owner. She was to go to Bombay, and nothing was said as to her ultimate destination. She took in 850 tons of coals. It was an ordinary cargo, and coals at that time paid the best freight. She had forty-five hands the first voyage, and forty-seven the second. The steward of the ship, John R. Brown, who was also examined for the defense, stated that when she left London there was nothing out of the usual course in her stores which might lead to the supposition that she had any other destination than the East Indies. In cross-examination, he said, "Steamers often take cargoes of coal to the East Indies. She had nearly as many coals on board as she could carry. It is not an unusual thing to send a power of sale with ships going on a long voyage." With the view of obtaining further information respecting the Sea King, Mr. Hammond, on the 27th January, 1865, wrote to Messrs. Robertson & Co., of London, who had originally been part owners and managing owners of the ship. Mr. Hammond's letter and the answer returned by Messrs. Robertson & Co. were respectively as follows:1 Mr. Hammond to Messrs. Robertson & Co. FOREIGN OFFICE, January 27, 1865. GENTLEMEN: I am directed by Earl Russell to state to you that his lordship has been informed that the Shenandoah, a full-rigged ship of 1,100 tons and 250 horse-power, now stated to belong to the government of the so-called Confederate States, was formerly in the possession of your firm, at which time she bore the name of the Sea King; and I am directed to inquire whether you have any objection to inform his lordship of the circumstances under which you sold the vessel, and particularly whether she was sold to an agent of the so-called confederate government. [143] I am, &c., E. HAMMOND. * Messrs. Robertson & Co. to Mr. Hammond. 5 NEWMAN'S COURT, CORNHILL, London, January 28, 1865. SIR: We beg to acknowledge receipt of your letter of yesterday, and to inform you that the Sea King was sold by us to a British subject, a Mr. Wright, of Liverpool, through the agency of Messrs. Curry, Kellock & Co., of Liverpool, brokers, in the usual way, and that the bill of sale, &c., passed through Her Majesty's customs in due order, After the sale of the vessel we had nothing whatever to do with her, and she remained in dock for some weeks, and was entered out for Bombay, which port, we were informed, was to be her destination. We are not aware, nor have we any knowledge, that any confederate agent had anything to do with the ship during her stay in this country. The Sea King was only 150 horse-power, and not, as stated in your letter, 250. (Signed) ROBERTSON & CO. On inquiry it appeared that the Sea King was a screw-steamer, built at Glasgow in the year 1863, with a view to employment in the China trade. She was originally owned in shares by several part-owners, Messrs. Robertson & Co., of London, acting as managing owners. She sailed from London, in November, 1863, for New Zealand and the China Seas, carrying troops for Her Majesty's government to Auckland, whence she proceeded to Hankow, and returned to London with a cargo of tea. In September, 1864, she was sold to a Mr. Richard Wright, a ship-owner of Liverpool. Wright, on the 7th November, 1864, granted a certificate of sale to P. S. Corbett, the master of the ship, by which he was empowered to sell her at any port out of the United Kingdom for a price not less than £45,000, within six months after the date of the certificate. When originally fitted out by Robertson & Co., and when sold by them to Wright, she had on board two ordinary 12-pounder carronades intended 1 Appendix, vol. i, p. 497. only for use as signal-guns and for other uses common in merchantvessels. These were the two 12-pounder guns hereinafter referred to. The crew of the Sea King signed articles for a voyage from London to Bombay, (calling at any ports or places on the passage,) and any other ports or places in India, China, or Japan, or the Pacific, Atlantic, or Indian Oceans, trading to and from as legal freights might offer, until the return of the ship to a final port of discharge in the United Kingdom or continent of Europe, the voyage not to exceed two years. From what has been stated above it will have been seen that the Shenandoah was a steamship originally named the Sea King, which had been built not for war but for commercial purposes; that she had been employed in the Chiną trade, and was at the time when she sailed from the port of London, in October, 1864, registered in the name of a Liverpool merchant; that she cleared and sailed as for a trading voyage; that her crew were hired and signed articles for such a voyage, and that they shipped and went to sea without suspecting that she was intended for any other destination; that there was nothing in her cargo, stores, or otherwise to excite suspicion; that before or at the time of her arrival in the vicinity of the Madeira Islands she was sold and transferred by her owner to the government of the Confederate States; that she took on board, while at sea, her commander and officers, all of whom were American citizens, with a small handful of men as a crew; that the officers and crew who had brought her out from London left her, with very few exceptions, and returned to England; that, in order to induce her original crew to take service in her, solicitations and inducements of every kind were employed by her commander and officers, but without success; that, after being transferred as aforesaid, she was armed for war either on the high seas or in Portuguese waters, and that she thence commenced her cruise under the name of the Shenandoah, given to her by her new owners. It will have been seen, also, that no representation had been made to Her Majesty's government respecting her by Mr. Adams, and that no information about her was ever conveyed to or came into the possession of the government previous to the report received on the 12th November, 1864, from Her Majesty's consul at Teneriffe. Lastly, it will have been observed that immediately on the receipt of that report the government consulted its advisers on the question whether legal proceedings could be instituted against the master of the ship who had sailed with her from Loudon, for his share in the transaction, and that he was afterward indicted and brought to trial, but was acquitted by the jury, the evidence as to his acts being doubtful and conflicting. The steamer Laurel, which conveyed to the Madeira Islands the guns destined for the Shenandoah and her commander and officers, had on the 24th October, 1864, cleared from the port of Liverpool for Matamoras via Havana and Nassau, and her crew were shipped for that voyage. Her clearance stated that she had a crew of 40 men, no passengers, [144] and sundry packages of British and foreign goods free of duty. She is believed to have been sold while abroad to the government of the Confederate States. Mr. Adams subsequently, on the 7th April, 1865, wrote to Earl Russell, inclosing and referring to a letter addressed to Mr. Seward by the consul of the United States at Rio Janeiro, in which it was stated that several United States ships had been captured and destroyed by the Shenandoah. In this note Mr. Adams wrote as follows:1 1 Appendix, vol. i, p. 501. I am by no means insensible to the efforts which have already been made, and are yet making, by Her Majesty's government to put a stop to such outrages in this kingdom and its dependencies. Neither can I permit myself to doubt the favorable disposition of her ministers to maintain amicable relations with the Government which I represent. While perfectly ready to bear testimony to the promptness with which all the numer ous remonstrances and representations which it has been my painful duty heretofore to submit have been met and attended to by your lordship, it is at the same time impossible for me to dispute the fact that the hostile policy which it is the object of all this labor to prevent, has not only not been checked, but is even now going into execution with more and more complete success. He proceeded to dwell upon the losses which the commerce and navigation of the United States had sustained, and the circumstances under which these losses had been inflicted, and to observe in effect that such injuries must tend to give rise to "the gravest of complications between any two nations placed under like circumstances." He added: That in this case no such event has followed has been owing, in the main, to a full conviction that Her Majesty's government has never been animated by any aggressive disposition toward the United States; but, on the contrary, that it has steadily endeavored to discountenance and, in a measure, to check the injurious and malevolent operations of many of her subjects. But while anxious to do full justice to the amicable intentions of Her Majesty's ministers, and on that account to forbear from recourse to any but the most friendly and earnest appeals to reason and to their sense of justice for the rectification of these wrongs, it is impossible to resist the conviction that heretofore their measures, however well intended, have never proved effective to remedy the evil complained of. Prompt to acquit them of any design, I am reluctantly compelled to acknowledge the belief that practically this evil had its origin in the first step taken, which never can be regarded by my Government in any other light than as precipitate, of acknowledging persons as a belligerent power on the ocean before they had a single vessel of their own to show floating upon it. The result of that proceeding has been that the power in question, so far as it can be entitled to the name of a belligerent on the ocean at all, was actually created in consequence of the recognition, and not before; and all that it has subsequently attained of such a position has been through the labor of the subjects of the very country which gave it the shelter of that title in advance. Neither is the whole case stated even now. The results equally show that the ability to continue these operations with success during the whole term of four years that the war has continued, has been exclusively owing to the opportunity to make use of this granted right of a belligerent in the courts and the ports and harbors of the very power that furnished the elements of its existence in the outset. Mr. Adams did not assert that in respect of the departure, equipment, or armament of the Shenandoah there had been any negligence or breach of international duty on the part of Her Majesty's government; nor could he have done so with any show of reason. The substance of his complaint, as regarded the acts or omissions of the government, was that Great Britain had declared herself neutral in the war, and had recognized the Confederate States as a belligerent, and that confederate vessels had been suffered to enter and make use of the ports and harbors of Great Britain and her colonies equally with vessels of the United States. On the 25th January, 1865, the Shenandoah arrived at Port Philip, in the colony of Victoria, and anchored in Hobson's Bay; and her com mander immediately sent one of the officers of the ship to present the following letter to the governor of the colony: Lieutenant Waddell to Governor Sir C. H. Darling. CONFEDERATE STATES STEAMER OF WAR SHENANDOAH, Port Philip, January 25, 1865. SIR: I have the honor to announce to your excellency the arrival of the Confederate States steamer Shenandoah, under my command, in Port Philip this afternoon, and also 1 Appendix, vol. i, p. 500. to communicate that the steamer's machinery requires repairs, and that I am in want of coals. I desire your excellency to grant permission that I may make the necessary repairs and supply of coals to enable me to get to sea as quickly as possible. I desire also your excellency's permission to land my prisoners. I shall observe the neutrality. I have, &c., (Signed) [145] JAS. J. WADDELL. *The governor (Sir C. H. Darling) caused the bearer of the letter to be informed that it should be answered on the following day. The governor had not, at this or any other time, any personal intercourse with the commander of the Shenandoah. Commander Waddell's application was, on the 26th January, brought by the governor before the executive council of the colony for consideration. The advice given by the council to the governor thereon is set forth in the subjoined extract from the minutes of its proceedings:1 Dispatches from the right honorable the secretary of state, covering the Queen's proclamation of neutrality, and all instructions and orders which have, from time to time, been issued by command of Her Majesty, through the secretary of state, to the governors of Her Majesty's colonies and possessions, for their guidance during the continuance of hostilities on the North American continent, as well as official correspondence and papers connected with the proceedings of the confederate steamship Alabama at Her Majesty's colony of the Cape of Good Hope, are laid before the council, and read by the clerk. After careful consideration of these instructions and papers, the council advise that the honorable the commissioner of trade and customs, writing in the name of his excellency the governor, should acquaint the commander of the Shenandoah 1. That the vessel under his command will not be allowed to quit the anchorage in Hobson's Bay within twenty-four hours after any vessel belonging to the Federal States shall have left the port, and further inform him that, in case he should infringe this rule, his government will be held responsible by that of Great Britain for violating the neutrality of British waters. 2. That the commander of the Shenandoah be requested to communicate to the government of Victoria the nature and extent of the repairs of which he states his vessel to be in need; and that he be informed that permission will be granted for the Shenandoah to remain in the waters of the colony a sufficient time to receive the provisions or things necessary for the subsistence of her crew-but not beyond what may be necessary for immediate use-and to effect her repairs; and that when the government of Victoria are in possession of the nature and extent of the supplies and repairs which are necessary, the commander of the Shenandoah will then be informed of the time which his vessel will be permitted to remain in the waters of the colony. 3. That, in reply to that part of his letter which refers to prisoners, the commander of the Shenandoah be requested to communicate to the government of Victoria the names of the prisoners, and any other particulars relating to them which he may be willing to supply. His excellency, concurring with the advice which has been tendered to him, directs the honorable the commissioner of trade and customs to address the commander of the Shenandoah in the above-recited terms. The council further advise his excellency to authorize a communication being made to the United States consul at Melbourne, informing him of the application which has been made by the commander of the Shenandoah for permission to land prisoners, and stating that the government are desirous of knowing whether the consul will undertake to receive and provide for them. In conformity with the advice of the consul, communications were addressed, by the governor's direction, to the commander of the Shenandoah and to the consul of the United States at Melbourne, Mr. W. Blanchard. The consul replied that he had already made provision for the persons brought in as prisoners by the Shenandoah. He addressed several letters to the governor, protesting against the admission of the vessel into the port of Melbourne, and calling on him to cause her to be seized, as Appendix, vol. i, p. 511. guilty of piracy. The reasons on which the consul relied were stated by him in the following letter:1 Mr. Blanchard to Governor Sir C. Darling. CONSULATE OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, SIR: I am in receipt of a communication from C. J. Tyler, esq., your excellency's aide-de-camp, dated to-day, informing me that your excellency has submitted my dispatches of the 26th and 27th January instant to the consideration of your legal advisers, and that your excellency's decision, when made, will be forwarded to me. Evidence being daily accumulating in this office in support of the reasons for the protests I had the honor to forward to your excellency, I now beg leave to call your attention specially to the following: 1. That the Sea King, alias Shenandoah, now in this port, and assuming to be a warvessel, is a British-built ship, and cleared from a British port as a merchantman, legally entering no port until her arrival here, where she assumes to be a war-vessel of the sostyled Confederate States; that any transfer of said vessel at sea is in violation of the law of nations, and does not change her nationality. 2. That inasmuch as Her Majesty's neutrality proclamation prohibits her subjects from supplying or furnishing any war material or ship to either belligerent, this vessel, having an origin as above, is not entitled to the privileges accorded to the belligerents by said proclamation. [146] *3. That being a British-built merchant-ship, she cannot be converted into a war-vessel upon the high seas of the so-styled Confederate States, but only by proceeding to and sailing in such character from one of the ports of the so-styled confederacy. 4. That it is an established law that vessels are to be considered as under the flag of the nation where built, until legally transferred to another flag. 5. That said vessel sailed as an English merchant-ship from an English port, and cannot, until legally transferred, be considered as a man-of-war. 6. That not being legally a man-of-war, she is but a lawless pirate, dishonoring the flag under which her status is to be established, and under which she decoys her victims. 7. That her armament came also from Great Britain in English vessels, (the Laurel and Sea King, now Shenandoah,) both of which cleared under British seal, or, if without it, in violation of established law. 8. That as such she has committed great depredations upon ships belonging to citizens of the United States, making her liable to seizure and detention, and the crew guilty of piracy. I cannot close this without further protesting in behalf of my Government against the aid and comfort and refuge now being extended to the so-styled confederate cruiser Shenandoah in this port. I have, &c., WM. BLANCHARD. The propositions asserted by the consul, that the Shenandoah, having been built as a merchant-ship in Great Britain, and having sailed as such from a British port, could not subsequently acquire the char acter of a belligerent ship of war, unless she had in the interval pro ceeded to, and sailed from, a port in the Confederate States, and that she was in the view of international law a pirate, were erroneous. In answer to the consul's letter above set forth, the following letter was addressed to him by order of the governor :2 Mr. Tyler to Mr. Blanchard. PRIVATE SECRETARY'S OFFICE, Melbourne, January 30, 1865. SIR: I am directed by his excellency the governor to acknowledge the receipt of your letter of the 28th instant, and to acquaint you that, having fully considered the representations contained in that communication and in your previous letters of the 26th and 27th instant, and advised with the Crown law-officers thereon, his excellency has come to the decision that, whatever may be the previons history of the ShenanAppendix, vol. i, p. 592. 2 Ibid., p. 593. |