could be disconnected and lifted clear of the water and the telescoping smokestack lowered. These vessels were not commercially successful and only a few were built. Steam still could not compete with fast sail on long ocean voyages carrying high-value cargo. Occasional quicker passages did not compensate for added expense and loss of capacity for engines, coal, and engineering crewmen. For commerce raiding, however, the combination was perfect. Under sail or steam, Sea King could overtake almost any victim and outrun any enemy.13
Mallory enclosed a memorandum in which Brooke laid out a detailed plan based on his Pacific explorations: Passing the Cape of Good Hope by 1 January 1865, a new cruiser would reach Sydney in forty days with twenty days for delays there. Leaving Australia on 1 March, she would proceed through whaling grounds around New Zealand and the Caroline group, touching at Ascension (Pohnpei) Island and, allowing another thirty days for delays, would reach the Ladrones (Mariana) Islands by 1 June. She could visit the Bonin Islands, Sea of Japan, Sea of Okhotsk, and North Pacific and be in position about 15 September north of Oahu to intercept the whaling fleet bound there with products of their summer cruise. Ship and mission were coming together. Carter set off for England with Mallory’s instructions.14
Meanwhile, Sea King returned from her maiden voyage. She had stopped at New Zealand under government charter to debark troops for the Maori War. From there she sailed to Sydney, then to Shanghai in twenty-three days, on to Woosang, Hong Kong, and Swatow; and with a full cargo of tea, she made fast passage back to London in seventy-nine days, “beating the clipper ships, as anticipated.” She made 330 miles in one twenty-four-hour period. Bulloch wasted no time, writing to Mallory on 10 September 1864, “I have now the satisfaction to inform you of the purchase of a fine composite ship.”15
Bulloch would have preferred to superintend preparations in person, but ubiquitous Union spies required him to trust intermediaries. A British owner, register, and customhouse clearance were needed as cover, but it was difficult to find a trustworthy citizen willing to front for the ship and prepare her for the voyage while meeting requirements of law. Bulloch convinced an English friend and Southern sympathizer, Richard Wright, to purchase the vessel in his own name at a cost of £35,500, and, without remuneration, to provide power-of-attorney to sell her after leaving London. Wright was a wealthy Liverpool merchant and father-in-law to Charles K. Prioleau, managing partner of Fraser, Trenholm and Co., European financial agents for the Confederacy and primary conduit for Southern funds in Europe. The transaction was executed so skillfully that painstaking review of documents by U.S. agents could find no grounds for complaint. A secret condition of the purchase was that the ship, once commissioned, would not fire a gun before British register documents were returned to England and canceled, insulating Mr. Wright from liability.
Lieutenant Carter returned to Liverpool on 28 September and was delighted to find Sea King already in hand. When informed of the mission, Bulloch consulted Commander Matthew Fontaine Maury, obtaining from him a set of charts containing migration paths of the great whales to augment the Brooke memo.
Maury, world-famous scientist and “Pathfinder of the Sea,” had conducted the first systematic study of the oceans as a U.S. Navy lieutenant and superintendent of the National Observatory in Washington. His most famous work, The Physical Geography of the Sea (1856), compiled study results and charts, generating a revolution in ocean trade. With this information, mariners more effectively plotted courses maximizing good and minimizing poor wind and sea conditions, which contributed significantly to the success of the clippers. Maury charts—created to aid the whaling industry—would now be used to help destroy it.
Bulloch had Sea King moved to London by a roundabout route resembling preparations for a trading venture, ostensibly to Asia. He stowed 800 tons of coal but added nothing of a warlike nature. Any alteration of internal arrangements or addition of equipment not consistent with a mercantile purpose and not required for the voyage would cause inquiry by Yankee agents and British authorities. He engaged the services of Captain Corbett, acquired a crew, and prepared papers for ownership transfer beyond British jurisdiction. He purchased Laurel—a new 269-ton iron screw steamer built for Liverpool-to-Ireland packet service—and advertised through an agent for a voyage to Matamoras via Havana and Nassau.
He appointed Captain Ramsay and loaded Laurel with crated and disguised cannon, munitions, small arms, equipment, and stores for a fifteen-month cruise. False bills of lading included ten tons of “machinery.” He quietly gathered Alabama veterans and other Confederate naval personnel from around the city. Their baggage was crated up and loaded as freight; passenger tickets were issued under assumed names. At about nine o’clock in the evening, a tug came to the wharf and inconspicuously loaded the men for transfer to Laurel at anchor. One was accompanied by his wife, who was to see him off so that onlookers would believe they were on a short excursion.
This strategy worked with Florida and Alabama, but shipyards and docks now were under extremely close surveillance. U.S. consuls had established a secret system of inspecting ships loading for foreign voyages. U.S. minister Adams informed the secretary of state for foreign affairs that British subjects were actively engaged in fitting out a vessel to resume the dirty work of Alabama. Secretary of State William H. Seward warned that the British government would be held accountable for depredations of a new cruiser. If customs officials could be persuaded that the Foreign Enlistment Act was being violated, the ship would be seized. Bulloch noted that Sea King was perhaps the only vessel of her type and class in Great Britain. Her “comely proportions and peculiarities of structure” and fitness for conversion to a cruiser were manifest. “I felt confident that the spies of the United States Consul would soon draw his attention to her, and that she would be keenly and suspiciously watched.”16
Bulloch prepared instructions for Lieutenant Whittle: He was to meet secretly with Richard Wright and Captain Corbett at a London hotel for consultation and would sail in Sea King to Madeira under the name McDonald. Corbett would not exchange signals with passing ships or at least not show official identification, and upon arrival he would hoist the recognition signal for Laurel rather than his own; she would respond with same. It was critical that Sea King’s movements not be reported. Whittle was to acquaint himself with the ship’s sailing qualities, observe the crew, inspect internal arrangements, learn stowage of provisions and stores, pick out positions for magazine and shell rooms, and discuss alterations with Corbett. Corbett remained legal commander, and for reasons of policy as well as courtesy, Whittle was to express all wishes as requests. When they joined Laurel, Whittle would report to Lieutenant Waddell and thereafter act under his instructions. “Relying upon your discretion and judgment, and earnestly wishing you a successful voyage, I am, respectfully, your obedient servant, James D. Bulloch.”17
Commodore Samuel Barron, commander of Confederate naval forces in Europe, appointed Waddell as commanding officer. Bulloch issued him instructions for a cruise “in the far-distant Pacific, into the seas and among the islands frequented by the great American whaling fleet.” In light of vast distances to be covered, difficulties of transforming a merchant vessel to a warship at sea, and isolation from aid and comfort of their countrymen, continued Bulloch, “a letter of specific instructions would be wholly superfluous.” He then proceeded to do just that, expounding “purely advisory” remarks of over 3,500 words concerning the rendezvous, conversion, and coordination with both Captain Corbett and Captain Ramsay. He commented on navigation based on examination of Pacific Ocean charts and advice from Carter and Brooke. Every precaution was to be observed to prevent the direction or intent of the voyage being known in Europe. When Laurel reached Nassau, everything would be exposed, but by then Shenandoah would be beyond interference. “In moments of doubt, when unlooked-for obstacles and apparent troubles are found in your path, that happy inspiration which rarely fails the right-minded officer, who is earnestly intent upon his duty, will come to your aid, and you will thus intuitively perceive the most judicious course of action.”18
Bulloch instructed Waddell to strike southward from
