All good things have to come to an end, and in this final, elegiac bittersweet episode of Shenandoah Down Under Rob and Mob follow the story of the Shenandoah to where so many good stories end, the courtroom. First, Mob recounts the history over 53 episodes of this now award winning podcast*, Shenandoah Down Under. Rob follows up with the final bit of the story, as much as any story ever ends. This.. Read More
151 years ago today the crew of the CSS Shenandoah sat down to a Christmas dinner somewhere in the Southern Ocean, their festive meal of roast hog somewhat dashed by the heavy weather. (As we recounted in episode #16, their modern day counterparts, the whaler hunters of the Sea Shepard Foundation, are also sitting down to Christmas dinner somewhere on the high seas, only theirs is roast tofurkey…mmmm). In the 52nd and final.. Read More
In this, the 52nd and final episode in the ‘regular season’ of the Shenandoah Down Under podcast, Rob and MOB discuss the fate of the officers of the Shenandoah after the American Civil War (we’ll go on to discuss the ruinously expensive Alabama Claims in our forthcoming “Christmas Special”) Branded as “pirates” and unable to return the US, heading south of the border proved to be a popular option. Fortunately for Mr Whittle and.. Read More
At last, after its 13 month circumnavigation of the globe, the CSS Shenandoah returns to Liverpool! The Confederate flag is lowered for the final time and the ship is taken into the charge of the British Customs Office. With the American Civil War back home now over for many months, its reappearance is something of an embarrassment for everyone. While the British government tries to figure out what to do with the ship and its crew, what.. Read More
All things come to an end, and the 50th episode of Shenandoah Down Under sees the end drawing very close… months after the war has ended, the last Confederate cruiser slips quietly into into English territorial waters, and is therefore unlikely to be taken by a US gunboat. This means the ship’s company can be paid off. But instead of the “buckets of gold” promised by Captain Waddell at the beginning of.. Read More
Illness and death haunt the CSS Shenandoah in this week’s episode, as William Bill the Hawaiian and Sergeant Canning the mysterious Englishman lie on their deathbeds. The very skies seem to bear witness to the despair of the crew as a total eclipse of the sun blocks out even the light of day. Poor William Bill is suffering from final stages of venereal disease, while Mr Canning is slowly succumbing an unhealed bullet.. Read More
Oh dear, in this new episode, the feuding on board the ship has reached new heights, with Surgeon McNulty calling Mr Blacker an “English Irish Orangeman”, and thereby deftly uniting race and religion in one deadly insult. Can things get worse? Can they ever! When Executive Officer Whittle tries to remonstrate with the drunken McNulty, McNulty “shows him his pistol” and there is a physical altercation. This can only mean one thing between.. Read More
As the CSS Shenandoah heads towards the Falkland Islands, Rob and MOB explain how the sadly deficient wi-fi services offered in one-star German Youth Hostels has contributed to the recent lack of regularly appearing “Shenandoah Down Under” episodes. How good was this wi-fi? About as good as the relationships of the officers and the captain aboard the Shenandoah, where rumour, back-biting, petitions and counter-petitions are all the rage. Will the ship go to.. Read More
In Episode 46 of Shenandoah Down Under, the ship navigates the perilous waters of Cape Horn, seeking to get back to Liverpool without encountering Union warships (or indeed anyone else who could alert Union warships). But the Captain is otherwise preoccupied, asserting his authority in the most unlikely of places. Last month, it was fruitlessly trying to ban his officers from smoking on watch; now, he decrees there will be no hammocks strung.. Read More
In Episode 45 of Shenandoah Down Under, Rob and MOB are once again very proud to host Barry Crompton of the American Civil War Round Table of Australia, and there is a a typically wide-ranging discussion, largely concerning the various primary and secondary sources used to research the CSS Shenandoah. Barry talks about a couple of new books about the voyage, and also some of the oldest – the journals and diaries kept.. Read More