Sea of Gray: The Around-the-world Odyssey of the Confederate Raider Shenandoah - Hardcover

Chaffin, Tom

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0809095114 ISBN 13: 9780809095117

Publisher: Hill & Wang Pub, 2006

Synopsis

The 58,000-Mile, Around-the-World Cruise of the Confederacy's Last Ship Afloat
 The sleek, 222-foot, black auxiliary steamer The Sea King left Liverpool on October, 8, 1864, ostensibly bound for Bombay. The subterfuge was ended off the shores of Madeira, as the ship was rechristened and outfitted for war. With new gun ports cut to accommodate additional cannon, the CSS Shenandoah commenced the last, most quixotic sea story of the Civil War, the 58,000-mile, around-the-world cruise of the Confederacy's second most successful merchant raider. Before its voyage was over, thirty- four Union merchant and whaling ships and their cargoes would be sunk. But it was after ship and crew had rounded Africa's Cape of Good Hope, stopped long enough in Australia to cause a diplomatic crisis, and navigated the ice floes of Siberia's Sea of Okhotsk, the Bering Sea, and the Arctic Ocean that their journey took its most fearful turn.
Four months after the Civil War was over, the Shenandoah's Captain Waddell finally learned he was, and had been, fighting without cause or state. In the eyes of the Union, he had gone from being an enemy combatant to a pirate, a hangable offense. Hunted by Union and British men-of-war, his polyglot crew rife with hints of mutiny, and with dwindling supplies, Waddell elected to camouflage the ship, circumnavigate the globe, and attempt to surrender on English soil.
Assembled from hundreds of original documents, including intimate shipboard journals kept by Shenandoah officers, Sea of Gray is a masterful narrative of men at sea.

About this title

Review

"Tom Chaffin tells the story of the single cruise ably in Sea of Gray:
The Around-the-World Odyssey of the Confederate Raider Shenandoah. The story has been told before, but never with such style or drama.
Research in all the pertinent sources grounds a narrative that moves
quickly but authoritatively, with insightful inner glimpses of the men
of the Shenandoah, especially Captain James I. Waddell as he faced
ending a distinguished naval career branded as an outlaw. Virtually all
of the Confederacy's experiments with unconventional warfare provide
tales of interest and subjects to provoke thought about war itself, but
none more than this one of a lonely vessel whose war began as a contest
against one nation, and ended in a battle with the globe itself." --William C. Davis, writing in the History Book Club Review
"Tom Chaffin's latest is a superb account of how the Confederate raider Shenandoah brought the American Civil War to the farthest reaches of the world. A book that will fascinate Civil War buffs and maritime aficionados alike, Sea of Gray is also the very human story of how a captain and his crew coped with one of the strangest circumnavigations in American history--an absorbing and illuminating read."-- Nathaniel Philbrick, author of In the Heart of the Sea and Sea of Glory
"In Sea of Gray, Tom Chaffin has delivered a rollicking ride of a book: the Quixotic trek of Confederate raiders at sea, at war without cause or country. Civil War buffs take note: more than just compulsively readable or good fun, this happens to be a long overdue study as well." --Jay Winik, author, April 1865: The Month That Saved America
"A thorough, colorful, readable rendering of one of the most intriguing stories of the Civil War--the round-the-world voyage of the Confederate Raider" Shenandoah"" -- Evan Thomas, author of John Paul Jones: Sailor, Hero, Father of the American Navy
"Fans of naval history and of the Civil War will relish this gripping story of the Shenandoah's circumnavigation of the globe, covering 58,000 miles and destroying 32 American merchant and whaling vessels." --James M. McPherson, Pulitzer Prize winning author of "Battle Cry of Freedom
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" An intriguing Civil War story and a bracing nautical yarn." -- Michael Kenney, "The Boston Globe""" " Chaffin delivers a crackerjack story. He writes with authority and a clear passion for the colorful, fated characters of this truelife bluewater saga." "-- "Philip Gerard," The News and Observer"

"An intriguing Civil War story and a bracing nautical yarn." --Michael Kenney, "The Boston Globe""" "Chaffin delivers a crackerjack story. He writes with authority and a clear passion for the colorful, fated characters of this truelife bluewater saga." "--"Philip Gerard," The News and Observer"

An intriguing Civil War story and a bracing nautical yarn. "Michael Kenney, The Boston Globe"

Chaffin delivers a crackerjack story. He writes with authority and a clear passion for the colorful, fated characters of this truelife bluewater saga. "Philip Gerard, The News and Observer"

"Chaffin has drawn from a rich array of primary sources, including shipboard journals, crew memoirs, and newspaper accounts, to tell the story of the raider's 58,000-mile journey .... A brisk and engaging read." ---"Elizabeth D. Hoover, American Heritage""

An intriguing Civil War story and a bracing nautical yarn. Michael Kenney, The Boston Globe

Chaffin delivers a crackerjack story. He writes with authority and a clear passion for the colorful, fated characters of this truelife bluewater saga. Philip Gerard, The News and Observer

"Chaffin has drawn from a rich array of primary sources, including shipboard journals, crew memoirs, and newspaper accounts, to tell the story of the raider's 58,000-mile journey .... A brisk and engaging read." ---Elizabeth D. Hoover, American Heritage

"

"An intriguing Civil War story and a bracing nautical yarn." --Michael Kenney, The Boston Globe

"Chaffin delivers a crackerjack story. He writes with authority and a clear passion for the colorful, fated characters of this truelife bluewater saga." --Philip Gerard, The News and Observer

"Chaffin has drawn from a rich array of primary sources, including shipboard journals, crew memoirs, and newspaper accounts, to tell the story of the raider's 58,000-mile journey .... A brisk and engaging read." ---Elizabeth D. Hoover, American Heritage

About the Author

Tom Chaffin is the author of Pathfinder: John Charles Frémont and the Course of American Empire (H&W, 2002). His work has appeared in The New York Times, Harper's Magazine, Time, and other publications. He lives in Atlanta, Georgia.

About this edition

• Publisher: Hill & Wang Pub
• Publication date: 2006
• ISBN 10: 0809095114
• ISBN 13: 9780809095117
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 432