Career
Aboard Speedy, Cochrane participated in the engagement and capture of the Spanish frigate Gamo, which was more than three times the size of the British ship. Although captured by the French shortly afterwards, Cochrane"s career continued successfully and he was promoted to lieutenant in 1804, sailing to the East Indies on HMS Victor and rapidly gaining promotion to post captain in the frigate HMS Fox. In 1811, Cochrane returned to Europe and did not serve again, retiring to Sunderland and dying in 1829.
Archibald had two elder brothers, Thomas Cochrane and William Erskine Cochrane, both of whom would have successful military careers, Thomas in the Royal Navy and William in the British Army.
Sent to sea at a young age, by 1799 Archibald was serving alongside Thomas, styled Lord Cochrane, as a midshipman in the ship of the line HMS Barfleur, flagship of Lord Keith in the Mediterranean. The ship passed through a severe storm on the voyage to Portuguese Mahon, and was almost sunk, the Cochrane brothers forced to climb the mainmast alone at the height of the storm to reef the sails.
Archibald Cochrane was involved in most of his brother"s successful operations during the following year, including the capture of the Spanish frigate Gamo on 6 May 1801. Attacked by the much larger warship, Cochrane took his tiny vessel alongside, and the Spanish sailors could not depress their guns sufficiently to open fire on lieutenant
Leading a boarding party, Archibald assisted in the fighting on deck and the successful capture of the ship.
He later participated in a landing operation at Oropesa del March, but was captured when Speedy was seized by a French squadron under Charles Linois on 3 July 1801. In 1804, during the Napoleonic Wars, Cochrane was promoted to lieutenant, sailing for the East Indies in the sloop HMS Victor. Rapidly promoted, by 1807 he was post captain in command of the frigate HMS Fox and participated in the Raid on Griessie against the Dutch port of Griessie on Java in December.
Cochrane remained in the East Indies until 1811, when he returned to Britain and was not employed at sea again.
He died in 1829 in Paris.