The Era of the Clipper Ships
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Maritime Book Review
Published by Avid Publications,
Garth Boulevard
Bebington, Wirral, Mercyside, UK CH63 5LS
ISBN 1 902964 32 2 / Copyrighted by David Hollett 1993
Edited, typeset and cover design by William David Roberts MA, Avid Publications 2002.
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Reviewed by Donald Gunn Ross III
History is full of intriguing plots and conspiracies involving the destiny of nations and the murky details surrounding the Confederate raider Alabama certainly ranks among the most intriguing tales of all. For much was at stake here over the course of the American Civil War as the Confederate States of America desperately sought to break away from the Union. Over the course of this conflict, the Merseyside shipbuilding port of Liverpool became the major staging ground of plots and counter plots in a grand game of subterfuge; the outcome of which would have major repercussions on the high seas as to the outcome of the Civil War and lead to the demise of the American clipper fleet.
King Cotton certainly had much to do with it all, along with the emotional issue of slavery. As well as the harsh economic realities of the Federal blockade of Southern ports which had a devastating effect upon British shipping and mercantile interests as the mills of Lancashire fell upon hard times, a fact deeply resented by the British commercial community. Although many of the mill workers held Northern anti-slavery sympathies.
With the Federal blockade in effect, the South was forced to look elsewhere for a place to build a fleet of commerce raiders to prey upon Yankee shipping interests and Liverpool was the place to go. There, they would find a sympathetic ear for their plight amongst the aristocratic circles of the British Government who took the neutrality laws lightly and as long as the Confederate agents could come up with clever ways shrouded in mystery to dance around the basic tenets of international law and come up with the necessary cash, they would find Merseyside shipbuilders more than willing to do business with them.
For the South had already made a major blunder, thanks to Confederate President Jefferson Davis, when they earlier failed to purchase a fleet of ten first class Indiamen from the British East India Company for half price that they could have picked up for the cash equivalent of 40,000 bales of cotton, around two million dollars, with which they could have dealt the Federal blockades a heavy blow. Now, they had to move fast to come up with an urgently needed fleet of commerce raiders with which to drive Yankee commerce from the high seas. The motive power of steam being all important now.
The plot thickens when the Confederate States of America send their secret agent, Captain James Dunwoody Bulloch, to Liverpool in search of shipyards willing to do business with him. Upon arrival, he found some help from the Southern shipping firm of Messrs Fraser, Trenholm & Company, and George Alfred Trenholm who puts him in touch with Liverpool shipbuilders, among them William Cowley Miller and later on with John Laird of the world famous shipbuilding yard at Birkenhead. Before long, contracts were struck to begin building warships for the Confederacy, all under the elaborate ruse of all concerned, and a shroud of secrecy soon engulfed the shipyards. Although many in Liverpool soon became well aware of the true nature of the goings on, including the Union agents lurking about. But as long as the ruse was maintained they could do little about it.
The ruse called for the building of vessels to full naval specifications complete with steam engines, but without their battery, ammunition, and crew. The British stature, the Foreign Enlistment Act, stated that "The mere building of a ship within her Majesty's dominions by any person (subject or no subject) is no offence, whatever might be the intent of the parties, because the offence is not the building but the equipping." Therefore, a certain diplomatic tact was called for with evading specific provisions of the Foreign Enlistment Act.
So upon launching, the ship could then leave British territorial waters and meet up with a supply vessel somewhere that could then transfer all the missing components to the ship, along with a crew, and then the ship became a Confederate man-of-war ready to go after any unfortunate Yankee merchant ship it encountered, all the while avoiding Union warships. It was, indeed, a clever strategy well suited for the times and would prove to be most effective, despite the determined efforts of the Union to stop it.
Such was the case with the Oreto, built at William Cowley Miller's shipyard supposedly for the Italian government, and she was the first Confederate vessel built to high naval standards to depart Liverpool, bound for Nassau; all under the noses of Union spies, United States consul T.H. Dudley, and Charles Francis Adams, the son of President John Quincey Adams, the United States Minister in London.
At Nassau, upon meeting up with the steamer Bahama and taking aboard a new crew and her armaments in a clandestine manner by schooner after playing a cat and mouse game with British authorities, the Oreto then became the Confederate raider Florida under the command of Lieutenant James Newland Maffitt. Soon to reap havoc upon the Yankee merchant fleet.
Nassau, at the time, was the lair of many British blockade runners all too eager to run the gauntlet past the thin line of Federal warships to reap the vast profits with supplying much needed goods to the Confederacy. The Southern firm of Fraser, Trenholm & Company was also heavily involved in blockade-running.
The Author, David Hollett, sets the stage for this grand tale of intrigue and deception, plots and counter plots and paints it all with a wide brush going into the histories of all the players. Hollett is obviously a Civil War buff and goes into great detail of this American conflict for primarily a British audience of readers. He also delves into the Liverpool political scene, particularly the conservative politics of John Laird, who by this time has decided to run for office and left his shipyard operations to his sons, while he went on to serve as the first member of Parliament from Birkenhead. Meanwhile, the cotton crisis looms in severity.
Hollett also tells the tale of the early career of Captain Raphael Seemes referring to him as "the leading light of the drama" and this is certainly the case. He covers Semmes' early life and naval career in great detail, paying particular interest to his turning the packet steamer Habana into the Confederate raider Sumter at New Orleans, and upon fitting out this vessel, was soon engaged to "do the enemy's commerce the greatest injury in the shortest time." A certain drama ensued as the Sumter narrowly outran the Federal sloop Brooklyn and before long the Sumter began living up to all of Seemes' and the Confederacy's expectations. Semmes saw his role as an honorable one, although in Hollett's words, "as the Federal government saw it, as a pirate and a traitor--interpretations of his adventures afloat that the arrogant Seemes deeply resented!"
The Laird family Shipyard, 1860. (Williamson Art Gallery & Museum, Birkenhead)
At center stage of this tale is, of course, the "merchant vessel" given the yard number 290 at the Laird Birkenhead shipyard. Dudley's spies watched the rapid construction of the vessel with increasing anxiety as it neared completion. It was obvious towards the end of her construction in June, 1862, that the three-masted topsail schooner was equipped with a powerful auxiliary steam engine and much resembled a warship and capable of carrying a heavy battery of guns. "Officially," little was known about her, but Dudley was well informed by his agents as to the real purpose of the building of this vessel. He soon brought the matter to the attention of Charles Francis Adams who forwarded the letter to British authorities who immediately began to look into the matter, and upon further investigation decided that the report was true, and on June 23rd decided that the vessel be seized. But the Queen's advocate, Sir John Harding, had fallen ill and the papers saying that this action could be taken did not arrive for six days and by the time instructions calling for the seizure of this vessel reached the proper hands it was too late.
Despite the determined efforts of Charles Francis Adams to alarm British authorities of the true nature of the Enrica, the vessel had made a hurried departure three or four days earlier than planned.
When officials came calling at the Birkenhead yard they discovered that "Hull 290," only recently christened the "Enrica," had caught the evening tide the previous evening down the Mersey River out to sea.
She lingered off the coast of Anglesey for two days and then set sail with a British crew for the Azores. Two British ships with supplies, guns, and ammunition met the newly launched Enrica in the Azores and transferred the munitions and supplies over to her decks.
Captain Raphael Semmes had sailed, along with other Southern officers, from Nassau in the Bahamas and had arrived at Liverpool aboard the Bahama shortly after the Enrica had slipped out on the Mersey tide. The Bahama then set sail to the Azores port of Terceira, and upon anchoring nearby, Semmes came aboard to take command of the Enrica on behalf of the Confederate government and renamed her the "Alabama."
The British sailors that had shipped aboard this new vessel and sailed her down to the Azores from Liverpool may have known the truth about what was going on and they certainly knew that such a ship needed a crew. The Confederate States had been unable to send a crew out along with the officers. A crew would have to be rounded up and Captain Raphael Semmes was just the man to do it as he gathered on deck all these English seamen together for a rousing speech and within a very short time the Alabama signed on a crew. Induced quite possibly by the lure of prize money and adventure.
The guns were mounted and the ammunition stowed away aboard the newest Confederate raider to join the growing fleet. The Alabama's bunkers were filled with coal, but could only carry a limited capacity and most of the time the Alabama used her sails to conserve coal. Due to the Union blockade, she could never safely enter a Southern port and was, in essence, a ship without a home port about to wreck havoc upon Union shipping around the world and drive the clipper fleet from the seas. The stage is now set and the drama unfolds much to the anguish of the Yankee merchant fleet.
I must admit that I have been intrigued by this exciting tale of destruction upon the high seas during the Civil War, although saddened by the demise of the clipper fleet and I have my own account of the tale up on this The Era of the Clipper Ships Web site. But The Alabama Affair goes into much greater details of the story, particularly with all the murky goings on at Liverpool and the aftermath, fascinating reading, and answers many of the lingering questions that have been on my mind for the longest time. I'll leave it to the readers of The Alabama Affair to discover all these historical facts and the rest of the story on their own.
The author, David Hollett, has done an admirable job and researched his subject well and this book deserves the attention of maritime history enthusiasts everywhere. Everyone can surf on into the Avid Publications Web site for more information on how to order this book as well as see what other maritime books that this Merseyside publisher has to offer.
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The Era of the Clipper Ships / Bibliography / Maritime Links / Home / McKay Clan / Directory / Introduction / Tradewinds
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