April | 2015 | Shenandoah Down Under

Shenandoah Down Under Episode 27

Posted on April 29, 2015 in css Shenandoah

As the Shenandoah moves deeper into the Pacific Michael and Robert are delighted to welcome Hawai‘i Pacific University associate professor of History Justin Vance, who has just been named the 2015 Hawaii History Educator of the Year. Justin takes us through the suprisingly profound and long lasting consequences for Hawaii and other Pacific islands caused by the American Civil War. Hawaii started the Civil War as the world’s great centre of whaling support, an industry that the Shenandoah did it’s very best to destroy. But the Civil War was also Hawaii’s salvation, as the North’s insatiable appetite for sugar could no longer be slaked by the Southern plantations. Find out how ‘the voyage of the Shenandoah connects the Civil War to the world’, on this weeks episode of Shenandoah Down Under.

Shenandoah Down Under Episode 26

Posted on April 22, 2015 in css Shenandoah

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The peregrinations of the CSS Shenandoah this week take it to the island Kingdom of Pohnpei, where four Yankee whaler captains out on a ‘Bust’ get the worst possible introduction to their hangover, a Confederate warship arrived to loot and burn them. But it is not all plain sailing for the Confederates either. Pohnpei has very high rainfall, and it is not easy burning a ship in pouring rain!

This weeks episode also sees the introduction of the journal of Midshipman Mason, a high minded 20 year old busy reading the works of Charles Dickens when not sinking Yankee whalers. This week he is reading ‘Nicholas Nickleby’, and making cryptic comments, in French, about the morals to be found on a pacific island. Join Rob, Mob and guest listener Andrew Bean, as we try to decipher salty sea comments in a language none of us understand.

Shenandoah Down Under Episode 25

Posted on April 15, 2015 in css Shenandoah, Sea Shepherd

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With the Shenandoah about to land in Pohnpei in what is now the Federated States of Micronesia, Rob, Mob and guest Rick Meints step back a bit to consider events in early April in the sideshow theatre of the American Civil War that was actually happening in America, populated by minor and little known figures called Lincoln, Grant and Lee.

Also, in the present day, the Sea Shepard ship the Bob Barker claims the prize of an illegal fishing vessel, proving once again that while history doesn’t repeat, it sure does rhyme….

Shenandoah Down Under Episode 24

Posted on April 7, 2015 in css Shenandoah

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With the 150th anniversary of the arrival of the CSS Shenandoah at the Caroline Islands, now the Federated States of Micronesia, Mob and Rob reflect on the reign of the the king who gave his name to the islands, Charles II of Spain, last of the Spanish Hapsburgs, a family who though that too much in-breeding was never enough! Charles had one black testicle, no blood, a heart the size of a peppercorn, and a head full of water. And that was just his autopsy report. He was even weirder when he was alive.

Back at the American civil war, the last battles are winding down and Lincoln, Grant and Sherman meet to discuss peace. The Shenandoah however, meets a Hawaiian vessel, who tells them of four ships at harbour in Pohnpei. Will they be Yankees? Will assistant surgeon McNulty take a good hard look at himself and embrace sobriety? Find out on this weeks episode of Shenandoah Down Under.

Shenandoah Down Under Episode 23

Posted on April 1, 2015 in css Shenandoah, Sea Shepherd

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With the Shenandoah travelling through the equatorial Gilbert Islands, Rob and Mob reflect on the famously laconic declaration of victory made by the American General in the Second World War who took the main island, Makin, from the Japanese. The declaration was, of course, “Taken Maken”, which manages to be shorter than Veni, Vidi, Vici by one word (so take that, Julius Caesar).

Back in modern times, this episode has the second half of our interview with Barry Crompton, of the American Civil War Round Table of Australia, launching his Ebook “Dixie Down Under”. What Ship in the Sea Shepard fleet was originally going to be called the Waddell? How many US warships have been called the Shenandoah? What was US consul Blanchard’s connection to the Harriet Beecher Stowe’s massive hit “Uncle Tom’s Cabin”. Find out in this weeks episode of Shenandoah Down Under, and leave a comment by 13 April 2015 for a chance to win a copy of Barry’s Ebook.