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By tk Civil War P 72. Both these ships were ready to sail on the 5th. of October 1864 to Madeira, Sea King cleared the Thames, passing two Union warships on patrol at the river's entrance, once more a potential Raider had got away under the noses of their enemy. Laurel managed to clear the Mersey, with Lieutenant Wadell on board, and made tracks for the Madeira Islands, the newly appointed Captain of the latest Raider, studied his brief from Bulloch, and began to worry whether he was up to succeeding in this new role, he did not appear to be confident, and certainly did not have the experience of people like Maffitt and Semmes. On arrival at Funchal, there was no sign of Sea King, Laurel coaled and stalled a customs enquiry as to why they had not sailed, pleading the need for some ship repairs, two days later, off the harbour entrance appeared a ship flying the Union Jack, the wait was over, and Laurel, having retrieved her papers from ashore, headed out to rendezvous with Sea King. Both ships came alongside each other, anchored at Las Desertas, a lonely spot a few miles south of Madeira, in a very short time guns were hoisted aboard Sea King, now Waddell needed to recruit a crew for the latest Confederate Raider, from the men who manned both Laurel and Sea King. His offer of two months extra pay to enlist in the Confederate Navy converted only two, a cabin boy and a fireman, Waddell now used the lure of gold, a bucket of sovereigns was brought on deck, up went the ante, but only two more men were bought. Captain Corbett returned to Laurel, and of the 55 men who made up the Sea King crew 51 went with him. Finally, Waddell could only coax another five to join, in all, he had but 19 crewmen, 23 officers making 43 to man his new command, and he needed at least 150 to sail and fight the ship. His leadership was certainly being tested, he turned to his officers for advice, the burden of their counsel was to go to sea, and try to recruit sufficient seamen from prizes yet to be taken. Waddell read his articles commissioning CSS Shenandoah, and took his ship to sea, he had an unenviable task in front of him, essentially a merchant ship, the decks crowded with stores, gun ports yet to be cut, batteries to be mounted, the conversion to a confederate man-of-war, usually performed in a navy yard, now to be made at sea with an inexperienced and very limited crew. No wonder Waddell had moments of doubt about his ability to emulate those who had travelled this road so well before him. When trying to mount the guns, it was found no gun tackles had been supplied, without them, if the guns were fired, the recoil would carry them to the other side of the ship with devasting effect. Although the guns appeared through newly cut gun ports, threating any ship approached, it was a threat in name only, they could not Civil War P 73. be fired in anger. Waddell in reality, had but two 12 pounders that could be safely fired, all he had to find both new crew members and heavy tackles with which to secure his main armament, he headed south. On the 28th. of October after an already difficult period at sea, a ship was sighted, it proved to be Mogul, although built in the States, she was registered in London, and was released. Two days later, a brand new bark, the 574 ton Alina of Searsport, Maine off to Buenos Aires with a load of railway iron, was captured. Tackles for the guns, and provisions were duly liberated. plus a large quantity of cotton canvas for sails, all duly acquired, and the ship scuttled. Seven new crewmen were signed on, and the voyage southwards continued, and on the 5th. of November, the small 150 ton schooner Charter Oak from Boston was taken, her Captain Sam Gilman, had his wife, her widowed sister and her 4 year old son with him, and the vessel burned. In two more days time, an old Boston bark of 299 tons was overtaken, she carried beef, pork and lumber for Valpariso in Chile, although Waddell wanted this meat for his crew, the 40,000 feet of timber needed to be removed to get to the meat, the day needed for this task was too long to wait, and the ship was burned. On the 9th. of November most of the prisoners were transferred to a Danish brig, Anna Jane, the Alina's chronometer and some provisions being the passage money to ensure this transaction was honoured. Captain Gilman and the ladies staying on board, hoping to find a ship to take them to California in due course, the next day, found the 134 ton Susan from New York a victim, men and a dog now joined the crew. Now a 1,100 clipper, Kate Prince with cardiff coal was captured, the Captain's wife Mrs Libbey told the boarding officer, Lieutenant Lee that her husband and the 21 crew were all southern supporters, and would join Shenandoah's crew, but Waddell decided he did not want a third woman in his ship, also he ruled the cargo was neutral, he bonded the ship for $40,000, got rid of the Gilmans and the widowed sister, releasing this ship. In a short time, another ship was stopped, Adelaide, although built in a New England yard she flew Argenitian colours, no bill of sale could be produced, and her master admitted he was bound for Rio, from New York, and the flour belonged to a New York company, and Mr. Prendergast of Baltimore owned the ship, but he was "A good Southerner." This did not satisfy Waddell, food was removed, and the Captain perused a bundle of letters, to find that Prendergast was indeed a Southern shipping merchant who succeeded in running his business from Baltimore. He ordered the food returned, and wrote a letter of apology for the damage to this ship, and let the
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