CONFEDERATE STEAMSHIP
SHENANDOAH
CAPTAIN WADDELL'S CRUISE
Captain James Iredell
Waddell, a daring Carolina sailor, the commander of the
C.S. S. Shenandoah was
the only mariner to carry the flag of the Confereracy around the
world. The facts of Captain Waddell's cruise were gathered by
Captain S. A. Ashe, who
as a 1858 Naval Academy
Midshipman, sailed under Lieuttenant Waddell and learned
what a good officer and
gentleman he was and was proud of him as a North Carolinian.
The story as follows was
given in Wilmington, Delaware in 1904 by Captain Ashe.
James Iredell Waddell,
was born July 13, 1824, to Francis Nash and Elizabeth
Davis Moore Waddell .
At age 17 Waddell
received an appointment as midshipman in the U. S. Navy,
ordered to vessel in
Norfolk. There, almost before he had got his uniform to fit, his
fighting
blood showed. An older
midshipman was offensive to him and Waddell called him to
the field of honor where
he received a wound to the hip and caused him to limp a little
through life. A Navy record told he was on leave to recover from
the effects of a duel.
Later, when the Navy was
going to steam, a science was added, famous ship
masters became obslete,
machines, turrets and armor plate were to supplant sails and
6 pounder's, Waddell's
inspirations led him to a challenge with an older officer to
mortal combat, made him sort of a hero to the younger officers,
learning to fight at a longer distance and the importance of
armor protection.
In 1848, passing his
examinations, he was put on duty at the Observatory in Washington
for three tears, then assigned to a practice ship at Annapolis,
then to vessel
Germantown, a ship named to
commemorate the battle in which his distinguished grandfather
received a mortal wound.
Retuning from a cruise
as a Naval Officer August 1861 he tendered his resignation
which was refused. On a
dark and stormy night he and a brother in law, Mr. Inglehart,
shipped as oystermen on
an oyster boat out into the Chesapeake avoiding capture made
good their way to Dixie.
Waddell , now a Confederate Officer, was assigned to disrupt
American shipping. There not being many ships on the Atlantic to
fly an American flag the
Confederates wanted to
destroy an American whaling fleet active in the Pacific and
selected
Lieutenant Waddell to do
so.
At this time a Confederate
representative in Europe, Captain Bullock, had purchased
The Sea King which was
large and could carry a large group of men , sailed well under
canvas, had steam screw able to raise out of water when not in
use. 1864 Waddell was ordered to Madeira to take command of
the Sea King, fly the Confererate flag, refit and provision her,
then rename and christened her, The Shenando . Waddell had
trouble finding a crew to serve within conditions not to be
married and to become
Confederates so he ended up with half a crew of 23 men. Officers
were obliged to work with
the crew and did so. The Shenandoah entered her career with the
flag of the South to the breeze , taking her place as a
Confederate cruiser afloat duly
commissioned on her ocean
home with noble, brave men.
The Shenandoah was a
composite vessel, frame of iron, hull of teak six inches thick,
steam speed of 9 mph and under sail 15 mph. She had a battery of
four 8 inch guns smooth
bore , two rifle bore
Whitworth 2 pounders and two 12 ponders
The Shenandoah made a
prize on her first chase and later prizes furnished 20 more
seamen, bringing the crew
and officers to 62 man. 5th of December they made
Tristam da
Canha, near St. Helena,
and passed to the east of Africa, reaching Melbourne Australa, on
January 25 1865. Here
they landed prisoners, refitted, left February 18. After
leaving
sight of harbor, a number
of men who had stowed aboard came on deck and enlisted to the
crew, now 114 . Sailing northward with many adventures and
capturing many prizes they were off the shores of Kamakatka in
May. The farther north they sailed the longer the days
became which was more and
more interesting to the crew. They went as far as Gifinski and
Transk Bay but unable to
enter for the15 foot thick ice. . More captures were made and the
smoke of the burning
vessels made landmarks against the sky.
On June 23 midsummer
Waddell captured two whalers which had news of Grant and Lee and
Appomattox, not good news for one in the Polar Ocean cleaning up
the whaling
ships, twenty four in the
next six days.
June 29 the Confederate
flag was flying in the Artic Ocean and on that day Waddell
turned away from the pole
and passed southward through the Bering Strait, July 5 they passed
Aleutian Islands and the
last land Shenandoah would see for days. August 3, in N
latitude
16, 122 west longitude
Shenadoah gave chase to a sailing bark and overtook the British
Harraconta, 13 days from
San Francisco, to Liverpool, and asked news of the Captain about
the war and told the war was over and the Shenandoah was being
searched for and would be considered pirates when caught. Our
first duty was to suspend hostilities and to proclaim
such suspension. An entry
was made in the log book 5 August 1885 Shenandoah off the
coast of Mexico “Having receivd intelligence by the bark
Barraconta of the Confederate government's overthrow, all
attempts to destroy shipping or property of the United State will
cease this date. First Lieutenant W. C. Whittle has received
orders to disarm the ship and its crew. The next step was to seek
asylum with any country strong enough to see we have a full and
fair trial. Waddell , who now had no authority since his commission
expired with the
end of the Confederacy,
set sail to England with his well disciplined crew.
The 15th
September, running 15 mph , Shenandoah turned Cape Horn and set
her
course northward for
Liverpool and exchanged no signals. Crossing the equator for
the forth time on October 11, 1865, The afternoon of October
25, 500 miles south of the
Azores, they sighted a
Federal cruiser and crossed courses with her to find she was in
waiting for Shenandoah an her crew. Capt Waddell declared a
situation of anxious
suspense, and kept the
course. As they passed darkness of the night prevented any signals
and when 4 miles apart
sailed past , set a southward course and ordered full steam
running
15 miles east, then north
100 miles, when a southwest wind blew her within 700 miles
of Liverpool . The calm
left Shenandoah in sight of 11 sails all day long as she
remained
under sail until dark
when all sails were furled and she went under steam and pushed
her
way toward the desired
haven at Liverpool. November 5th Shenandoah entered
St. Georges
Channel, 122 days from the
Aleutian's with out sight of land and saw the beacon right where it
was supposed to be. This was a remarkable record of
navigation. A pilot came aboard at
night and was informed
of the character of the ship.
There was great
satisfaction for our success reaching an European port and the
chief danger was over
when on the 6th November 1865 Shenendoah steamed up the
Mersey
bearing the Confederate
flag. After anchoring, a British Officer boarded Shenandoah to
inform Captain Waddell
the Confederacy was no more and the Confederate flag that had been
around the world was lowered at 10 am, 6th
November, 1865. The Shenandoah was then
given in charge of the
British government.
For several days British
and American officials were in correspondence regard the ship
and its crew. November 8th, the crew was ordered to
depart , the British turned Shenandoah over to United States
authorities who in turn sold her to the Sultan of Zanzibar
and later lost at sea.
C.S.S. Shenandoah ran
58,000 miles during her thirteen month cruise and met with no
accident and did not drop
anchor for eight months. She had destroyed more vessels than any
other ship of war,
Captain Waddell lingered
several years in Europe because of feelings of the United
States government against him but in 1875 took command of a
Pacific Mail Company steamer from San Francisco to Japan and
Australia .
On one of his return
voyages he had another chance to prove his seamanship abilities
when his ship struck an
uncharted obstacle which had been thrown in the channel by a
recent earthquake about
13 miles from shore. The damage to the vessel left a fifty foot
hole which quickly flooded
the vessel, he took personal control of 420 passengers, men,
women and children , his crew members and prepared to abandon
the sinking ship about 3 miles from shore. Captain Waddell was the
last to leave the sinking vessel. No one was lost.
The admirable conduct of
Captain Waddell won highest praise among the maritime
people of the world.
After this incident he retired to live in Annapolis where the
governor of Maryland chose him to master the Oyster Guard Boats
of the Chesapeake to enforce Maryland's laws upon the fleet of the
bays oystermen. It was at this job that he died, March
25, 1886 at the age of 62.
Maryland's Legislature adjourned to do him honor. Old Dixie
soldiers under General
George Stuart as Marshall marched to his grave with pallbearers
Captain Morris, General
Bradley Johnson and other Confederates, an escort of honor led
by Colonel William
Morris. The Maryland governor and State Officers participated. It
was
a State Funeral, the only
one accorded to a Confederate north of the Potomac River.
Abstract: The North
Carolina Review, Richmond Times Dispatch, Sunday, September
7, 1913. for my
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