Page:Southern Historical Society Papers volume 32.djvu/335

 The Shenandoah. 323

about twenty tons of coal a day; was very fast under favorable cir- cumstances made fifteen miles an hour under sail.

I am much indebted for some account of the incidents of the cruise of the Shenandoah to Captain W. C. Whittle, Waddell's first lieutenant, who has preserved the details in an admiral address de- livered before the R. E. Lee Camp of Virginia.

Captain Whittle says: "Captain Waddell, though brave and courageous, was naturally discomforted and appalled at the work to be done."

The battery consisted of four 8-inch, smooth bore cannon, two rifle Whitworth 32-pounders and two i2-pounder signal guns.

DO OR DIE.

Every man and officer pulled off his jacket and rolled up his sleeves and with the motto " Do or Die," went to work at anything and everything. The captain took the wheel frequently, steering the ship to give one more pair of hands for the work to be done. We worked systematically and intelligently, doing what was most imperatively necessary first. By the 22d of October, four days of hard work, the decks were cleared, the guns mounted and the car- penters began to cut port holes in the sides of the ship.

Five days later the Shenandoah entered upon her first chase, and made a prize. And other prizes followed. From these prizes they secured twenty enlistments, increasing the crew from nineteen to to thirty-nine; so, including the officers, they had all told, sixty- two men, besides the prisoners, who were now and then sent away on some bonded vessel.

On December 8th they made Tristam da Canha, near St. Helena, and passing to the east of Africa they reached Melbourne, Australia, January 25th, 1865. There they landed all their prisoners, and after refitting left on February i8th. After leaving the harbor a number of men who had secreted themselves on board, came on deck and enlisted, increasing their crew to 144.

Sailing northward, in May, after many adventures, and capturing many prizes, they reached the shores of Kamskata.

Captain Whittle says: We were in the arctic and contiguous re- gions during the summer. It was most interesting, as we went north towards the pole to mark the days grow longer and longer, and to experience the sun's being below the horizon a shorter and shorter time, until finally the sun did not go out of sight at all. but would