Continued from October 2nd.
The Shenandoah was badly on need of an overhaul and was considerably slower than its best speed. Had the ship been sighted, it would have had a hard time getting away. So, Waddell avoided regular shopping lanes. Gales and icebergs provided further obstacles.
At one time, the Shenandoah was almost caught by the USS Saranac, but manages to slip away in the darkness.
On November 6, 1865, still flying the Confederate flag, the crew arrived in Liverpool's Mersey River in a thick fog and promptly grounded and had to wait for high tide to float off.
It anchored near the ship-of-the-line HMS Donegal, 101 guns, and surrendered.
During its long raiding cruise and return to Liverpool, the CSS Shenandoah had not lost a man and had captured 38 Union ships, sinking 32 and bonding 6 and a total damage of $1,363,983.
Waddell had collected 36 chronometers as momentos of the captures. I would guess the other two ships didn't have a chronometer or Waddell didn't begin his collection until after the second one.
The US received the Shenandoah and sold it at auction.
I Wonder What Happened to the Chronometer Collection. --Old B-Runner
No comments:
Post a Comment