USS Nightingale-- Part 8: Arctic Exploration and Loss of In 1893

But, the Nightingale's career wasn't over.  Not yet anyway.  She entered another phase.

This tome it was Arctic exploration.  From 1865 to 1867, she served as the flagship of the Western Union  Telegraph Expedition exploring  British Columbia, Alaska and Siberia with the plan of  laying telegraph cable across the Bering Strait.

Captain C.M. Scammon, U.S.R.M. Chief f Marine, commanded the Nightingale

The Nightingale, described as a fine, large clipper ship, carried two small flat-bottomed steamers on her deck from San Francisco.  One was intended for exploration of the Yukon River in Russian America, and the other for the Anadyr Bay.

After the Arctic Expedition, the Nightingale remained in the merchant service until she foundered in the  North Atlantic Ocean on 17 April 1893.

But, wait, there's one more thing about this ship.

Next Post.  --Old B-Runner

From Tea Clipper to Slaver to U.S. Navy Ship: The Tale of the Nightingale-- Part 1

I have been writing about this ship in my last four posts and in connection with Lt. John Julius Guthrie, USN, of North Carolina, who commanded the Nightingale's prize crew on its way back to the United States.  Guthrie later was a Confederate naval officer after the war started.

From Wikipedia.

The USS Nightingale (1851) was originally a   tea clipper before becoming a slave ship until captured by the USS Saratoga in Africa in 1861; the U.S. Navy then purchased her and it became a warship.

During the war, it served as a  supply ship and collier (carried coal) for Union blockading ships.  After the war she was sold and went on to a long career in Arctic exploration  before foundering in the North Atlantic in 1893.

Built by Samuel Hanscomb, Jr. of Eliot, Maine.  Cost $43,500, in 1851.

As tea clipper, her route was China to London to New York.  Carrying passengers, she went  from Boston and New York to Australia.

--Old B-Runner

July 1-3, 1865-- Part 1: CSS Shenandoah Digging Icebergs and Watching the Sun

JULY 1ST TO 3RD, 1865:  After destroying a large fleet of Arctic whalers on June 26 and 28,  the CSS Shenendoah, Lt. James Waddell,  stood south "amid snow and icebergs" looking for more victims.

There he wrote, in "the immensity of the ice and floes", threatened with "danger of being shut up in the Arctic Ocean for several months. I was obliged to turn her prow southward and reached East Cape just in time to slip by the Diomedes when a vast field of floe ice was closing the strait....

"The sun was in his highest northern declination, and it was perpetual daylight, when he sank below the northern horizon, a golden fringe marked his course until his pale and cheerless face came again, frosted from icebergs and snow."

Lt. James Waddell Waxing Poetic.  --Old BRunBerg

May 21, 1865: CSS Shenandoah in the Sea of Okhotsk

MAY 21ST, 1865:  The CSS Shenandoah entered the Sea of Okhotsk "and ran along the coast of Kamchatka under sail.  There is a strong current along the Pacific side of these islands, setting to the M.E. which clings to the eastern shore on the Arctic  Ocean, and how much further north man knoweth not."

--Old B-R'er

CSS Arctic-- Part 5: Background on the Franklin Expedition

The USS Arctic was bought by the U.S. Navy specifically for use in the continuing search for the Sir John Franklin lost Arctic expedition.

From Wikipedia.

The Franklin expedition was a British voyage of Arctic exploration led by Captain Sir John Franklin in 1845.  Franklin had been on three previous Arctic explorations, looking for the Northwest Passage through the Canadian Arctic.

His two ships became ice bound in Victoria Strait near King William Island.

Every member of the expedition, including Franklin perished (129 men).

There were many expeditions sent out to look for him back then and they have continued to this day.

A famous American, Elisha Kane, an explored and U.S. Navy medical officer,  led the second Grinnel Expedition in 1853, the one the Arctic accompanied.  They did not find Franklin.

Of interest, when Kane died in Cuba in 1857, his body was taken to New Orleans and placed on a funeral train that was met at nearly every platform on the way by a memorial delegations.  It was said to be the longest funeral train in the United States during the 19th-century except for that of Lincoln.

--Old B-R'er

CSS Arctic-- Part 4: Looking for Arctic Explorer John Franklin

Continued from December 24, 2015.

There is some confusion as to whether the CSS Arctic was the USS Arctic, a lightship.

In 1854, the U.S. Navy authorized a search mission for the Franklin.  A strong, stout ship was needed which could be modified for use in far north waters.  They found a lightship under construction in Philadelphia and believed it was just what they needed.  They named it the USS Arctic.

The engines were intended for a tugboat and sheet iron was placed on the hull for protection against ice.  (This could be a reason why some sources list the CSS Arctic as an ironclad.)

The Kane Mission returned without find the Franklin and the USS Arctic was laid up.  It was then fitted out for cable laying and coastal survey work.

--Old B-Runner

The Shenandoah Heads South, Avoiding the Icebergs, Etc.-- Part 1: Perpetual Sunlight

JULY1-3RD, 1965:  After destroying all those American whalers on 26 and 28 June, Waddell stood south "amid snow and icebergs" looking for more victims.  There he wrote, in the immensity of the ice and floes", threatened with "danger of being shut up in the Arctic Ocean for several months, I was obliged to turn her prow southward and reached East Cape just in time to slip by the Diomedes when a vast field of floe ice was closing the strait....

"The sun was in his highest northern declination, and it was perpetual daylight, when he sank below the northern horizon, a golden fringe marked his course until his pale and cheerless face came again, frosted from icebergs and floes."

--Ol;d Sunny-Runner

CSS Shenandoah Cruising

MAY 20TH, 1865   Sailing steadily northward, the CSS Shenandoah sighted the Kuriles "covered with snow."

MAY 21ST, 1865:  The CSS Shenandoah entered the Sea of Okhotsk "and ran along the coast of Kamchatka under sail.  There is a strong current along the Pacific side of these islands setting to the N.E. which clings to the eastern shore of the Arctic Ocean, and how much further northward man knoweth not."

--Old B-Runner

Meanwhile, the CSS Shenandoah Continues Her Cruise

MAY 13TH, 1865:  The CSS Shenandoah, then south of the Kuriles, steadily headed North, her position unknown in the vast distances of the Pacific.  The threat of this single raider, however, created consternation in the North.

The merchants of New London, Connecticut, requested Secretary Welles to protect their whaling vessels in the Arctic and Pacific oceans.  Previously New England ship owners had sought protection by purchasing additional insurance.  When news arrived from England that the Shenandoah was on her way to the Arctic, the leading maritime insurance carrier in New England did a booming business.

In a three day period the Atlantic Mutual Insurance Company collected $350,000 in premiums from shipowners increasing coverage on their vessels.  During the course of one day alone, the company received $118,978 in premiums -- the largest sum written by the company during a 24-hour period until the start of World War I.

The Fear of the Shen.  --Old B-Runer