150 years ago today--- the end of the naval war?

Mark F. Jenkins

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On November 6, 1865, a somewhat used-looking but still handsome steamer made her way into the port of Liverpool, England, with the banner of a no-longer-existing country snapping at her peak.

The CSS Shenandoah, which had left England over a year before to cruise in the North Pacific whaling grounds (at which she was quite successful), had made it back to England after an epic voyage of over three months and nine thousand miles around Cape Horn, carefully avoiding all other ships and sight of land, a navigational feat of truly herculean proportions. Her captain, James Iredell Waddell (from Pittsboro, NC) had feared (with some justification) that if she had been caught by a U.S. vessel that the ship's officers at least could have been charged with piracy-- given that they had continued to operate as a cruiser after hostilities had ceased elsewhere. (In retrospect, a solid legal defense could have been mounted that would likely have acquitted them of actual piracy, but the concern was still very real to the men on the decks of the Shenandoah.)

At the entrance to the Mersey, a pilot boat met the erstwhile cruiser, but the pilot refused to bring in a ship that was not flying a flag. So, in a last act of defiance, the Shenandoah's crew raised the Confederate flag (in this case, the "Stainless Banner") to the peak for one last time. (This flag is now on display in the Confederate Museum in Richmond.)

The ship was surrendered to the British warship HMS Donegal later that day.
 
The story of the CSS Shenandoah is one of the war's best! Sure a beauty.

Model-and-Flag-of-Shenandoah.jpg


After the Alabama was sunk, Mallory turned to Bulloch for a replacement of that formidable raider, and he sure had a good eye for horses! The Shenandoah did such a number on the American north Pacific whaling industry that it never recovered.
 
When I was stationed at Fort Bragg while in the Army, I used to drive through Pittsboro on my way to and from Chapel Hill, and I always noticed the historical marker in town about Waddell.
 
Captain Johnston Blakeley, USN, the heroic commander of the 22-gun Sloop USS Wasp during 1814, who destroyed the 18-gun British Sloops HMS Reindeer and HMS Avon, while on the same cruise(!), also grew up in Pittsboro, on his godfather's Haw River plantation called Rock Rest. There is also a historical marker for him.
 
On November 6, 1865, a somewhat used-looking but still handsome steamer made her way into the port of Liverpool, England, with the banner of a no-longer-existing country snapping at her peak.

The CSS Shenandoah, which had left England over a year before to cruise in the North Pacific whaling grounds (at which she was quite successful), had made it back to England after an epic voyage of over three months and nine thousand miles around Cape Horn, carefully avoiding all other ships and sight of land, a navigational feat of truly herculean proportions. Her captain, James Iredell Waddell (from Pittsboro, NC) had feared (with some justification) that if she had been caught by a U.S. vessel that the ship's officers at least could have been charged with piracy-- given that they had continued to operate as a cruiser after hostilities had ceased elsewhere. (In retrospect, a solid legal defense could have been mounted that would likely have acquitted them of actual piracy, but the concern was still very real to the men on the decks of the Shenandoah.)

At the entrance to the Mersey, a pilot boat met the erstwhile cruiser, but the pilot refused to bring in a ship that was not flying a flag. So, in a last act of defiance, the Shenandoah's crew raised the Confederate flag (in this case, the "Stainless Banner") to the peak for one last time. (This flag is now on display in the Confederate Museum in Richmond.)

The ship was surrendered to the British warship HMS Donegal later that day.
Fascinating!
Question: What would have been the "solid legal defense" that might have acquitted them of piracy?
 
Fascinating!
Question: What would have been the "solid legal defense" that might have acquitted them of piracy?

Disclaimer: This is all IMHO, but is according to what I know of the legal principles involved.

The piracy charge would have been made because the Shenandoah continued to operate after there was no longer a country for her to operate for. But that would have fallen before the time-honored principle (that didn't fall by the wayside until the advent of instantaneous communications, such as radio) that hostilities were considered to continue until reliable word of their termination had reached the unit(s) in question. While the U.S. would no doubt have happily ignored this aspect, the presence of British nationals aboard ship would have drawn Britain into the question, and there's no doubt in my mind that she would have insisted on the established precedent.

The U.S. would also have run afoul of the precedents established during the war, when no piracy charges were successfully prosecuted for the operations of privateers and Confederate government vessels; the country simply ceased attempting to prosecute them.

The combination of probable British involvement and adverse precedent would likely have been fatal for the prosecution's case.

Mind you, it's not utterly impossible that the U.S. wouldn't have tried to stick piracy charges on Waddell & co., which is the reason why they kept a low profile on their way home and did not enter a U.S. port to surrender. But I really doubt any piracy charges could have been sustained in a court.
 
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Disclaimer: This is all IMHO, but is according to what I know of the legal principles involved.

The piracy charge would have been made because the Shenandoah continued to operate after there was no longer a country for her to operate for. But that would have fallen before the time-honored principle (that didn't fall by the wayside until the advent of instantaneous communications, such as radio) that hostilities were considered to continue until reliable word of their termination had reached the unit(s) in question. While the U.S. would no doubt have happily ignored this aspect, the presence of British nationals aboard ship would have drawn Britain into the question, and there's no doubt in my mind that she would have insisted on the established precedent.

The U.S. would also have run afoul of the precedents established during the war, when no piracy charges were successfully prosecuted for the operations of privateers and Confederate government vessels; the country simply ceased attempting to prosecute them.

The combination of probable British involvement and adverse precedent would likely have been fatal for the prosecution's case.

Mind you, it's not utterly impossible that the U.S. wouldn't have tried to stick piracy charges on Waddell & co., which is the reason why they kept a low profile on their way home and did not enter a U.S. port to surrender. But I really doubt any piracy charges could have been sustained in a court.
Again: fascinating!
Thanks for all the info and insights.
 
Waddell's last captures were on June 28, 1865. over two months after Lee's surrender and a month after Kirby Smith's, but that's not the record for late actions. In (or after) the War of 1812, USS Peacock captured the East India Company brig Nautilus on June 30, 1815, over six months after the peace treaty was signed (December 24, 1814) and four months after it was ratified by the US (February 18).

Fun fact, the first ship captured in the War of 1812 was also a brig named Nautilus, but American.
 
The opening scene of my alternate history novella Blessed Are The Peacemakers takes place on the deck of the CSS Shenandoah. . . in very different circumstances.
 
css-shenandoah.jpg

Confederate Raider: CSS Shenandoah. Oil on canvas by Patrick O’Brien.
Commissioned by the author.

The CSS Shenandoah, the most remote and loneliest outpost of the beleaguered Confederacy, surged around the Cape of Good Hope and into the Indian Ocean about equidistant between Madagascar to the north and Antarctica. These Southerners were months out of touch, with only their orders, prayers, and thoughts of loved ones to comfort them. Five thousand miles of cold, storm-swept and empty waters lay between them and Melbourne.

more at:

http://emergingcivilwar.com/2014/12/23/a-distant-confederate-christmas/
 
View attachment 84120
Confederate Raider: CSS Shenandoah. Oil on canvas by Patrick O’Brien.
Commissioned by the author.

The CSS Shenandoah, the most remote and loneliest outpost of the beleaguered Confederacy, surged around the Cape of Good Hope and into the Indian Ocean about equidistant between Madagascar to the north and Antarctica. These Southerners were months out of touch, with only their orders, prayers, and thoughts of loved ones to comfort them. Five thousand miles of cold, storm-swept and empty waters lay between them and Melbourne.

more at:

http://emergingcivilwar.com/2014/12/23/a-distant-confederate-christmas/

Stunning painting. Thanks for the link as well.

What a nice friday evening read! I can't believe the luck of that one guy getting flung off the boat by one giant wave only to get tossed back on deck by another! Overall, I'd say "Brrrr." At least they had plenty of good food and cheer....
 
Stunning painting. Thanks for the link as well.
What a nice friday evening read! I can't believe the luck of that one guy getting flung off the boat by one giant wave only to get tossed back on deck by another! Overall, I'd say "Brrrr." At least they had plenty of good food and cheer....
Thanks.

Patrick O’Brien is among my favorite marine artists.

We have quite a few threads about the CSS Shenandoah.
It's a fascinating story.
 
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There was a show on the tube yesterday on "Forgotten History"that a a 15 minute story about the Shenandoah that was really interesting.good to see something different for a change.
 
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