23 Facts About CSS Shenandoah

CSS Shenandoah, formerly Sea King and later El Majidi, was an iron-framed, teak-planked, full-rigged sailing ship with auxiliary steam power chiefly known for her actions under Lieutenant Commander James Waddell as part of the Confederate States Navy during the American Civil War.

CSS Shenandoah finally surrendered on the River Mersey, Liverpool, United Kingdom, on November 6,1865, six months after the war had ended.

CSS Shenandoah's flag was the last sovereign Confederate flag to be officially furled.

CSS Shenandoah is known for having fired the last shot of the Civil War, across the bow of a whaler in waters off the Aleutian Islands.

Still short-handed, CSS Shenandoah arrived at Melbourne, Colony of Victoria, on January 25,1865, where she filled her complement and her storerooms.

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CSS Shenandoah signed on 40 crew members who had been stowaways from Melbourne.

CSS Shenandoah took only one prize in the Indian Ocean, but hunting became more profitable after refitting in Melbourne.

CSS Shenandoah's guns were dismounted and stowed below deck, and her hull was painted to look like an ordinary merchant ship.

CSS Shenandoah sailed from off the west coast of Mexico via Cape Horn to Liverpool, a voyage of three months and over 9,000 nautical miles and was all the while pursued by Union vessels.

CSS Shenandoah anchored at the Mersey Bar at the mouth of the estuary awaiting a pilot to board her to guide the ship up the river and into the enclosed docks.

CSS Shenandoah sailed up the River Mersey with the flag fully flying to crowds on the riverbanks.

The CSS Shenandoah was surrendered by Captain Waddell to Captain Paynter of HMS Donegal on 6 November 1865.

In so doing, CSS Shenandoah became the only Confederate warship to circumnavigate the globe.

However, about 6 o'clock last night a telegram was received from Government by Captain Paynter, of her Majesty's ship Donegal, to whom the CSS Shenandoah was surrendered, that the whole of the officers and crew, who were not British subjects were to be immediately paroled.

CSS Shenandoah settled in Baltimore, and married Miss Helen Jackson, of New York, daughter of the late Lieutenant Alonzo Jackson of the US Navy.

CSS Shenandoah returned from England to the United States in 1875 to captain San Francisco for the Pacific Mail Company.

CSS Shenandoah later took command of a force that policed the oyster fleets in the Chesapeake Bay.

CSS Shenandoah became a primary historical source for chroniclers of the actions of Shenandoah.

CSS Shenandoah graduated from the Georgetown University School of Medicine in the District of Columbia and lived in Richmond, Virginia before resigning his commission in the medical service of the US Navy to accept a commission in the Confederate States Navy.

CSS Shenandoah developed holes and took on water, sinking a few days later.

CSS Shenandoah was on a voyage from Zanzibar to Bombay, India, where she was to undergo repairs.

CSS Shenandoah had remained at sea for 12 months and 17 days, traversed 58,000 miles and sank or captured 38 ships, mostly whalers, all of them American civilian merchant vessels.

Battle ensign of CSS Shenandoah is unique amongst the flags of the Confederate States of America as it was the only Confederate flag to circumnavigate the Earth during the Confederacy, and it was the last Confederate flag to be lowered by a combatant unit in the Civil War.