Horatio Cole

Horatio James Cole was born in May of 1685 to Royal Marine Colonel Robert Cole, distinguished hero of the Williamite War and his Mother Marie, an amateur artist in Bristol. Cole spent his formative years in Bristol alone with his mother, while his father was in York assisting the Earl of Pembroke raising what would later be the first of two Marine regiments. It was those two regiments that participated in the opposed landing during of the Williamite War in Cork, Ireland on 21 September 1690 under the command of John Churchill, later known as the Duke of Marlborough. During this action, Colonel Cole was awarded the Military Cross for conspicuous gallantry.



It may be said that the stark contrast between Captain Cole's at times fiery temperament and reserved demeanor is a direct result of a doting, caring mother and an abusive, hypercritical, albeit absent father. Cole would make no apologies for his upbringing, nor did he wish to since he has oft said, "My fathers hammer-like fist and my mother's warm heart forged me into the man I am this day."

In his father's absence, Cole's mother saw to his education where Cole initially was sent to be a Grecian. With his father away most of his early youth and his mother's scant earnings from commissions, Cole sought work on the docks of Bristol at age 10 to help his mother who was then pregnant with the Cole family's second child, Anthony. On those docks an unlikely trio would form a lasting bond that would see many trials in the years to come. It had been said that it would depend on whom was to be asked as to what version of their meeting you might receive, but Cole's testimony was that he was beset by a group of larger dock-boys when a smaller, foul mouthed and intemperate young lad by the name of Nathaniel Perkins jumped into the fray on Cole's behalf and was beaten black and blue for his efforts. Cole, bloodied but not broken, was dragged out of the scrum all along kicking and screaming that he was, "winning" by the privileged young man and then Craig Imports heir, Alexander Craig.

Two years later in 1697, Cole, a driven youth determined to grow beyond his father's shadow, Craig who abandoned his aristocratic heritage to discover what he called, "a life more ordinary" and Perkins who,"Had nothing better to do" (records showed that Perkins birth-father was lost at sea and his step-father was an abusive drunk) enlisted in the Royal Navy. With some influence from Craig's father, the trio made the decision to sign on with the HMS Devonshire, an event that would forever haunt them all and create the everlasting bond between them.

In October of 1707 during the War of the Spanish Succession, 22 year old Acting Lieutenant Cole, and Midshipmen Perkins were manning their stations on the Devonshire, an 80-gun third rate ship of the line near Lizard Point, Cornwall. By a twist of fate, Midshipman Craig was transferred inexplicably (some speculate Craig Sr again intervened) to the Cumberland the day before two French squadrons under René Duguay-Trouin and Claude de Forbin attacked the English convoy protected by Cole's squadron under Commodore Richard Edwards. As the din of battle cleared, the Cumberland, Chester and Ruby were taken. Only the Royal Oak escaped into Kinsale with a few merchantmen. The Devonshire defended herself against seven French ships until she caught fire and was destroyed, 898 of the 900 souls were lost, only two survived: Acting Lieutenant Cole and Midshipman Perkins.



Cole, Craig and Perkins were taken by the French and imprisoned at the infamous Château d'If. As it was customary to separate prisoners by wealth and class, Craig spent his ever so brief imprisonment in relative luxury in the upper, windowed floors while Cole and Perkins were incarcerated in the stinking bowels of the old castle. Craig's father, believing that his son foolishly followed in his friends footsteps when they enlisted into the Royal Navy, sent his personal envoy to ransom the release of his son, leaving Cole and Perkins to an uncertain future in imprisonment. Perkins cursed Craig and was for years hence bitter towards him not knowing that Craig had attempted unsuccessfully to arrange for their freedom that day.

For the next seven years, Cole and Perkins were beaten, starved and at times, tortured at the hands of their French captors. This maltreatment invariably led to the immeasurable hatred that Cole possesses for the French. In 1714, peace was declared and Cole and Perkins were returned to England malnourished, scarred and wrathful. Perkins continued his love affair with a life at sea; however, deciding that the Navy (and to some degree Craig) had abandoned he and Cole, resigned and sought berthing with the Merchant Mariners. Perhaps out of guilt or atonement, Craig would have none of it, and commissioned his old Friend as a Privateer.

Cole returned with honor and was reassigned to the HMS Essex, a 70-gun third rate ship of the line under Captain Thomas Mathews. Newly Promoted Lieutenant Cole was wounded in action in August of 1718 at The Battle of Cape Passaro, Sicily. This time it was the Spanish who were attempting to regain Sicily and Sardinia from Austria and Savoy. The attack led by Admirals Antonio de Gaztañeta and Fernando Chacon was thwarted by the Royal Navy under the command of Admiral Byng.

Cole would see action in the Atlantic and Mediterranean one more time when Spain attempted to recapture Gibraltar and Minorca in 1719. In 1720, Cole was given command of the HMS Providence berthed in Port Royal. Upon his arrival in Jenny Bay, Cole was standing on the docks when he observed a quarrel spill out of the local pub and into the street. For a moment doubting his own eyes, Cole watched with amusement as an all too familiar pair of friends stood back to back as they faced unfavorable odds. In 1722, Cole was promoted to Lieutenant Commander and reassigned to the St George Squadron hoping once again to prove that he is not his father's son.