The evening telegraph. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1864-1918, 1866-02-13
THE SHENANDOAH" AGAIN.
letter from Captain WaddeII-His Plea
of Ignorance of the Restoration OF Ihe
UniOn-The Terror of HIS officers The
Voyage to England.

of Ignorance OF the Restoration Of Ihe
UniOn-The Terror of HIS officers The
voyage to England.
From he Mobile Netos.
A gentleman of this city has received letter
from Captain Waddel formerly in command of
the cruiser Shenandoah, dated December 27,
Waterloo, near Liverpool from which we are
permitted to make such extracts as may be of
interest to the general public.
The Captain appears to feel bitter disappoin.-
ment over the result of the war. He says that
the South has played false to her cause-he has
very little respect for her-he does not believe
she was in earnest-she will never again take
the field, etc. Regarding himself he says:--
am now in exile but far from being aruined
man.: won't go to sea any more II can help
it. The feeling shown toward me through the
restriction placed on my wiiG is decided. It is
just the feeling / like, though the tyranny to
her is humiliating to the nature OF man. L
have written her to release her bondsmen and
inform the Government that she owes her allie
glance to her husband. AS my case now stands,
l do not think the bond is worth the paper it
is written on. In court of law, l know it
would tall
You have seen Mr.. Welles' report, 1 suppose?
He does me justice when he writes that |
ceased my depredahons when | heard Mr..
Davis was prisoner He wilfully hes when
ne writes that l continued "cruising against
unarmed whale ships when l knew that the
armies of the South had surrendered" The
facts are these:-
After reaching Behring's Sea I captured the
ship William Thomson and brig Susan abigail.
Both had lett San Francisco in April last These
captures were made about the 23d of June, and
from each | received San Francisco papers.
These papers protessed to have the correspond
ence between Generals Lee and Grant, concern
ing the surrender OF Lees army. They also
stated that Mr.. Davis and Cabinet were in Dan
vile, to which the Confederate Govrrnment had
been removed, and that Mr.. Davis had issued
Dp m mi 1irarr hn N1o
that the war would be carried on with renewed
vigor.
was made possessor of as late news by these
two captors as any the whalers had, and 1 con-
tinued my work until it was completed in the
Arctic Ocean on the 2Sth of June, when / had
succeeded in destroying or dispensing the New
England whaling fleet. l left the Arctic on the
29tb of June, and shipped from some of the
whalers eight men on that very day-men of in
telligence, all trained soldiers. 1t is not to be
believed that those men would have taken SER
vice in the Shenandoah if they believed the war
ended.
After leaving Behring's Sea, fell in with no
vessel until | communicated with the British
barque Bd7TdcOutd, from San Francisco I'd of
August, fourteen days, bound for Liverpool. She
informed me of the capture of Mr.. Davis and q
part of his Cabinet; also OF the surrender of
Generals Johnstons, Smiths, and Magruder's
armies. The Barracuda furnished that news
the first time heard it, and / instantly ceased
to cruise, and steered for Cape Horn.
Before communicating with the Barracuda,
intended to look into the Gulf of Lower Califor-
mia, and then to await the arrival OF California
steamer bound for Panama.
The Bd7TdcOutd'S news surprised us, and
among some of the officers | witnessed a terror
which mortified me. l was implored to take the
vessel to Australia; that to try to reach a Euro
pean port would be fatal TO all concerned; petit
tions were signed by threefourths of the officers
asking to be taken to Cape Town, arguing and
picturing the horrors of capture, and all that
| SORT of stuff. I called the officers and crew to
| the Qunrtpr-0ppk and said calmly tn tham.-GtT
| intend taking this ship to Liverpool; l know
| there is risk to be run, but that has been our
associate all this time. We will be sought after
| in the Pacific and not in the Atlantic
They supported my views, and then followed a
| letter from the crew-signed by II out of 10
| saying they had confidence in me, and were will
ing, nay, desired to go with me wherever L
| thought best 70 take the vessel. L had, of
| course, very anxious time, painfully anxious,
| because the officers set bad example to the
| crew. Their conduct was nothing less than
| mutiny. l was very decided with some of them; !;
! / had to tell one officer would be captain or
die on the deck, and the vessel should go to no
other port than Liverpool. So ended my trOu-
| BILE with complaints and suuplications from the
| officers. The men behaved nobly and stood
| firmly to their decision.
When the ship was 400 miles from the Azores,
| a spicious-looking vessel was seen ahead, and
| apparently lying to, waiting for us to come up
| with her. 1t was sunset, the wind very light
| and my suspicious being aroused, steered my
| course steadily until darkness closed upon us,
| and then / wore ship and stood south west till
| steam could be gotten up, for had not even
| banked fires since parting with the Barracuda.
| 1t took two hours to get up steam; when it was
ready, furled sails, steered due east for sixteen
| miles, and hauled on my course, steaming for
| 100 miles, believe she was a Yankee cruiser.
| She was only six miles of when night came on,
but / eVaded her successfully.
| The Shenandoah, under sail, is a sixteen-knot
vessel; under steam, nine knots; fine sea craft.
! She ran from the Arctic to Liverpool in one hun
| dred and thirty days; from the line on the Paci-
| fc side to the Cape in twenty-siX days; from the
| Cape to the line on the Atlantic in twentysix
days; and from the line to Liverpool in twenty
four days. Two of my crew died of disease when
near Liverpool; otherwise nothing happened to
mar our cruise; no accident occurred during the
| cruise.
So ends my naval career and l am called a
pirate !" | made New England suffer, and /
| do not regret it. l cannot be condemned by any
| honest thinking man. l surrendered the vessel
to the British Government ana all are uncondi-
tionally released. My obstinacy made enemies
among some of the officers, but they now in
wardly regret their action 10 the Cape Town
| affair.
| DR.. LIvMGsToNEs AFRICAN EXPEDITION
The Times of India of the 28th December says:-
| ''Dr, Livingstone intends soon to proceed tO