Page:Southern Historical Society Papers volume 25.djvu/133

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remained some days in this harbor, where he made friends with the native " King," a savage.

The course of the Shenandoah was thence for many days toward the north and beset with violent storms. Finally, the snow-covered Kuril Islands were sighted, and on May 3131 the Sea of Okhotsh was entered under the coast of Kamschatka. A few days later the whaling lurk Abigail, of New Bedford, was overtaken, captured and burned. The Shenandoah continued as far north as the mouth of Chijinsk Bay, but being forced away by the ice, she stole along the coast of Siberia on her still hunt, amid frequent storms and great clanger from floating ice. On June I4th, no ships having been sighted, Waddell changed his course toward the Aleutian Islands, entered Behring Sea on the next day, and almost immediately fell in with a couple of New Bedford whalers. One of them, the William Thompson, was the largest out of New England, and valued at $60,000. These ships were burned.

The following day five vessels were sighted near an ice floe. The Confederates hoisted the American flag, bore down upon them, and ordered the nearest, the Milo, of New Bedford, to produce her ship's papers. Her captain complied, but was enraged to find himself thus entrapped. He declared the war was over. Waddell demanded documentary evidence which the Captain could not produce. His vessel was seized, and the Shenandoah started after the companion ships with the usual result. For several days following, the Shenan- doah had things her own way, and the prizes were frequent and val- uable. She struck fleet after fleet of whaling ships, only to consign them and their contents to the flames. On June 26th alone, five ships, valued collectively at $160,000, were destroyed, and a day or two later, she reached the climax of her career, burning within eleven hours eleven ships, worth in the aggregate nearly $500,000.

The Shenandoah was now overcrowded with prisoners, most of whom were afterwards transferred to passing ships. Having cruised around daringly for a week or two longer, and sighting no more ships, she turned her prow southward again. Her depredations were at an end, for early in August, she spoke the English bark Barricouta, from San Francisco to Liverpool, and from her received conclusive evidence of the end of the war between the States. Com- mander Waddell could not persuade himself to enter an American port, and for some time aimlessly scoured the seas. Later it was determined to seek an English port, and on November 5, 1865, the Shenandoah entered St. George's channel, having sailed 23,000