Shenandoah Down Under

Shenandoah Down Under Episode 53

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 episode examines the history of the Alabama Claims tribunal, that met in 1872 to try and resolve legal liability for the depredations of the confederate raiders. Why does the Hotel-de-Ville in Switzerland  have sloping ramps instead of staircases? Where is the worlds longest wooden bench? Why was Sir Alexander Cockburn considered insane by Charles Francis Adams? Find out on this weeks (maybe) final episode of Shenandoah Down Under, the podcast with more Shenandoah than any of the others.

 

*WARNING. Listening to a history podcast about the history podcast itself may cause dizzyness in listeners intolerant of metaphoric recursion

Shenandoah Down Under Episode 17

In Ballarat in 1865 the officers of the Shenandoah are feted by the locals, being entertained at a grand ball where at least one Lieutenant gets his hand tenderly squeezed. there was also culture shock, with the officers going 420 feet down into a gold mine, and deciding that the lazy life of the sailor was preferable to digging for gold.

Back in Melbourne Midshipman Mason and Dr Lining are taken to Kew asylum, where they are entertained by the ‘Hanging Doctor’. And what is Executive Officer Whittle doing? Whatever it was, he tore out the pages from his diary that described them. . . .