THIS PAGE IS PART OF THE DEFENDING VICTORIA WEBSITE 
The Confederate
Navy's
and a costly visit to Melbourne in 1865
The Confederate navy ship Shenandoah sailed into Hobson's Bay on the
afternoon
of 25 January 1865. Captain J. I. Waddell said he only
wanted to put the ship onto
the Williamstown slip for repairs, and to take on food and
water. Melburnians flocked
to view the raider, some to cheer, and newspapers advocated
her arrest. But the
Victorian government ignored police reports of attempted
recruitment of crewmen.
Forty-two were actually recuited in colonial Melbourne.
This breech of Victoria's
neutrality proved costly to the British government, when an
international tribunal
awarded damages against Britain after further attacks on
shipping by Shenandoah.
Damages amounted to 800,000 pounds -- millions of dollars
in today's money.
Shenandoah on the Williamstown Slip
- US Naval Historical Center
photograph.
Formerly the merchantman Sea King, the ship
had been purchased by confederate agents
in London. She had been sailed to Madiera where eight guns
were installed and she was
renamed CSS Shenandoah. At first, the ship's theatre
of operations was the North Atlantic,
but she soon concentrated on the North Pacific where
hostile warships were few and far
between. The visit to Melbourne occurred during this
period.
[Sources: The Civil War: The Blocakade: Runners
and Raiders: Time-Life Books Inc.: 1983. And
(supplied by Frank Noonan): Crompton, Barry J.:
The Confederate States Steamship Shenandoah
in Melbourne: Melbourne: June
1993]
CIVIL WAR VETERANS LAID TO REST IN VICTORIA
VISITS AUSTRALIA TO HELP
CELEBRATE FEDERATION
IN 1901
USS Brooklyn visited Melbourne
during May 1901 to celebrate the Federation of
Australia. The ultra-modern 9,215 tons
Cruiser was flagship of the Commander in Chief
of the United States Naval Force on the
Asiatic Station, Rear-Admiral
George C. Remey. Commissioned in 1896,
she had already been involved in the
Spanish-American War at the Battle of
Santiago. The ship still bore evidence
of that conflict. She was armed with
eight 8-inch guns.
The Ship's complement was 37 Officers,
500 men and 68 marines.
Among the other naval vessels present
for the celebrations were the Russian vessel
Gromoboi, the German ships
Kormoran and Hansa, and the Netherlands
Navy's
Noordbrabant, The Royal Navy's
Australia Squadron was there with flagship
Royal Arthur, and HM ships St
George, Juno, Ringarooma, Wallaroo and
Mildura.
Australian Colonial navies were
represented by South Australia's Protector
(recently returned from China) and the
Victorian Navy's Cerberus.
THE US `WHITE FLEET'
VISITS
IN 1908
Australia has had a long association with the United
States,
although the military alliance is a relatively recent
innovation.
Here the US fleet is seen entering Port Phillip
Heads in 1908.
Earlier, in 1905, Australian Prime Minister Alfred
Deakin said
'Next to our British kindred, we place the Americans
next in our
affections'.
FOR MORE INFORMATION ABOUT THE VISIT CLICK HERE
DO YOU HAVE PHOTOS OF SHENANDOAH,
OR THE
US NAVY SHIPS THAT VISITED MELBOURNE
pre-1909?
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