Byard Sheppard | Shenandoah Down Under

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

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in 2015, Mob and Rob are delighted to interview Byard Sheppard from the Victorian Civil War Round Table, who is an expert in the history and construction of the Sea King/CSS Shenandoah. In the first part of this two part interview you can hear how composite iron and wood construction was the latest thing in shipbuilding in the 1860’s, and how Cunningham’s patent self reefing topsails came to be known as the ‘sailors friend’.

Back in 1865 the Shenandoah has just left Melbourne town and the crew are shocked, shocked, to discover 42 stowaways aboard. By an even more amazing co-incidence all of these stowaways are happy, even insistent, on signing on as crew. But is Captain Waddell happy? Find out in episode 19, the one with too many stowaways for credibility….

Shenandoah Down Under

Shenandoah Down Under Episode 53

Shenandoah Down Under Episode 19