CSS Shenandoah
Posted on 07/04/2005 8:48:40 PM PDT by stainlessbanner
>>>Book Review<<<<
Recent headlines have proved a vindication of sorts for frustrated historians who cringe at the question, "Why should I care about something that happened ages ago?" Suddenly, "Deep Throat" is on the nation's lips almost as breathlessly as it was 35 years ago.
So why should we care about "The Last Shot," Lynn Schooler's entry into the Civil War canon?
"It is incompatible with virtue that the South should ever be reconciled to the North," said Capt. James Waddell, skipper of the Confederate vessel that would fire the last shot of the Civil War. Substitute "red state" or "blue state" for South and North and you can hear that shot resonate today.
"The Last Shot" chronicles the seagoing adventures of the raider CSS Shenandoah, the Confederate Navy's secret weapon in its drive to crush the Union's economy, which was then dependent on the Arctic whaling fleet as it provided the virtual equivalent of what fossil-fuel oil is today. Whale oil filled most of the lamps that lit the country (and, of course, women's fashion required whalebone corsets in huge numbers).
From the ship's log, periodicals of the time, daily journals and the eventual memoirs of the captain and six of his officers, Schooler lets the principals do most of the talking. When he does interject to narrate, it is with confidence in the subject and an engaging wit. Schooler twines together the various threads with such skill that the reader is put on deck with the crew, taking each wild wave and overhearing the scuttlebutt first-hand.
Burning and looting its way around the world, the Shenandoah initially destroyed at least four ships without ever firing a live shot. It went on to sink half the whaling fleet with its valuable oil, and capture 1,000 prisoners, all without losing a single man to hostilities. It also holds the distinction of being the only Confederate vessel to circumnavigate the globe.
Half of its adventures occurred months after the War Between the States ended; but the crew of the Shenandoah had no way of knowing this and went blithely on in its mission to cripple the enemy's means to make war.
When Capt. James Waddell finally heard the news, at a point just after he had decided against sacking the city of San Francisco, he refused to believe the South had fallen. In continuing to pursue the rebel cause, he was branded a pirate by newspapers around the globe.
This is a seafaring tale and as such, Schooler remarks only briefly on the immorality of the Southern cause. That men of no small virtue nonetheless prosecuted that cause is demonstrated throughout the tale. Their integrity is most on display the moment they realize they may truly be nothing more than pirates — to them, worse than being adherents of slavery.
In capturing the Shenandoah's final quarry, the last shot was fired in ignorance, and too late to be of any help to Southern honor. It did, however, herald the Confederacy's one enduring triumph, the extinction of the whaling industry.
Even for someone without the maritime vernacular, all the "standing away on the port tack," "halyards let go" and "forestorm trysails" do nothing to slacken the pace of the Shenandoah's grand adventures. Context provides the translation, and I say that as someone whose nearest experience to sailing is having once been three sheets to the wind.
While it is unlikely that the red and blue states will come to blows, the significance of "The Last Shot" resonates to the present day. In the ensuing cold war over the Shenandoah's status — pirate or legitimate foe? — can be found the seeds for the Marshall Plan (in Reconstruction), the United Nations (in the lawsuit against the British for providing the means for the Confederate Navy to pursue its depredations of the Union economy), and "an entire body of international civil law that remains in effect to this day."
And if historical curiosity is insufficient incentive, note to bounty salvagers: Whatever $15,000 in 1865 gold is worth today, there may be that much sunk off the coast of Siberia, where one of the raider's victims, the Yankee bark "Jireh Swift," was burned.
Years ago, I was in Cape Cod, where I was introduced to scrimshaw, the sailor's art of etching into whalebone. It was evocative, precise and made impressive use of the residue of the whaling endeavor, so that nothing of the whale was wasted. The same can be said for Schooler's "The Last Shot." This is not the bone-dry history of the scriveners. It is the art of scrimshaw, on paper.
CSS history bump
CSS Shenandoah
"It did, however, herald the Confederacy's one enduring triumph, the extinction of the whaling industry."
Well - all's well that ends well.
(Why does it not surprise me that this review was in the Seattle Times?!)
ping
he served till the bitter, bloody end & went home to AUS & disappeared into the Outback in 1866.
the curator of the Australian "Civil War Museum" says that there is a "story" that he walked off the whaling ship that he had returned home on and "left a pile of clothes" at the end of the dock & "went for a walkabout, as God made him". (had to LOL at that image!)
free dixie,sw
The Northern whaling industry had been in decline since the 1820's, and the discovery of petroleum in commercially exploitable quantities (via wells, rather than by skimming seeps, as the Indians had done) in 1859, in Pennsylvania (close to markets), did a great deal to bring down what was left of whaling. Pennsylvania was producing something like 2,000,000 barrels a year, or about 6,000 barrels per day, and the wild speculation and drilling activity, and the attendant high rates of discovery caused the first "oil bust". Celebrated people (and some Lincoln associates IIRC, even John Wilkes Booth got involved at some point if memory serves) went broke in that boom-and-bust cycle.
Keep in mind that almost all of this oil was for illumination and lubrication -- the internal combustion engine was still two generations away.
Some of the oil produced from Gulf Coast oil wells has rivalled whale oil in its qualities, being often straw-colored and very light, and referred to by a previous generation of petroleum engineers as "casinghead gasoline", when produced from natural-gas wells. Nowadays it's usually called "condensate" instead (accent on the first syllable). Early drillers in south Louisiana were surprised to find that some of their crudes were greenish-yellow and transparent, light enough to burn in their kerosene lamps without refining.
fwiw, he was known to his shipmates as "Shooter Jon". i'm not sure what his last name was or indeed if his people used last names at that time.
Tom tells me that there are NO records of either his birth or death, or for that matter any other records of his passing, other than his CSN service of course. (in the pre-1920 period, the Australian government made no serious attempt to keep records of their native people. PITY!)
free dixie,sw
Considering what governments tend to do with personal information, he was probably better off because they didn't have it.
All this history changing appears to be a real stretch, its purpose to generate additional interest in the story and more book sales.
Thanks for posting. I had not heard this story before.
I've seen quite a few sailors returning to Norfolk from a six-month cruise do the same right after walking out the gates. Eventually, either the shore patrol or the Norfolk cops will bring them back...
;-)
however, i'd like to know a LOT more about him, as he was evidently the ONLY one of his kind to volunteer to fight for dixie FREEDOM!
free dixie,sw
free dixie,sw
I have done a massive amount of research on the CSS SHENANDOAH and her crew, and have the shipping articles, which show all crew who signed on. I have not come upon anyone who was an Aborigine from Australia who served on this cruiser. Could you please put me in contact with this curator of the “Civil War Museum” so that I can obtain further details of where he got his information from? I am absolutely certain that no such person served on the SHENANDOAH. Peter Guy, an Englishman, was the only GUNNER aboard the SHENANDOAH. This rank was an officer’s rank, and, in those days, they would most certainly not have given an African American, let alone an Australian Aborigine, the rank of a commissioned officer.
I know there was a Malay, some African Americans who were rated as cooks, etc., and other foreigners, including white Australians, but no Aborigines as shown in all my research.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.