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

Wreck of a CSS Tallahassee Victim Found Off Long Island-- Part 1: Packet Ship Adriatic

From the March 31, 2020, Civil War Talk  "CSS Tallahassee and CSS Alabama Off  Long Island"by OtselicNY.

Always interested when a Civil War shipwreck is found and especially when it involves Fort Fisher and Wilmington, North Carolina, which this article definitely refers to since the ship that sank the ship that was found was the CSS Tallahassee based out of Wilmington.

Skin divers recently found the wreck of the sailing ship Adriatic 30 miles off Montauk Point, Long Island.  It was sunk by the commerce raider CSS Tallahassee in August 1864 which sank six ships off Long Island over a couple days.

--Old B-Runner

August 6, 1864: CSS Tallahassee Runs Out of Wilmington

AUGUST 6TH, 1864:  The CSS Tallahassee, Commander Wood, ran out of the Wilmington's Cape Fear River, and after eluding several blockaders off the bar, embarked on one of the most destructive commerce raiding cruises of the war.

"This extemporaneous man-of-war," Jefferson Davis later wrote, "soon lit up the New England coast with her captures...."

In the next two weeks Wood, whom Davis called "an officer of extraordinary ability and enterprise," took or destroyed more than 30 ships.

A Little Known Yet Successful Commerce Raider.  --Old B-Runner

CSS Shenandoah Destroys Its First Ship

OCTOBER 30TH, 1864:  The CSS Shenandoah, Lt. Waddell, captured and scuttled the bark Alina south of the Azores and due west of Dakar, Africa.  The Alina, a new bark on her maiden voyage, was the Shenandoah's first prize and carried a cargo of railroad iron.

Waddell wrote: "It was fortunate my first capture could be scuttled, for the steamer's position was good and a bonfire would have given alarm to all Yankees within 30 miles, and then, too, a cruiser might have been in the neighborhood, which would have [been] attracted by the red flare of the sky and interfered with our fun...we were forced to destroy our prizes because we were not allowed to take them into a neutral port [for] adjudication."

--Old B-Runner

Semmes of the CSS Alabama-- Part 1

From the Nov. 17, 2012, Biloxi (Ms) Sun Herald "Semmes was a fearless commander of the CSS Alabama" by Tim Isbell.

Raphael Semmes commanded the famous Confederate commerce raider Alabama for two years.  Born in Maryland, he moved to Mobile and opened a law practice after the Mexican War.  Once Alabama seceded, he resigned from the US Navy and was given a commission as an officer in the Confederate Navy which, because of resources, was forced to turn to commerce raiding to offset Northern superiority.

Semmes' first command was the CSS Sumter, after which he was captain of the Alabama, a screw sloop of war powered by both sail and two 300 hp horizontal steam engines that drove a single twin blade brass screw propeller.  The ship could move 10 knots an hour under sail or 13 when combined with steam.

More to Come.  --Old B-Runner