Alexander Cochrane Sir Alexander Inglis Cochrane GCB RN ( 23 April 1758 – 26 January 1832 , born Alexander Forrester Cochrane ) was a senior Royal Navy commander during the Napoleonic Wars and achieved the rank of Admiral . He was knighted for his service Naval career . Alexander Inglis Cochrane was born a younger son of the Scottish peer Thomas Cochrane , the eighth Earl of Dundonald , and his wife . He joined the Royal Navy as a boy and served with British naval forces in North America . He served during the American War of Independence . Cochrane also participated in the Egyptian operations in 1801 . When Alexandria fell , Cochrane , in the 74 - gun third - rate HMS " Ajax " , with the sixth - rate HMS " Bonne Citoyenne " , the HMS " Cynthia " , the brig - sloops HMS " Port Mahon " and HMS " Victorieuse " , and three Turkish corvettes , were the first vessels to enter the harbour . In 1805 he was made commander of the Leeward Islands station . He conducted operations against the French and Spanish on 6 February 1806 at the Battle of San Domingo during the Napoleonic Wars . A cannonball blew his hat off his head while he was on the deck of his flagship , HMS " Northumberland " . He was knighted and appointed KCB on 29 March 1806 in recognition of his service . Other rewards included thanks from both Houses of Parliament , freedom of the city of London , and a sword valued at 100 guineas . In 1807 he sailed in HMS " Belleisle " ( 74 guns ) in the expedition against Danish Islands . In 1809 commanded naval forces in the conquest of Martinique . From April 1814 , during the War of 1812 against the United States , Cochrane , then a vice admiral , served as Commander - in - Chief of the North American Station , based at the new dockyard in Bermuda . He landed the force under General Ross that burned Washington and pushed successful naval forays at the same time . Initially he wanted to attack Rhode Island in New England after the success at Washington , but was dissuaded by Ross and Admiral Cockburn , who wanted to go after the bigger prize of Baltimore , Maryland . During the Battle of Baltimore , Cochrane directed the bombardment of Fort McHenry in Baltimore , which proved ineffectual . He resisted calls to attack the fort more aggressively with frigates . He ordered a diversionary raid by boats to assist the army encamped near Baltimore in their proposed attack on Hampstead hill ( which they canceled and withdrew ) , but this diversion had no success . The navy ' s failure at Baltimore effectively canceled out the success of Washington . In Baltimore , the British used bomb vessels and rocket ship , which inspired Francis Scott Key ' s poem that became " The Star - Spangled Banner , " the US national anthem . Cochrane led the British force that won the Battle of Lake Borgne in December 1814 in Louisiana . His forces built a hard short road to New Orleans for use by British armed forces . But , the British army was defeated at the Battle of New Orleans in January 1815 . As news that Britain had ratified the peace treaty ( the Treaty of Ghent ) had not reached the battlefield , the Battle of New Orleans was fought after the war was ended . The peace treaty was being carried to Washington for ratification by the United States Congress . The Duke of Wellington held that the failure of the New Orleans campaign was largely the fault of Cochrane . In a eulogy to General Edward Pakenham , killed at New Orleans , he said : I cannot but regret that he was ever employed on such a service or with such a colleague . The expedition to New Orleans originated with that colleague . . . The Americans were prepared with an army in a fortified position which still would have been carried , if the duties of others , that is of the Admiral ( Sir Alexander Cochrane ) , had been as well performed as that of he whom we now lament . Despite the lack of success and damage to British prestige that occurred by the defeat of British forces at the Battle of New Orleans , Cochrane was promoted to admiral in 1819 . From 1821 to 1824 , he was Commander - in - Chief , Plymouth . He died in Paris on 26 January 1832 . Family . In 1788 he married Maria Shaw ; they had three sons and two daughters . His son Thomas John Cochrane was entered in the Royal Navy at the age of seven ; he rose to become colonial governor of the colony of Newfoundland , and Admiral of the Fleet ; he also received a knighthood in the Order of the Bath . Alexander Cochrane was the sixth of the surviving sons of Thomas Cochrane , 8th Earl of Dundonald . The eldest son Archibald Cochrane became the earl and lost the family lands on a series of inventions and investments . Many of the younger sons served in the military or had careers supplying it . The next brother , Charles , served in the army and was killed at the Siege of Yorktown ; he had married to Catherine , the daughter of Major John Pitcairn . The third surviving son , John Cochrane , was a paymaster and provisioner to the army and navy . His children included Nathaniel Day Cochrane , who became a Royal Navy captain and published a book of his travels in Russia , and probably of the chess player John Cochrane . The next son , Basil Cochrane , made a fortune supplying the Royal Navy in India . Alexander was the sixth son . The seventh , George Augustus Frederick Cochrane , had an army career and served in Parliament . The youngest son , Andrew Cochrane - Johnstone , was an army officer , colonial governor , politician , and fraudster . The Earl of St . Vincent wrote of the Cochrane brothers in 1806 , " The Cochranes are not to be trusted out of sight , they are all mad , romantic , money - getting and not truth - telling — and there is not a single exception in any part of the family . "