page_title: CSS Shenandoah
section_title: Legacy
hierarchical_section_title: CSS Shenandoah / Legacy
caption_attribution_description: English: Photo #: NH 42280 CSS Shenandoah (1864-1865) Nineteenth Century photographic reproduction of an artwork, depicting the ship under sail. Original artwork is at The the U.S. Naval Academy Museum, Annapolis, Maryland.
context_page_description: CSS Shenandoah, formerly Sea King, 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.
  Shenandoah was originally a UK merchant ship launched as Sea King on August 17, 1863, but was later re-purposed as one of the most feared commerce raiders in the Confederate navy. During a period of ​12 ¹⁄₂ months from 1864 to 1865, the ship undertook commerce raiding around the world in an effort to disrupt the US economy, resulting in the capture and sinking or bonding of 38 merchant vessels, mostly New Bedford whaling ships. She finally surrendered on the River Mersey, Liverpool, UK, on November 6, 1865, six months after the war had ended. Her flag was the last sovereign Confederate flag to be officially furled. 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.
context_section_description: Shenandoah had remained at sea for 12 months and 17 days, traversed 58,000 miles (carrying the Confederate flag around the globe for the only time) and sank or captured 38 ships, mostly whalers, all of them American civilian merchant vessels. Waddell took close to one thousand prisoners without a single war casualty among his crew; two men died of disease. The ship was never involved in conflict against any Union Naval vessel. The Confederate cruiser claimed more than 20 prizes valued at nearly $1,400,000 (equivalent to $23,400,000 in 2019). In an important development in international law, the U.S. government pursued claims (collectively called the Alabama Claims) against the British government and, following a court of arbitration, won heavy damages.
caption: 19th-century artwork depicting Shenandoah under sail
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