July 1-3, 1865-- Part 2: CSS Shenandoah's Trials and Tribulations Out in the Cold

"When the Shenandoah reached the Island of St. Lawrence, there was a fine northwest wind.  Sail was made, and the propeller triced up.  While to the westward of that island, the ship was making six knots per hour. a dense fog came on...."

Trying to beat out of the ice the ship ran into a large floe and damaged her rudder when, with sails aback to avoid sudden collision with thick ice, "she gathered sternboard."  The crew placed heavy rope mats around the prow.

"Steam was gently applied and with a large block of ice resting against her cutwater she pushed it along to open a passage, and in this way we worked the Shenandoah for hours until she gained open water."

To avoid being trapped by Federal cruisers, if not the ice, Waddell decided to run for "more open seas."  On 3 July "a black fog closed upon us and shut out from our view the heavens and all things terrestrial."  It clung about them thick and ominous for the next two days as the raider steamed south depending on dead reckoning."

Want Some Ice With That Water?  --Old B-Runner