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CSS ''Shenandoah'', formerly ''Sea King'', was an iron-framed, teak-planked, full-rigged ship, with auxiliary steam power, captained by Confederate States Navy Lieutenant Commander James Waddell, a North Carolinian with twenty years of prior service in the United States Navy.〔Baldwin, pp. 6–11〕 The ''Shenandoah'' was launched as ''Sea King'' on August 17, 1863, and would become one of the most feared commerce raiders in the Confederate Navy. She surrendered on the River Mersey, Liverpool, England, on November 6, 1865. Her flag was the last sovereign Confederate flag to be officially furled. During months of 1864–1865 the ship undertook commerce raiding resulting in the capture and sinking or bonding of thirty-eight Union merchant vessels, mostly New Bedford whaleships. The ''Shenandoah'' fired the last shot of the American Civil War, across the bow of a whaler in waters off the Aleutian Islands.〔Baldwin, p. 255〕 ==History and mission== The vessel had three names and many owners in her lifetime of nine years. She had been designed as an auxiliary composite passenger cargo vessel of 1,018 tons being built in 1863 by Alexander Stephen & Sons, Glasgow, Scotland, for Robertson & Co., Glasgow to be named ''Sea King''. The vessel was intended for the East Asia tea trade and as a troop transport. On being fitted out at the builders the Northern Union assessed the ship for purchase.〔http://www.wrecksite.eu/wreck.aspx?59741#87503〕 After change of owner and a number trips to the Far East carrying cargo and to New Zealand transporting troops to the Maori War, the Confederate Navy assessed and purchased her from Wallace Bros of Liverpool in secret with the signing on 18 October 1864, one day before being renamed ''CSS Shenandoah''. The ship was to be converted into an armed cruiser with a mission to capture and destroy Union merchant ships. ''Sea King'' sailed from London on 8 October 1864, ostensibly for Bombay, India, on a trading voyage. The supply steamer ''Laurel'' sailed from Liverpool the same day. The two ships rendezvoused at Funchal, Madeira, with the ''Laurel'' carrying the officers and the nucleus of the commerce raider's crew, together with naval guns, ammunition, and ship's stores. Her commander, Lieutenant James Iredell Waddell supervised her conversion to a man-o-war in nearby waters. However, Waddell was barely able to bring his crew to even half strength, despite additional volunteers from the merchant sailors on the ''Sea King'' and from ''Laurel''. The Confederate cruiser was commissioned on 19 October 1864, lowering the Union Jack and raising the "Stainless Banner", and renaming the vessel ''CSS Shenandoah''.〔 As developed in the Confederate Navy Department and developed by its agents in Europe, ''CSS Shenandoah'' was tasked to strike at the Union's economy and "seek out and utterly destroy" commerce in areas yet undisturbed. Captain Waddell began seeking enemy merchant ships on the Cape of Good Hope–Australia route and in the Pacific whaling fleet.〔 Captain Waddell sailed her around the Cape of Good Hope of Africa and headed across the Indian Ocean for Australia, destroying Union vessels he encountered on the route. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「CSS Shenandoah」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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