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Career of the Shenandoah.
[from the Sunday news, Charleston, S. C., February 3, 1895.] the terror of the Arctic seas captured Thirty-eight whalers, and destroyed Shipping valued at nearly $7,000,000.
A graphic account of the
Cruise of the great commerce Destroyer, from the time of her fitting out near
Funchal,
Madeira, October, 1864, to her surrender to the
British at
Liverpool, November, 1865.
With a summary afforded by the naval records office at Washington.
On the 6th October, 1864, the Confederate steamer
Florida was captured at
Bahia, a neutral port, in violation of an agreement which, to all intents and purposes, amounted to a flag of truce.
This loss of the
Florida, not known to us for weeks after, left the
Confederacy without a cruiser afloat; but on the 7th, the very next day, the
Sea King sailed from
London to assume her place on the high seas, as the Confederate steamer
Shenandoah, with instructions to visit the whaling grounds and destroy the
American whaling fleets.
These vessels were owned principally in the
New England States, and at one time had been a source of great revenue and at all times an element of much pride to that section of country.
The officers were brave and experienced men, exceptionally good sailors and navigators, and they carried their ships without hesitation anywhere and everywhere in pursuit of their game, and often as fast as they filled up with oil the cargo would be transferred to an empty ship and sent home, and then the hunt would be resumed by the same ship, and so on for years.
From
London, the
Sea King went direct to
Funchal,
Madeira, where her purchase was to be completed by her transfer to the Confederate government.
There she signalled the steamer
Laurel, at anchor in the harbor, waiting with officers and munitions of war, she having arrived two days before from
Liverpool.
The
Laurel was a
