Sea of Gray: The Around-the-World Odyssey of the Confederate Raider Shenandoah
"Just as war will have its heroes and its tragedies, so, inevitably, will it have its ironies," writes Tom Chaffin in Sea of Gray: The Around-the-World Odyssey of the Confederate Raider Shenandoah. The story of the Shenandoah is replete with adventure, sadness and irony and Chaffin tells all in this remarkable tale of the Confederate ship.
In Sea of Gray, Chaffin presents a complete history of the C.S.S. Shenandoah, the last of the Confederate commerce raiders and her 58,000-mile voyage around the world both during and after the Civil War. During this time, it sunk 32 Yankee merchant and whaling ships heavily laden with cargo, including brandy, rum, and whiskey effectively crippling the Union trade and thus its finances.
Over two months after General Robert E. Lee, commanding general of the Army of Northern Virginia, surrendered his men to Ulysses Grant, general-in-chief of all United States in 1865, the Shenandoah was still making war on the Union merchant marine with great success.
The biggerst irony is that the Shenandoah’s greatest conquests happened after the war had ended, and the cause dear to her sailors’ hearts simply did not exist even though they continued to fight for the confederacy. Her main target was specifically New England’s lucrative Arctic whaling fleet, and she ultimately became the only Confederate vessel to circumnavigate the globe.
Whereas many histories of ships begin with dry discussions of the ships in dry dock and their shipbuilders, Sea of Gray begins with intrigue as a cloak-and-dagger story. Southern agent James Bulloch and U.S. Consul Thomas H. Dudley looked for a way to get around the labyrinth of legal obstacles involved in getting a British-built ship to sea and fitted for war.
What then follows is a nautical adventure led by James Waddell, Shenandoah’s eccentric captain. Chaffin examines the conflicts between Waddell and his senior officers over orders and the best ways to succeed. He also chronicles the constant struggle to recruit sailors for a ship plagued by low morale on a dangerous mission for a rogue nation whose survival seemed inevitably doomed. What is perhaps most interesting is Chaffin’s ability to reveal the minutia of the Civil War era sailor’s trials, troubles and tribulations onboard the ship. In short, it is a very thorough work.
The illustrations include the layout and the sail plan of the Shenandoah along with maps of the Arctic voyage and the entire 13-month cruise. Also included are pictures of several of the senior officers and the Shenandoah’s Captain Waddell. Chaffin has included numerous notes, an extensive bibliography, a catalogue of Shenandoah’s prizes, and even information as minute as the breakdown of the watch schedule. What Sea of Gray lacks that accompanies most naval histories is a glossary; however, one really isn’t needed as Chaffin doesn’t rely on naval speak to tell his story.
Further irony occurred when the crew of the Shenandoah raided a British merchant ship only to discover the newspapers she carried, which proved that the Confederacy was no more. Captain Waddell and his crew had to finally accept that their upstart nation had been defeated, which was bad enough, but also that for the four months previous, their raids could be looked upon as nothing more than piracy, a crime punishable by death.
When the ship finally reached Britain, Waddell and his crew hoped the papers were mistaken and asked: "What news from the war in America?" The dismal answer from the dockworker must have hammered home the message, "It has been over so long people have got through talking about it." And with that the ship’s quest ended, but not her legacy or legend.
Sea of Gray would make a great movie. It makes history exciting through character studies, naval battles, survival, enchanted islands, pirate raids, exotic women, little known Civil War information, international intrigue, lessons in leadership, raging storms and nautical commerce. It seems like something out of a Patrick O’Brian novel featuring Captain Jack Aubrey, but Chaffin proves history can be as fascinating as any movie.
Chaffin drew on hundreds of original documents and maps including crew memoirs, journals and contemporary newspaper accounts in researching this rivetting narrative of one very minor episode of the Civil War, but the end result is not something the layperson might appreciate. Chaffin has limited his audience to Civil War buffs alone, perhaps even narrowing it further to those with a specific interest in naval adventures. That may not matter to Chaffin or those Civil War buffs as the chronicles of the Shenandoah makes for a fascinating read.
In Sea of Gray, Chaffin presents a complete history of the C.S.S. Shenandoah, the last of the Confederate commerce raiders and her 58,000-mile voyage around the world both during and after the Civil War. During this time, it sunk 32 Yankee merchant and whaling ships heavily laden with cargo, including brandy, rum, and whiskey effectively crippling the Union trade and thus its finances.
Over two months after General Robert E. Lee, commanding general of the Army of Northern Virginia, surrendered his men to Ulysses Grant, general-in-chief of all United States in 1865, the Shenandoah was still making war on the Union merchant marine with great success.
The biggerst irony is that the Shenandoah’s greatest conquests happened after the war had ended, and the cause dear to her sailors’ hearts simply did not exist even though they continued to fight for the confederacy. Her main target was specifically New England’s lucrative Arctic whaling fleet, and she ultimately became the only Confederate vessel to circumnavigate the globe.
Whereas many histories of ships begin with dry discussions of the ships in dry dock and their shipbuilders, Sea of Gray begins with intrigue as a cloak-and-dagger story. Southern agent James Bulloch and U.S. Consul Thomas H. Dudley looked for a way to get around the labyrinth of legal obstacles involved in getting a British-built ship to sea and fitted for war.
What then follows is a nautical adventure led by James Waddell, Shenandoah’s eccentric captain. Chaffin examines the conflicts between Waddell and his senior officers over orders and the best ways to succeed. He also chronicles the constant struggle to recruit sailors for a ship plagued by low morale on a dangerous mission for a rogue nation whose survival seemed inevitably doomed. What is perhaps most interesting is Chaffin’s ability to reveal the minutia of the Civil War era sailor’s trials, troubles and tribulations onboard the ship. In short, it is a very thorough work.
The illustrations include the layout and the sail plan of the Shenandoah along with maps of the Arctic voyage and the entire 13-month cruise. Also included are pictures of several of the senior officers and the Shenandoah’s Captain Waddell. Chaffin has included numerous notes, an extensive bibliography, a catalogue of Shenandoah’s prizes, and even information as minute as the breakdown of the watch schedule. What Sea of Gray lacks that accompanies most naval histories is a glossary; however, one really isn’t needed as Chaffin doesn’t rely on naval speak to tell his story.
Further irony occurred when the crew of the Shenandoah raided a British merchant ship only to discover the newspapers she carried, which proved that the Confederacy was no more. Captain Waddell and his crew had to finally accept that their upstart nation had been defeated, which was bad enough, but also that for the four months previous, their raids could be looked upon as nothing more than piracy, a crime punishable by death.
When the ship finally reached Britain, Waddell and his crew hoped the papers were mistaken and asked: "What news from the war in America?" The dismal answer from the dockworker must have hammered home the message, "It has been over so long people have got through talking about it." And with that the ship’s quest ended, but not her legacy or legend.
Sea of Gray would make a great movie. It makes history exciting through character studies, naval battles, survival, enchanted islands, pirate raids, exotic women, little known Civil War information, international intrigue, lessons in leadership, raging storms and nautical commerce. It seems like something out of a Patrick O’Brian novel featuring Captain Jack Aubrey, but Chaffin proves history can be as fascinating as any movie.
Chaffin drew on hundreds of original documents and maps including crew memoirs, journals and contemporary newspaper accounts in researching this rivetting narrative of one very minor episode of the Civil War, but the end result is not something the layperson might appreciate. Chaffin has limited his audience to Civil War buffs alone, perhaps even narrowing it further to those with a specific interest in naval adventures. That may not matter to Chaffin or those Civil War buffs as the chronicles of the Shenandoah makes for a fascinating read.
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