| tam was equal to it. He drove the nrison
| ers INTO the hold, trained the guns down
the hatchways, and kept men stand,ny
over them with lighted matches In this
way he reached Port Mahon and del1v-
cred up his prize AS reward for this
| service he was sent with his little TOW
snip to intimidate the Bey of Algiers
lie had keen sense of the ridiculous
ness of the situation and said of IT: ."rbe
mission Massai singular one to be on
trusted to the captain of one of the
smallest and worst armed vessels in the
British service. Remonstrance. to he Of
tectual with a piratical government
ought to have been committed to an. of.
flcer armed with a sufficient force at
least to induce respect" However he
performed the mission without any great
satisfaction to himself or his government.
and on his way back lost the Speedy in
a conflict with three French line of battle
ships. He fought his little vessel for
hours, and when he struck his colors and
rendered his sword to the French. com
mander that worthy declined to accept
it, saying he would not accept the sword
of an officer who had for SO many hours
struggled against impossibility'
Capt Cochrane was soon released on
/ parole and shortly afterwards exchanged
for French officer. The government
however. refused to purchase the Gamo