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The Confederate Navy's

and a costly visit to Melbourne in 1865

The Confederate navy ship Shenandoah sailed into Hobson's Bay on the afternoon

of 25 January 1865. Captain J. I. Waddell said he only wanted to put the ship onto

the Williamstown slip for repairs, and to take on food and water. Melburnians flocked

to view the raider, some to cheer, and newspapers advocated her arrest. But the

Victorian government ignored police reports of attempted recruitment of crewmen.

Forty-two were actually recuited in colonial Melbourne. This breech of Victoria's

neutrality proved costly to the British government, when an international tribunal

awarded damages against Britain after further attacks on shipping by Shenandoah.

Damages amounted to 800,000 pounds -- millions of dollars in today's money.

Shenandoah on the Williamstown Slip

- US Naval Historical Center photograph.

Formerly the merchantman Sea King, the ship had been purchased by confederate agents

in London. She had been sailed to Madiera where eight guns were installed and she was

renamed CSS Shenandoah. At first, the ship's theatre of operations was the North Atlantic,

but she soon concentrated on the North Pacific where hostile warships were few and far

between. The visit to Melbourne occurred during this period.

[Sources: The Civil War: The Blocakade: Runners and Raiders: Time-Life Books Inc.: 1983. And

(supplied by Frank Noonan): Crompton, Barry J.: The Confederate States Steamship Shenandoah

in Melbourne: Melbourne: June 1993]

CIVIL WAR VETERANS LAID TO REST IN VICTORIA

VISITS AUSTRALIA TO HELP

CELEBRATE FEDERATION IN 1901

USS Brooklyn visited Melbourne during May 1901 to celebrate the Federation of

Australia. The ultra-modern 9,215 tons Cruiser was flagship of the Commander in Chief

of the United States Naval Force on the Asiatic Station, Rear-Admiral

George C. Remey. Commissioned in 1896, she had already been involved in the

Spanish-American War at the Battle of Santiago. The ship still bore evidence

of that conflict. She was armed with eight 8-inch guns.

The Ship's complement was 37 Officers, 500 men and 68 marines.

Among the other naval vessels present for the celebrations were the Russian vessel

Gromoboi, the German ships Kormoran and Hansa, and the Netherlands Navy's

Noordbrabant, The Royal Navy's Australia Squadron was there with flagship

Royal Arthur, and HM ships St George, Juno, Ringarooma, Wallaroo and Mildura.

Australian Colonial navies were represented by South Australia's Protector

(recently returned from China) and the Victorian Navy's Cerberus.

THE US `WHITE FLEET'

VISITS IN 1908

Australia has had a long association with the United States,

although the military alliance is a relatively recent innovation.

Here the US fleet is seen entering Port Phillip Heads in 1908.

Earlier, in 1905, Australian Prime Minister Alfred Deakin said

'Next to our British kindred, we place the Americans next in our

affections'.

FOR MORE INFORMATION ABOUT THE VISIT CLICK HERE

DO YOU HAVE PHOTOS OF SHENANDOAH, OR THE

US NAVY SHIPS THAT VISITED MELBOURNE pre-1909?

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