Master and Commander

I spent this morning at Chile´s naval history museum, on the site of their original naval academy. It´s a fantastic museum, with a stunning view of the harbor. Particularly interesting were the exploits of Lord Thomas Cochrane, a ginger haired Scot who founded the Chilean Navy. The museum is practically a shrine to him, with massive stained glass windows depicting him destroying the Spanish fleet and kicking the Spanish out of Chile. After reading about him there, I did a bit of internet research and found he was the inspiration for Patrick O´Brian´s naval hero Jack Aubrey, portrayed by Russel Crowe in the film Master and Commander.

Nicknamed the Sea Wolf, he had an incredible life, one that took him from being a student at the University of Edinburgh to a royal navy officer to a disgraced member of the House of Commons, wrongly convicted of white collar crime. He went to Chile and became one of the great naval heroes of the 19th century. He also married a half spanish woman twenty years younger, for which his rich uncle Basil disinherited him. His life is full of crazy episodes like that. Here´s his wikipedia entry, it´s worth looking at: http://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_Cochrane

ps one thing i love about travelling on my own; if i decide i want to spend a half (or whole) day being a history nerd, then that is exactly what i´ll do! try and stop me...