HMS SPEEDY

HMS SPEEDY

After the successful delivery of the GENEREUX into Port Mahon harbour Cochrane was appointed to the command of the SPEEDY on 28th March, 1800. She was a little 158 ton coastal brig and in his autobiography he describes her as 'little more than a burlesque of a vessel of war'.

SPEEDY had a complement of six officers and eighty four men and an armament of fourteen four-pounders. Legend has it that Cochrane walked the deck with a whole broadside crammed in his coat pockets!

In an attempt to increase the firepower of his new command he asked for and was given two 12-pounder long guns to use as bow and stern chasers, but the scantlings could not support them and they had to be removed. He then requested his 4-pounders be upgraded to 6-pounders, but the gunports were not big enough. He had better luck with his mast, taking a spar from the Genereux that was considered too large for Speedy, but which Cochrane felt improved her speed.

With all its shortcomings, however, it was his first command and soon the little SPEEDY became the terror of the French and Spanish. Within little more than a year Cochrane captured, sank, drove ashore or burned more than 50 enemy vessels, causing Napoleon to refer to him as 'Le Loup de Mer' - the Sea Wolf.

Picture: HMS SPEEDY attacking the much bigger Spanish EL GAMO

Being a tall fellow of six feet two inches his cabin was ridiculously small for a man of his stature. It was only five feet high! The easiest way of shaving was to remove the skylight of the cabin, stick his head through the opening and use the deck as a toilet-table.

Another picture of the SPEEDY attacking EL GAMO