Life of Thomas, Lord Cochrane, Tenth Earl of Dundonald, Vol 1

Thomas Cochrane was the real-life naval hero who inspired Horatio Hornblower and Jack Aubrey, and his autobiography reads like the most thrilling adventure fiction ever written. This first volume chronicles his transformation from British naval officer into the most dangerous revolutionary of the Napoleonic age. Cochrane commanded Chile's navy in its war of independence, shattering the Pacific might of Spain in a series of audacious battles that rewrote the rules of naval warfare. He then crossed an ocean to build Brazil's navy from nothing, turning a fledgling nation's dreams of freedom into an actual fighting force. The volume ends with the Admiral sailing toward Greece, drawn into another colonial uprising against the Ottoman Empire. Bourne's biography captures a man who believed empire was a crime and that a ship, a crew, and nerve could topple any tyranny. This is history at its most pulse-pounding: the true story of one sailor who became a legend and changed the shape of three continents.