 On a slip at Williamstown, Colony of Victoria (now a suburb of Melbourne, Australia) in 1865
| |
| History | |
|---|---|
 Confederate States | |
| Name | Sea King, Shenandoah, El Majidi |
| Port of registry | Liverpool |
| Builder | Alexander Stephen & Sons, River Clyde, Scotland |
| Yard number | 42[1] |
| Launched | August 17, 1863 |
| Acquired | 1863 |
| Recommissioned | October 19, 1864 |
| Decommissioned | November 6, 1865 |
| Maiden voyage | Transport troops to New Zealand and return, 10 months |
| Renamed | CSS Shenandoah |
| Fate | As El Majidi foundered in November 1879 |
| General characteristics | |
| Type | Extreme clipper hull |
| Tonnage | 1018 grt, 790 nrt |
| Length | 230 ft (70 m) |
| Beam | 32.5 ft (9.9 m) |
| Draft | 20 ft 6 in (6.25 m) |
| Decks | poop, main, berth |
| Deck clearance | 7.5 ft (2.3 m) |
| Installed power | 200 HP A. & J. Inglis steam engine |
| Propulsion | 14 ft-diameter (4.3 m) bronze propeller |
| Sail plan | Full-rigged ship |
| Speed |
|
| Complement | 109 officers and men |
| Armament |
|
CSS Shenandoah, formerly Sea King and later El Majidi, was an iron-framed, teak-planked, full-rigged sailing ship with auxiliary steam power chiefly known for her actions under Lieutenant Commander James Waddell as part of the Confederate States Navy during the American Civil War.[2]
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 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's economy, capturing and sinking or bonding 38 merchant vessels, mostly whaling ships from New Bedford, Massachusetts. She finally surrendered on the River Mersey, Liverpool, United Kingdom, on November 6, 1865, six months after the war had ended.
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.[3]