Lord Cochrane, on his own initiative, organizes and leads the capture of Valdivia on February 6, 1820, despite only having three hundred men and two ships to deploy against seven large forts.

Having become a citizen of unrecognized Republic of Chile on December 11, 1818, at the request of Chilean leader Bernardo O'Higgins, he had been appointed Vice Admiral and had taken command of the Chilean Navy in Chile's war of independence against Spain.

Cochrane had reorganized the Chilean navy with British commanders, introducing British naval customs and, formally, English-speaking governance in their warships.

Taking command in the frigate O'Higgins, he had blockaded and raided the coasts of Peru, as he had those of France and Spain.

Cochrane had failed in his attempt to capture the Chiloé Archipelago for Chile.

O'Higgins had ordered him to convoy the Liberation Army of General José de San Martín to Peru, blockade the coast, and support the campaign for independence.

Forces under Cochrane's personal command cut out and capture the frigate Esmeralda, the most powerful Spanish ship in South America, in November 5, 1820.

Okhotsk is ranked just after Barnaul as the neatest, cleanest and most pleasant town in Siberia, according to the observations of the English traveler Captain John Dundas Cochrane in 1822.

An illegitimate son of Scottish adventurer Andrew Cochrane-Johnstone, Cochrane comes from a large and adventurous family—he is a cousin of Admiral Thomas Cochrane, 10th Earl of Dundonald, and nephew of Admiral Sir Alexander Forrester Inglis Cochrane.

John Dundas Cochrane has crossed France, Spain, Portugal, Germany, Russia and Asia to Kamchatka on foot, hence his nickname of the "Pedestrian Traveller" ("voyageur pédestre" in France).

He marries Ksenia Ivanovna Loginova (1807-1870) in 1822; she is an adoptive daughter of Admiral Pyotr Rikord, the Russian governor of Kamchatka.

The Emperor sends a naval division on August 2 commanded by the Admiral Thomas Cochrane, composed of a ship of the line, a brig, a corvette and two transports, and twelve hundred soldiers led by Brigadier General Francisco de Lima e Silva.

The troops disembark in Maceió, capital of Alagoas, whence they travel by land towards Pernambuco.

The imperial forces soon met with Paes Barreto and his four hundred men, who join the march.

Throughout the way, the army is strengthened by militias, which increase their numbers to thirty-five hundred soldiers.

Most of the population of Pernambuco, who live in the countryside, including partisans of Paes Barreto, are neutral or indifferent to the disputes between both factions, and remain faithful to the monarchy.

Meanwhile, Cochrane, who is already besieging Recife from the sea, tries to convince Paes de Andrade to surrender and thus to prevent unnecessary deaths.

Andrade refuses the offer.

The army led by Brigadier General Lima e Silva and Paes Barreto attacks Recife on September 12, 1824.

Manuel Paes de Andrade, who had sworn that would fight to death, runs away secretly with José da Natividade Saldanha without informing his companions and departs in a British ship.

The rebels, without leadership and unmotivated, are completely defeated five days later in Olinda.

A few led by Frei Caneca manage to escape towards Ceará, believing that they will be able to join the confederates in that province.

The remaining rebels are defeated by royalist troops a few weeks later.

Some die, such as João Soares Lisboa and Alencar Araripe (murdered by his own men) while others are imprisoned, such as Frei Caneca.

The rebels in Paraíba fare no better and are quickly overwhelmed by troops of the province (each side has two thousand men) without the aid of the central Government.

The legal persecution against the confederates initiated in October 1824 will last until April 1825.

Of the hundreds who had participated in the three provinces' rebellion, only sixteen will be condemned to death, among them, Frei Caneca.

All the others will be pardoned by Pedro I on March 7, 1825.

Marc Isambard Brunel's Thames Tunnel, the first tunnel under the River Thames and the world's first bored underwater tunnel, is opened in London on March 25, 1843.

Under construction since 1825, using Marc Isambard Brunel's and Thomas Cochrane's newly invented tunnelling shield technology, by Brunel and his son Isambard Kingdom Brunel, the tunnel was originally designed for horse-drawn carriages, but will never be used for that purpose.

Although it was a triumph of civil engineering, the Thames Tunnel is not a financial success.

It had cost £454,000 to dig and another £180,000 to fit out—far exceeding its initial cost estimates.

Proposals to extend the entrance to accommodate wheeled vehicles had failed owing to cost, and it is used only by pedestrians.

It will become a major tourist attraction, attracting about two million people a year, each paying a penny to pass through, and will become the subject of popular songs.