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'''CSS ''Shenandoah''''', formerly '''''Sea King''''' and later '''''El Majidi''''', was an iron-framed, teak-planked, [[full-rigged ship|full-rigged sailing ship]] with auxiliary [[steam-powered ship|steam power]] chiefly known for her actions under Lieutenant Commander [[James Iredell Waddell|James Waddell]] as part of the [[Confederate States Navy]] during the [[American Civil War]].<ref name="balwin611">Baldwin, pp. 6–11</ref>
''Shenandoah'' was originally a British [[merchant ship]] launched as ''Sea King'' on August 17, 1863, but was later repurposed as one of the most feared [[commerce raiding|commerce raiders]] in the [[Confederate Navy]]. For twelve-and-a-half months from 1864 to 1865, the ship undertook commerce raiding around the world in an effort to disrupt the [[Union (American Civil War)|Union's]]
''Shenandoah'' is also known for having fired the last shot of the Civil War, across the bow of a [[whaler]] in waters off the [[Aleutian Islands]].<ref>Baldwin, p. 255</ref>▼
▲''Shenandoah'' is also known for having fired the last shot of the Civil War, across the bow of a
==History and mission==
[[File:CSSShenandoah-sketch.jpg|thumb|left|A pencil sketch of CSS ''Shenandoah'', from the inside cover of a notebook kept by her commanding officer]]
[[File:JamesIredellWaddellCSA.jpg|thumb|left|Commander [[James I. Waddell]]]]
The ship had three names and many owners in her lifetime of nine years. She was designed as an auxiliary composite passenger cargo ship of 1,018 [[Tonnage|tons]] and built in 1863 by Alexander Stephen & Sons, [[Glasgow]],
''Sea King''
The new Confederate cruiser was commissioned on 19 October 1864, lowering the [[Union Jack]] and raising the "[[Flags of the Confederate States of America#Second flag|Stainless Banner]]", and was renamed CSS ''Shenandoah''.<ref name="balwin611"/>
As developed in the [[Confederate States Department of the Navy|Confederate Navy Department]] and by its agents in Europe, ''Shenandoah'' was tasked to strike at the Union's economy and "seek out and utterly destroy" commerce in areas yet undisturbed. Captain Waddell began seeking enemy merchant ships on the [[Indian Ocean]] route between the [[Cape of Good Hope]] and Australia, and in the Pacific whaling fleet.<ref name="balwin611"/> En route to the Cape, the Confederates captured six [[prize (law)|prizes]]. Five were burned or scuttled, after the crew and passengers had been removed. The sixth was bonded and used to transport the prisoners to [[Salvador, Brazil|Bahia, Brazil]], where they were released. On the
===Colony of Victoria stopover===
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The rich whaling grounds in the Bering Sea between [[Siberia]] and [[Alaska]] had been a safe haven for Yankee whalers for most of the American Civil War. This prosperous whaling ended in the spring and summer of 1865 when ''Shenandoah'' arrived and captured 20 of the 58 Yankee whalers working there. These whalers were destroyed more than a month after CSA President [[Jefferson Davis]] was captured on May 10, 1865.
On June 27, 1865, Waddell learned from a prize, ''Susan & Abigail'', that General [[Robert E. Lee]] had surrendered the [[Army of Northern Virginia]] almost three months earlier at [[Battle of Appomattox Court House|Appomattox Court House]]. ''Susan & Abigail'''s captain produced a San Francisco newspaper reporting the flight from [[Richmond, Virginia|Richmond]] of the Confederate government 10 weeks previously. However, the newspaper also contained President Davis' proclamation that the "war would be carried on with
On August 3, 1865, Waddell learned of the war's definite end when ''Shenandoah'' encountered the Liverpool [[barque]] ''Barracouta'', which was bound for San Francisco. Waddell was heading to the city to attack it, believing it weakly defended.<ref name="whenliverpoolwasdixie.org.uk">{{cite web|url=http://www.whenliverpoolwasdixie.org.uk/surrender.htm|title=Surrender of the Shenandoah|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150626171650/http://www.whenliverpoolwasdixie.org.uk/surrender.htm|archive-date=2015-06-26}}</ref> He learned of the surrender of [[Joseph E. Johnston|Johnston
Captain Waddell lowered the Confederate flag, and ''Shenandoah'' underwent physical alteration. Her guns were dismounted and stowed below deck, and her hull was painted to look like an ordinary merchant ship.<ref name="Gaines">{{cite book|last=Gaines|first=W. Craig|title=Encyclopedia of Civil War shipwrecks |publisher=Louisiana State University Press|location=Baton Rouge|year=2008|pages=13–25|isbn=978-0-8071-3274-6 <!--0807132748-->|oclc= 255822065|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=90d2LcmfpCcC&pg=PA20}}</ref><ref name="Thomsen">{{cite book|last=Thomsen|first=Brian M.|title=Blue & Gray at Sea: Naval Memoirs of the Civil War |publisher=Forge|location=New York |year=2004|series=Extracts from the Official Records of the Union and Confederate Navies in the War of Rebellion|pages=279–287|chapter=Abstract Log of C.S.S.Shenandoah, Lieutenant Commanding J.I. Waddell, C.S. Navy Commanding|isbn= 9780765308962|oclc=173166438|chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=rb202b80x6sC&pg=PA279}}</ref>
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===Last lowering of Confederate flag===
CSS ''Shenandoah'' sailed from off the west coast of Mexico via [[Cape Horn]] to Liverpool, a voyage of three months and over {{convert|9000|nmi|mi km}} and was all the while pursued by Union vessels. She 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.
The ''[[Liverpool Mercury]]'' reported the event on Tuesday, 7 November 1865:
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Considerable excitement was caused on 'Change yesterday morning by circulation of the report that the Confederate cruiser Shenandoah, of whose exploits amongst the American whalers in the North Pacific so much has been heard, was passed about 8 o'clock by the steamer Douglas at anchor at [[Liverpool Bar|the bar]], of Victoria Channel, apparently waiting for high water. By many the report was discredited, it being thought that those on board the Douglas were in error, and had mistaken some other craft for the celebrated ex-Confederate cruiser. At half past ten, however, all doubts on the point were set at rest, with the Shenandoah steaming up the Victoria Channel with the [[Palmetto flag]] flying from her masthead.<ref name="whenliverpoolwasdixie.org.uk"/>}}
{{HMS|Donegal|1858|6}} happened to be anchored in mid-river between Toxteth in Liverpool and Tranmere in Birkenhead. Captain Waddell maneuvered his ship near to the British man-of-war, dropping anchor.
CSS ''Shenandoah'' had struck her colors twice. This marked the last surrender of the American Civil War and the last official lowering of the Confederate flag. The very last act of the Civil War was Captain Waddell walking up the steps of [[Liverpool Town Hall]] with a letter to present to the mayor surrendering his ship to the UK government.<ref name="whenliverpoolwasdixie.org.uk"/>
The United States Naval War Records published in 1894:
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November 5 – Arrived in the Mersey, off Liverpool, and on Monday, the 6th, surrendered the Shenandoah to the British nation, by letter to [[Lord John Russell]], premier of Great Britain. (signed) JAMES I WADDELL.<ref>United States Government Printing Office, 1894</ref>}}
After the surrender,
===Fate of the crew===
After the surrender of ''Shenandoah'' to the British government, a decision had to be made of what to do with the Confederate crew, knowing the consequences of piracy charges. Clearly many of the crew originated from the United Kingdom and its colonies and were at risk of being considered pirates, and three had swum ashore in the cold November waters fearing the worst.<ref>"Last Flag Down"</ref>
After a full investigation by law officers of the Crown, it was decided that the officers and crew did not infringe the rules of war or the laws of nations to justify being held as prisoners, so they were unconditionally released.
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{{div col end}}
Sometime in December 1865, crew members S.S. Lee, Orris M. Brown, John T. Mason and W.C. Whittle sailed from Liverpool to [[Buenos Aires]], via Bahia, [[Rio de Janeiro]] and [[Montevideo]]. After prospecting for a while, they went to [[Rosario]], upon [[Paraná River]], and near there bought a small place and began farming.{{citation needed|date = November 2015}} As the animosity of the US government began to soften towards them, Brown and Mason returned home
On returning home, Mason took a law course at the [[University of Virginia]], graduated, and was successful at his profession. He settled in Baltimore, and married Miss Helen Jackson, of New York, daughter of the late Lieutenant Alonzo Jackson of the [[U.S. Navy]].<ref name="tribute">{{cite web|url=http://www.csa-dixie.com/liverpool_dixie/whittle.htm|title=Tribute by Capt. W. C. Whittle CSN to John T. Mason and the Shenandoah|date=October 1904|work=The Cruise of the CSS Shenandoah|publisher=Southern Crossroads|access-date=24 January 2010|archive-date=7 February 2009|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090207142401/http://csa-dixie.com/liverpool_dixie/whittle.htm|url-status=dead}}</ref>
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Born in 1824, Captain Waddell was a former U.S. Navy officer with decades of sailing experience and a [[Mexican–American War]] naval combat veteran before resigning his commission to accept a commission in the Confederate States Navy. He returned from England to the United States in 1875 to captain ''San Francisco'' for the Pacific Mail Company. He later took command of a force that policed the oyster fleets in the [[Chesapeake Bay]]. In 1886, Waddell died of a brain disorder and was buried at St. Anne's Episcopal Church in [[Annapolis, Maryland]].<ref>''Dictionary of North Carolina Biography''. (1996). (William S. Powell, Ed.). Chapel Hill, North Carolina: University of North Carolina Press, Vol. 6, p. 106 {{ISBN|0-8078-2225-6}}</ref>
Dr. Frederick J. McNulty, the ship's assistant surgeon, eventually became a resident of [[Boston, Massachusetts]], where he was first employed as Superintendent of the City Lunatic Asylum at Austin Farm and, later, opened there a private sanitarium called Pine Grove Retreat at [[Roslindale]] while continuing to reside at 706 Huntington Avenue, Boston. He became a primary historical source for chroniclers of the actions of ''Shenandoah''. Whittle recounts that McNulty, a man of irascible temper, laid the ship's barber out with a single blow when the barber shoved shaving soap in his mouth as part of the crew's hazing of the ship's officers in celebration of crossing the equator. McNulty enlisted as a surgical officer in the Chilean Navy immediately after the surrender of ''Shenandoah'' and later in 1869 accepted a commission in the Cuban Patriot Army, but was repeatedly prevented from traveling to join the Army by U.S. government authorities before settling in Boston in 1879. McNulty is variously reported to have been a native of [[Ireland]], the [[District of Columbia]] and [[Richmond, Virginia]], but was most likely
==Fate==
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