Thursday, November 5, 2015

150 Years Ago: The End of the Confederate Navy Nears-- Part 1: CSS Shenandoah Nears England

NOVEMBER 5TH, 1865:  The commerce raider CSS Shenandoah is now nearing England.  This is taken from James Waddell's journal.

"The ship (Shenandoah) was continued under sail during the daylight, because if we had gotten up steam it would have been observed, and as each sail was ignorant of the character of the other, it would have directed attention to the steamer, and one of them might have been a Federal cruiser.

"As soon as night received us in her friendly folds steam was applied and we were off for St. George's Channel.  The weather continued calm and beautiful, and I entered the channel on the 5th of November, just 122 days from the Aleutian Islands.

The chronometers had not been rated since we left Melbourne, and we had not seen land since we left the Aleutian Islands, and yet we could not have made a more beautiful landfall; the beacon in St. George's Channel was seen where and at what time looked for."

St. George's Channel is at the southern end of England on the west side and separates it from Ireland.  You have to enter it from the south to get to Liverpool where Waddell intended to turn his ship over to England.

--Old B-Runner

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