THE SEA KINO.

Auckland Star, Volume LV, Issue 188, 9 August 1924, Page 17

THE SEA KINO.

AFTERWARDS SHEMANDOAH

TROOPER AND RAIDER.

(By HEXRY BRETT.)

Tt is nnt generally remembered that tlie famous Shensndoah, irhieh sank si many Yankee craft diirin.fr the American ( ivil War. was once i;i Auckland Har-

hour. Although her exploits were overshadowed hy those of the more famous Confederate cruiser Alabama, the Shcnamioah did a lot of damage to the shipping of the Northerners, and her

iiaiiii- i« frequently mentioned in the

ii p poi iat ion? that took plate at the close of the war between America and Great Britain. Wh»n thp flienandoali \vas

in Auckland she was called the Sea King. That was January 27,1863. In November, IS6.J, she entered the port of Liverpool as tlie Shcnandoah, was seized by the British Government, and handed over to the American Government.

The ship Sea Kinjr was a handsome and powerful iron vessel bui!t by A. Steven and Son, of Glasgow, for Robprtson and Co., of London, for the China, trade. When she arrived in Auckland she was in command of Captain T'inel, and brought out Colonel 'Williams and other officer s . ls."> non-coms, and men nf the First Battery, Fourth Brigade, T!oyal Artillery, and 23 women and !:t children; aNu several oliicers for regiments already in Auckland—those were the days of the Maori war—and 70 rank and lilo of the Commissariat Staff Corps, )4 wives and 2<:> children. The \essel inude a rapid patsajre of 72 days hi ml to land, or 77 days from Woolwich. She had auxiliary engines, but ciinie out most uf the way under canvas. Leaving Woolwich on November 11, lSt>2. the transport called at St. Vincent on the "itith for coal, crossed the Equator on December :i. and the meridian of the Cape on December 2C. Three days before teaching the meridian of the Cape the ship struck a heavy galo that carried away part of the bulwarks and did other damage on deck, the troops being batter.cd down for ten hours. The ship struck more bad weather off the Australian coast. She made the Three Kings on January 23, after having been forty days under canvas and eight and a half days under s-team since leaving St. Vincent.

Mr. William Cullen. of Studholme Street, Morrinsville, who was an A.B. on board the Sea King when she was in Auckland, writes: "The Sea King went from Auckland to Newcastle, and thence lo Shanghai, whore she was sold to the Americans, and liien went to Madeira, where >1k- look on board a new crew and gun*. Thence she sailed to Melbourne, where -lie wa« docked. Her name was changed to MiPiinmlonli, and she then Martini "ill on her career as

;i raider by sinking the barques A. W. SU'veux and Trieste, coalludi it vessels from Newcastle, the second of the two then being on her way lo S;yi KnincUeo. After this the Shenillidoah '-ailed away lo the South Seas. where she burned and destroyed about lliirty-ai.v ship*, most of them being whalers and uli flying the Stars and Stripes iif the Northern States. After peace was declared between the North and South Captain Waddell ran the ship to Liverpool, where he delivered her up to the British Government. This Captain Waddell. who was then iv command of the Shenaudouh, was a passenger when she was the Sea King on her trip to Auckland in 1563. After the war the Shenandoah was sold for one-half her value. £30,000, and again became a peaceful trader. She was engaged in the British-China trade, and was eventually wrecked between Madagascar and the mainland.' .