OCTOBER 19TH, 1864: The Sea King, the sleek, fast ship Commander Bulloch had obtained for the Confederate cause in England, rendezvoused with tender Laurel north of the island of Las Desertas in the Madeiras.
The Sea King was sold to the Confederate States and renamed the CSS Shenandoah, after which guns, powder, supplies, and crew members from the Laurel were loaded.
Lt. James I. Waddell, CSN, who had sailed from England in the Laurel, assumed command of the cruiser and remarked: "Each of us asked himself instinctively, what great adventures shall we meet in her? What will be her ultimate fate?"
The Shenandoah, one of Bulloch's greatest successes, was destined to become one of the most effective commerce raiders of the war and the last warship to sail under the Confederate flag.
--Old B-Runner
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