and was present at the battle of Cape St Vincent in February 1797 during the French Revolutionary Wars. Minerves boats' crews, in company with those of the frigate , successfully cut out the French ship Mutine at Santa Cruz, Tenerife in May 1797. Cockburn was given command of the fifth-rate HMS Phaeton on the East Indies Station in July 1803, of the third-rate HMS Captain in July 1806, and of the third-rate HMS Pompée in March 1808. He commanded the naval support at the reduction of Martinique in February 1809 during the Napoleonic Wars, for which he received the thanks of Parliament. Cockburn commanded a squadron of warships for the landings in Walcheren in July 1809 during the Walcheren Campaign. He took command of the third-rate HMS Implacable off the coast of Spain in January 1810 and sailed to Quiberon Bay with a small squadron whose mission was to arrange the escape of the King of Spain, whom the French had imprisoned at the Château de Valençay. The mission failed when Ferdinand refused to have anything to do with the British. Cockburn was promoted to commodore, hoisting his broad pennant in the fourth-rate HMS Grampus in November 1811. War of 1812 Cockburn was promoted to rear admiral on 12 August 1812, and hoisted his flag in the third-rate HMS Marlborough as commander of a squadron of ships off Cadiz. He was reassigned in November 1812 to the North American Station, where he played a major role in the War of 1812 as second-in-command to Admiral Sir John Warren until the end of March 1814, and then to Warren's successor Admiral Sir Alexander Cochrane for the rest of the war. He cruised relentlessly up and down the Chesapeake Bay and other parts of the Atlantic coast in 1813 and 1814, seizing American shipping, disrupting commerce, and raiding the ports. The author of a book about this era stated that Cockburn's mission was "to rough up the Americans ... torching any homes construed as being supportive of the militia ... promoting fear and hatred". This proved to be an effective strategy that succeeded in creating opposition to "Mr. Madison's War" among the Americans. The most important of Cockburn's involvements during the War was his role in the capture and burning of Washington on 24 August 1814, undertaken as an advisor to Major General Robert Ross. The plan to attack Washington had been