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NavSource Online: "Old Navy" Ship Photo Archive

CSS Shenandoah

Awards, Citations and Campaign Ribbons

Civil War Medal

Ship:

Laid down, date unknown, on the River Clyde, Scotland as Sea King, by Alexander Stephen & Sons as an iron-framed, teak-planked, full-rigged ship, with auxiliary steam power

Launched, 17 August 1863

Purchased by the Confederate Government in 1864 for conversion to an armed cruiser

Sea King departed London, 8 October 1864, for Bombay, India, on a "trading voyage"

Off Funchal, Madeira, Sea King was converted to a ship-of-war

Commissioned CSS Shenandoah, 19 October 1864, LT. James I. Waddell, CSN in command

Short handed the cruiser headed for Australia, capturing nine prizes enroute

Departing Melbourne, Shenandoah headed for the North Pacific whaling grounds, burning four whalers in the Caroline Islands in April

Proceeding north, the ship captured a single prize in the Sea of Okhotsk and twenty-one more in the Arctic Ocean

On learning of the surrender of the Confederate armys, 2 August 1865, and knowing that the war was over CAPT. Waddell lowered his Confederate flag, Shenandoah underwent a physical alteration. Guns were dismounted and stored below deck, and her hull was painted to look like an ordinary merchant vessel

The ship sailed to Liverpool were she surrendered to the Royal Navy on 6 November 1865, marking the last surrender of the Civil War

In 1866 the United States government, having taken possession of Shenandoah, sold her to the first Sultan of Zanzibar, who renamed her after himself El Majidi

During her service as a Confederate commerce raider CSS Shenandoah captured 38 vessels

On 15 April 1872, a hurricane hit Zanzibar. El Majidi was one of 6 ships owned by Seyed Burgash which were blown on shore and seriously damaged

Final Disposition, wrecked off East Africa on a voyage from Zanibar to Bombay in 1872, but date is disputed

Specifications:
Displacement 1018 gross tons
Length 222'
Beam 32.6'
Draft 6'
Depth of Hold 20.6'
Speed 9 kts
Complement 19

Armament

one 20-pdr Parrott Rifle

one heavy 12-pdr

Propulsion

sail

A & J Ingalis Ltd, Glasgow auxiliary 850 ihp steam engine

Click On Image For Full Size Image	Size	Image Description	Contributed By
	242k	Pencil sketch of CSS Shenandoah (1864-1865) from the inside cover of a notebook kept by her Commanding Officer, James I. Waddell. The original artwork is at the U.S. Naval Academy Museum, Annapolis, MD. US Naval History and Heritage Command photo # NH 42282	US Naval History and Heritage Command
098654813	86k	A starboard broadside view of the feared Confederate raider CSS Shenandoah at anchor, date and location unknown. US Naval History and Heritage Command, Catalog # NH 59823	Mike Green
	88k	CSS Shenandoah hauled out for repairs at the Williamstown Dockyard, Melbourne, Australia, in February 1865. Note Confederate flag (possibly retouched) flying from her mizzen gaff, and fresh caulking between her planks. US Naval History and Heritage Command photo # NH 85964, courtesy of Martin Holbrook, 1977	Robert Hurst
	79k	Colored lithograph of an artwork by B. Russell, depicting CSS Shenandoah's assault on the U.S. whale ships in the Bering Sea area. Individual items shown are (from left to right): brig *Susan Abigail* (burning); ship *Euphrates* (burning--distant); CSS Shenandoah; ship *Jerah Swift* (burning--distant); ship *William Thompson* (burning--distant); ship *Sophia Thornton* (burning); whaleboat going to warn other whalers (very distant); ship *Milo* which carried the destroyed vessels' crews to San Francisco; ice in the distance. US Naval History and Heritage Command photo # NH 50454-KN )color) from the collection of President Franklin D. Roosevelt. US Naval History and Heritage Command photo # NH 85964, courtesy of Martin Holbrook, 1977	Robert Hurst
	101k	A Nineteenth Century photographic reproduction of an artwork, depicting CSS Shenandoah under sail. Original artwork is at The the U.S. Naval Academy Museum, Annapolis, Maryland. US Naval History and Heritage Command photo # NH 42280	US Naval History and Heritage Command
	136k	Painting depicting the Confederate cruiser CSS Shenandoah in the Arctic ice, circa June 1865. This image has been credited to the "Illustrated London News", though it appears to be a painting on canvas and not a line engraving. US Naval History and Heritage Command # NH 42279	Robert Hurst
	113k	Former Confederate Naval Officers At Leamington Spa, England, Autumn 1865, following the return of CSS Shenandoah. Those present include former Assistant Surgeon Edwin G. Booth (seated), and (standing, left to right): former Acting Master Irvine S. Bulloch (of CSS Shenandoah); former Passed Assistant Surgeon Bennett W. Green; former First Lieutenant William H. Murdaugh; and former Passed Assistant Surgeon Charles E. Lining (of CSS Shenandoah). US Naval History and Heritage Command photo # NH 59499, donation of Hugh S. Cumming, Jr.	Robert Hurst
	499k	Lieutenant John Grimball (1840-1922) of CSS Shenandoah, Confederate Navy, circa 1863-65. Photograph by the French photographer Georges Penabert United States Library of Congress's Prints and Photographs division digital ID ppmsca.38005	Robert Hurst
	353k	CSS Shenandoah, 25 June 1865, in the Bering Strait. The Confederate trade destroyer tows boats with the crews of three burnt pinches, which can be seen in the background on the left. Artist and source both unknown.	Robert Hurst
	129k	"The Late Confederate Cruiser the *Shenandoah* in the River Mersey". Illustration from The Illustrated London News 18 November 1865. Artist unknown.	Robert Hurst
	135k	Possibly ex-CSS Shenandoah in a British port following the end of the Civil War, circa 1865-66. Photo is dated 1895 United Kingdom.	Tommy Trampp
	106k	One of identical pair of saluting guns from the Confederate cruiser CSS Shenandoah. The original artifact is at the U.S. Naval Academy Museum, Annapolis, MD. US Naval History and Heritage Command # NH 42281	Robert Hurst