They had surnames such as Burgess, Collins, Cobby, Green, Morton, Ross and Spring. In February
1885, they secretly joined the crew of the Confederate warship CSS Shenandoah while it was undergoing repairs on the Government Patent Slip in Williamstown. At the time, the American Civil War was still raging – and it was an offence for British subjects to join either the Confederate or Union side.
The Shenandoah’s commander, James Iredell Waddell, needed to find recruits in Williamstown to boost his severely undermanned crew. While the Union representative in Melbourne pleaded with Governor Darling to arrest Waddell and his crew and charge them with piracy, Victorian society feted them with the Buccaneer’s Ball in Ballarat, luncheons at the Melbourne Club and honorary membership of the state’s main cricket club!
With Union accusations of secret recruitment of local sailors, Governor Darling was forced to act. The cannon of the Williamstown battery at Point Gellibrand were trained on the ship and police were sent to search it.
Waddell refused to allow foreign authorities to board the ship and threatened a formal complaint to the British Government. Governor Darling backed down, and Waddell must have been laughing when he sailed out through the Port Phillip Heads on February 18, 1865, with new crew with names such as Fegan, Hutchinson, Kilgour and McLean.
These 42 recruits ended up costing the British Government US$15.5 million in gold coin as reparations when the US took Britain to an international tribunal in 1871. Some of the recruits returned to Melbourne. Others disappeared. Maybe you are related to one of them?
Seaworks is telling the Shenandoah’s fascinating story as part of the visit to its Museum in Williamstown. The Museum is open every Wednesday and Sunday from 11am to 3pm. Entry is $10 for adults and $5 for children.
