600 



NAVY, UNITED STATES. 



about equally matched. In smooth water the 

 Stonewall, owing to the rapidity with which 

 she could he turned, probably had the advan- 

 tage, while under other circumstances the su- 

 periority rested with her adversaries. Thus 

 matters remained for several weeks, no occa- 

 sion offering when both sides were willing to 

 risk an engagement. In the latter part of 

 March the Stonewall effected her escape from 

 Ferrol, and put into Lisbon on the 27th, being 

 followed thither by the Niagara and Sacramento. 

 She was immediately ordered away by the 

 Portuguese authorities, and the United States 

 vessels were required to remain twenty-four 

 hours after her departure. While attempting 

 to change their anchorage in the Tagus, the 

 vessels were fired upon from Belem Castle, un- 

 der the supposition that they were attempting 

 to run out and follow in the traces of the Stone- 

 wall before the twenty-four hours had expired. 

 Fortunately no lives were lost, and ample 

 apology was rendered for the outrage by the 

 Portuguese Government. Captain Craven, 

 commanding the Niagara, was subsequently 

 court-martialed for neglecting to attack the 

 Stonewall. off Ferrol, and sentenced to two 

 years' suspension from duty. This sentence was 

 set aside by the Secretary of the Navy. Upon 

 leaving Lisbon the Stonewall proceeded to 

 Teueriffe and thence to Havana, where she ar- 

 rived on May llth. On the 28th Acting Rear- 

 Admiral Godon arrived at Havana with the 

 squadron destined for the Brazil station, to- 

 gether with several iron-clads, and soon after- 

 ward the Stonewall was surrendered by her 

 commander to the Spanish authorities. She 

 was subsequently placed at the disposal of the 

 United States by the Spanish Government, and 

 conveyed to Washington. 



The Shenandoah, the second of the two ves- 

 sels above referred to, was built in Glasgow, in 

 1863, and called the Sea King. Her registered 

 tonnage was seven hundred and ninety tons, her 

 framework being iron with wood planking; 

 and she was propelled by engines of two hun- 

 dred horse power. She was originally owned 

 by William Wallace, of London, and, like so 

 many other rebel vessels, was entirely of British 

 origin and equipment. In September, 1864, 

 she was sold to Richard Wright, of Liverpool, 

 and soon after cleared in ballast at London, as 

 an ordinary merchant vessel, for Bombay. In 

 the meau time, another vessel, called the Laurel, 

 of Liverpool, was taking on board all the neces- 

 sary armament, stores, etc., several Confederate 

 officers, and a large number of men. On the same 

 day that the Sea King sailed from London for 

 Bombay, the Laurel sailed from Liverpool for 

 Nassau. The two vessels met at Madeira, and 

 thence proceeded in company to an island near 

 by, where, within Portuguese waters, the ar- 

 mament and men were speedily transferred 

 from the Laurel to the Sea King, both vessels 

 being still under the British flag. The Sea King 

 was then renamed Shenandoah, hoisted the rebel 

 flag, and set forth on her piratical cruise, under 



the command of J. I. Waddell, formerly of the 

 U. S. navy. Her armament consisted of six 

 guns, viz., four 68-pounders and two 32- 

 pounders, with a full crew of British sailors. 

 The first heard of her after she left Madeira 

 was that she had destroyed a few vessels in the 

 neighborhood of the Island of St. Helena. Her 

 next performance 'was to double the Cape of 

 Good Hope, and cruise around in the Bay of 

 Bengal and the Straits of Sunda. She then 

 made her appearance in the port of Melbourne, 

 Australia, and haying coaled, provisioned, and 

 received a reinforcement of men, sailed on 

 February 8th for the North Pacific, where, 

 between April 1st and July 1st, she destroyed 

 and bonded twenty-nine vessels, thus entirely 

 breaking up the whaling season in that quarter. 

 Although notified by some of his victims that 

 the Confederate armies had surrendered, Waddell 

 gave no heed to the intelligence, but continued 

 his work of destruction until four months after 

 the fall of Richmond, when he was advised by 

 an English vessel that Lee was on parole and 

 Davis a prisoner. Nothing remained for the 

 Shenandoah after this but to return for refuge 

 to the country of her origin, and on November 

 6th she cast anchor in the Mersey. Capt. 

 Waddell having in a formal letter surrendered 

 his vessel to the English Government, she was 

 by the latter given up to the American consul 

 at Liverpool. The depredations of the Shen- 

 andoah upon American commerce naturally 

 formed the subject of diplomatic' correspond- 

 ence with Great Britain, from which, though 

 it was clearly shown that the British Govern- 

 ment, if disposed to do so, might have pre- 

 vented the sailing or the refitting of cruisers at 

 various times during the war, no practical re- 

 dress seems to have been obtained. 



From the commencement to the termination 

 of the war, about thirty vessels of all descrip- 

 tions were fitted out by the enemy to prey upon 

 American commerce ; and although but seven 

 of these, viz., the Sumter, Nashville, Alabama, 

 Florida, Georgia, Tallahassee, and Shenandoah, 

 were in any respect formidable, their operations 

 were disastrous to our mercantile navy afloat, 

 and almost broke up the carrying trade of the 

 country. Careful statistics show that during 

 the war 275 vessels, of nearly 100,000 tons in 

 the aggregate, -were captured by these pri- 

 vateers. These comprised 4 steamers, 78 ships, 

 43 brigs, 82 barks, and 68 schooners. The value 

 of the vessels and their cargoes it is not easy to 

 compute, but it amounted to many millions. 



On the other hand, the number of vessels cap- 

 tured and sent to United States admiralty courts, 

 for adjudication, from May 1, 1861, to the . 

 of the war, was 1,149, of which there wc:v stunn- 

 ers, 210 ; schooners, .569 ; sloops, 139 ; slnpN I :: ; 

 brigs and brigantines, 29 ; barks, 25 ; yachts, 

 2; small boats, 139; rams and iron-clads, (1; 

 gunboats, torpedo boats, and armed schoon- 

 ers and sloops, 10 ; class unknown, 7 m:ik- 

 ing a total of 1,149. The numbers of vessel! 

 burned, wrecked, sunk, and otherwise dc- 



