Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- List of Illustrations
- List of Tables
- Acknowledgements
- MAP 1 The American Eastern Seaboard, Gulf of Mexico and Caribbean Sea
- MAP 2 Chesapeake Bay and the Delaware River
- Abbreviations
- Note on US Dollar/Pound Sterling Conversion Rates
- Foreword
- Preface
- INTRODUCTION
- 1 CONVOYS AND BLOCKADES: The Evolution of Maritime Economic Warfare
- 2 WAR AT A DISTANCE: Constraints and Solutions
- 3 FROM BUSINESS PARTNERS TO ENEMIES: Britain and the United States before 1812
- 4 THE UNITED STATES BLOCKADED: Admiral Warren's ‘United Command’, August 1812–April 1814
- 5 BLOCKADES AND BLUNDERS: Vice-Admiral Cochrane's Command, April 1814–February 1815
- 6 TRADE AND WAR: The Effects of Warren's Blockades, August 1812–April 1814
- 7 CAPITAL AND CREDIT: The Impact of the Final Phase
- 8 RESULTS AND CONCLUSIONS
- EPILOGUE
- Appendix A: Maritime Tables
- Appendix B: Economic History Tables
- Notes to the Chapters
- Bibliography
- Index
5 - BLOCKADES AND BLUNDERS: Vice-Admiral Cochrane's Command, April 1814–February 1815
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 05 February 2013
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- List of Illustrations
- List of Tables
- Acknowledgements
- MAP 1 The American Eastern Seaboard, Gulf of Mexico and Caribbean Sea
- MAP 2 Chesapeake Bay and the Delaware River
- Abbreviations
- Note on US Dollar/Pound Sterling Conversion Rates
- Foreword
- Preface
- INTRODUCTION
- 1 CONVOYS AND BLOCKADES: The Evolution of Maritime Economic Warfare
- 2 WAR AT A DISTANCE: Constraints and Solutions
- 3 FROM BUSINESS PARTNERS TO ENEMIES: Britain and the United States before 1812
- 4 THE UNITED STATES BLOCKADED: Admiral Warren's ‘United Command’, August 1812–April 1814
- 5 BLOCKADES AND BLUNDERS: Vice-Admiral Cochrane's Command, April 1814–February 1815
- 6 TRADE AND WAR: The Effects of Warren's Blockades, August 1812–April 1814
- 7 CAPITAL AND CREDIT: The Impact of the Final Phase
- 8 RESULTS AND CONCLUSIONS
- EPILOGUE
- Appendix A: Maritime Tables
- Appendix B: Economic History Tables
- Notes to the Chapters
- Bibliography
- Index
Summary
Admiral Warren also told Levitt Harris … that he was sorry to say that the instructions given to his successor on the American station were very different from those under which he had acted and that he apprehended that a very serious injury would be afflicted on America
(Gallatin to Monroe, 13 June 1814)VICE-ADMIRAL SIR ALEXANDER COCHRANE wrote a formal acceptance of command from the Asia at Bermuda on 1 April 1814. Much was expected of Warren's successor, although some of his earlier senior officers had found him difficult. Ten years earlier Lord Keith had called him ‘a crackheaded, unsafe man … one with others who endeavoured to stir up dissensions in the fleet’. Conversely, Robert Dundas, Lord Melville, First Lord of the Admiralty, was a fellow Scot, and since their two families had been friends for generations Cochrane was not without ‘interest’.
His record was nevertheless impressive. He had commanded successfully the now reseparated Leeward Island station in 1805, and had fought well under Duckworth at the Battle of San Domingo in February 1806. He had led the capture of the French island of Martinique in 1809, and of Guadaloupe in 1810, of which he had since been Governor. His promotion to Vice-Admiral of the Red had come on 4 November 1813, the very day on which Croker had written to Warren to notify him of his recall. Not yet 56 years old, Cochrane was expected to remain energetic.
- Type
- Chapter
- Information
- How Britain Won the War of 1812The Royal Navy's Blockades of the United States, 1812-1815, pp. 107 - 130Publisher: Boydell & BrewerPrint publication year: 2011