Cochrane (48 page)

On
2
July, demoralised even before it began, the evacuation fleet put to sea, the Portuguese battle squadron followed by armed transports with the troops on board and merchant vessels carrying the families. It was a huge and unwieldy armada of thirteen warships and between sixty and seventy transports. Cochrane's main disadvantage was that even if he captured all the transports he would not have the men to form prize crews. His remedy for this, in the case of troopships, was to order that the masts were to be cut away by boarding parties so that the vessels would have no means of escape from the waters off Bahia. Other transports were to have their water casks broken open, leaving them no alternative but to sail back to Bahia.

No sooner was the great armada clear of port than Cochrane fell upon it. One after another, the transports at the rear of the fleet were boarded. Main and mizen masts were cut down, which left the captains no option but to sail before the wind. The wind, as Cochrane had calculated, would take them inevitably back to Bahia, which was soon to be in Brazilian hands. Once the first day's batch of transports had been rounded up, the squadron set off in pursuit of the Portuguese again, easily overtaking them.

Cochrane spent
3
July attacking the warships with the
Pedro Primiero,
while the rest of his squadron picked off the troopships and merchantmen, one by one. Cochrane's object was to goad the Portuguese battleships and frigates into turning on the
Pedro
Primiero
and attempting to hem her in. Then with a virtuoso display of seamanship, he would outmanoeuvre and outdistance them, drawing them into a futile pursuit. By sunset, the straggling line of troopships was getting thinner as the regiments of the Portuguese army were despatched to captivity with hardly a shot fired. On the next day, the
Gran
Para
and other transports were seized, this action alone resulting in the capture of a division of several thousand troops. With Maranham still
1000
miles to the north, Madeira had already lost half his army. In confirmation of the news, Cochrane sent the colours of the captured regiments to the Minister of Marine at Rio de Janeiro.

As the pursuit moved northward towards the equator, the weather became hazy and, for a time, all contact with the Portuguese was lost. Cochrane found them again and took the
Pedro
Primiero
in to resume the attack on the battle squadron. At
3
a.m. on
16
July, in the course of a night attack, the mainsail of the flagship split in two and the action was broken off. It was as well for Cochrane that the accident occurred during darkness, since the sight of the
Pedro
Primiero
temporarily disabled would have been irresistible for the Portuguese fleet.
¹⁰

Since the flagship was now alone, Cochrane gave up the chase and the necessary repairs were carried out. The Portuguese ships, to the relief of their commanders, were left to make their way sedately to Maranham. If they believed that this was a respite shown them, they were about to fall victims to one of Cochrane's more ingenious deceptions. Whatever the ordeal of the convoy from Bahia, they counted at least on finding safety in Maranham, the securest of their bases. It cannot have crossed their minds that this particular haven would be one of the least safe landfalls of the entire continent by the time that they reached it.

With the
Pedro
Primiero
under full sail once more, Cochrane skirted round the Portuguese ships, keeping well out of sight. His enemy moved at the speed of their slowest ships, while his own warship made straight for the river and port of Maranham. From the despatches he had seized on board the captured troopships, he had a good idea of what the commandant and junta of Maranham were expecting. They knew of the dramatic evacuation of Bahia and were awaiting the reinforcements which the Bahia garrison represented.

Hoisting Portuguese colours, the
Pedro
Primiero
entered the Maranham river on
26
July. Don Agostinho Antonia de Faria, commandant of the town, had no reason to doubt that this was the first of his reinforcements. He sent out a brig with despatches and congratulations. The captain of the brig stepped on to the deck of the flagship and was astonished to find himself surrounded by European and American seamen in the service of the rebel Emperor. Generously, Cochrane offered to release him at once provided that he carried a sealed message to the commandant and the junta. The captain agreed and the messages which Cochrane had accordingly prepared were delivered at once.

The commandant was aghast to learn that the armada approaching Maranham was not Portuguese at all. The Portuguese convoy had been overtaken and destroyed, Cochrane sent him the proof of it. The
Pedro
Primiero
was the first and fastest ship of a great Brazilian invading force. The transports of that force were filled with troops of the most bloodthirsty kind.

I am anxious not to let loose the Imperial troops of Bahia upon Maranham, exasperated as they are at the injuries and cruelties exercised towards themselves and their countrymen, as well as by the plunder of the people and churches of Bahia.

Though there was not a soldier on board, Cochrane gave the commandant to understand that the
Pedro
Primiero
was crammed below decks with an advance guard of wild-eyed fanatics, eager to storm ashore at the first provocation and take a bloody revenge upon the Portuguese and their sympathisers. Once the mythical Brazilian invading force arrived, Cochrane would be powerless to prevent scenes of the most horrifying vengeance. Now was the time when the commandant and his men might take advantage of the magnanimity with which he offered them terms of capitulation.

Even if the trick failed, it was well worth trying. Yet Cochrane must have been pleasantly astonished by the speed with which Antonia de Faria grasped at the offer of surrender by negotiation. Bahia had fallen, the evacuation fleet had been savaged, and the
Pedro
Primiero
's presence was apparent proof of Brazilian power. On
27
July, the local junta, accompanied by the bishop, filed aboard the flagship to swear allegiance to the new Emperor. Captain Grenfell took the marines ashore to relieve the Portuguese of their fortifications, to haul down the colours, and to raise the new flag of Brazil.

The hoax was not quite over. Though Maranham and its defences were now in his hands, Cochrane was uneasy as to the reaction of the Portuguese troops, far outnumbering his own men, when their country's battle squadron and transports appeared on the horizon. As a final gesture of magnanimity, he therefore allowed all his captives to board merchant vessels and sail home to freedom in Portugal. Somewhere far out to sea, and oblivious of one another's presence, the two halves of the Portuguese army passed one another, going in opposite directions.

When the battered survivors of the Portuguese evacuation fleet found Maranham firmly in Cochrane's hands, they turned away. But by addi
ng the northern province of Para
to the spoils, Cochrane also denied them refuge there. Para, bordering Maranham, contained the first
500
miles or so of the Amazon river inland from the sea. But the settlements of this vast territory covered only a coastal strip. Cochrane sent Captain Grenfell with the captured brig
Maranham
to practise the same deception which had just been successful in his case. Though the junta at Para held out a little longer, they had news of the fall of Bahia and Maranham, and had not the least doubt that Park must be the objective of any expeditionary force which was on foot. By
12
August, Grenfell was able to report that Park had followed Maranham in acknowledging the sovereignty of the Emperor.
¹¹

Despite his misgivings over the seaworthiness of some of his ships and the loyalty of their crews, it had taken Cochrane just three months since his arrival at Rio de Janeiro to win for Brazil the great territories of the northern provinces. He returned to the capital, and to the usual triumphal reception, followed by the no less usual haggling over his pay. He was created First Admiral of the Brazils and Marquess of Maranham. He received the thanks of the Emperor, the ministry, and the assembly. More important still, when he reached Rio de Janeiro on
9
November, he found Kitty waiting for him. She had left England, assuming that he would still be at Valparaiso, but when her ship had called at the Brazilian capital she learnt for the first time that he was now in the service of the Emperor.

In Cochrane's case, after the spectacular events of the first three months, the remainder of that service was hardly congenial. On his return from Maranham, he quickly discovered that he had made enemies of the so-called "Portuguese" faction in Brazilian society. During his absence, that faction had brought about the dismissal of the Andrada government, the dissolution of the legislative assembly, and had almost reduced the capital to a state of martial law. Cochrane made matters worse for himself by advising the Emperor to adopt "the English constitution, in its most perfect practical form", and to find posts abroad for "those Portuguese individuals of whom the Brazilians are jealous". Not surprisingly, the individuals and their supporters resented this interference in their lives by a liberal-minded foreigner with only a few months' experience of the country. Their resentment took a practical form when the prickly question of prizes and prize money had, yet again, to be decided.
¹²

Cochrane had "requested an order for the speedy adjudication of the prize property surrendered at Maranham", and he estimated the flagship's share of this at
£121,463.
The value of enemy property seized by the entire squadron he put at two million dollars. But the Portuguese faction held sway in the Admiralty court, so that the Tribunal of Prizes, commenting on Cochrane's claim, blandly announced that it was "not aware that hostilities existed between Brazil and Portugal".
¹³

More to the point, every effort was made by Portuguese sympathisers in Brazil to avoid having their own property condemned as the spoils of war. In a situation where allegiances were uncertain and sympathies divided, Cochrane was extraordinarily naive in believing that his claim was likely to be conceded. In the end, the squadron was awarded about one-fifth of the total amount, which led him to complain bitterly over the manner in which he had been cheated by the ministers of the new empire. Even more outrageous, in Cochrane's view, was the treatment of Captain Grenfell who had negotiated the surrender of Park. One of the prizes at the port was a newly-launched frigate, which was hastily christened the
Imperatrice
and sailed by Grenfell to the capital. On arrival it was boarded and searched, all the prizes which had been promised to Grenfell by the Emperor were seized for the treasury, and he himself was put on trial for not carrying out the government's orders properly at Para. Though Grenfell was acquitted and released, Cochrane's disillusionment with Brazil had grown apace.
¹⁴

Sometimes the attempts made against him were sinister and sometimes farcical, but his unfailing supporter throughout most of these vicissitudes was the Emperor himself. By the beginning of June
1824,
however, it was farce which characterised the proceedings most vividly.

Late in the evening of
3
June, Cochrane received a visit from Madame Bonpland, the wife of a French naturalist. She warned him that his house was surrounded by troops and that, under cover of a royal review next morning, the ministry had ordered the
Pedro Primiero
to be boarded and searched. Cochrane still held in trust for the squadron some
40,000
dollars, which he refused to surrender to the government. This and other treasure, which the ministers insisted had been hidden on the ship, were to be taken while he was detained ashore by virtue of his part in the review.

Thanking Madame Bonpland for the warning, he climbed over the garden fence, made his way to the stables without being seen by the surrounding soldiers, and chose a good horse. Then he rode at once for the Emperor's country palace at San Christoval. By the time of his arrival, Pedro had retired for the night. Cochrane confronted his gentleman-in-waiting and demanded admittance.

"But his Majesty has retired to bed long ago," said the courtier.

"No matter," Cochrane insisted loudly, "in bed, or not in bed, I demand to see him, in virtue of my privilege of access to him at all times. And if you refuse to concede permission - look to the consequences."

The noise and the threat of a scene brought Pedro himself "in a dishabille". Cochrane informed him of the ministerial plan but offered to allow the ship to be boarded by Pedro's own trusted advisers. If any of his "anti-Brazilian Administration" tried to do so, "they would certainly be regarded as pirates, and treated as such".