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Letters
CSS Shenandoah, The William Thompson, and Sophia Thornton Hi Mac, I'm a collector of documents bearing U.S. revenue stamps of the Civil War era. One type of taxed document was a ship's manifest. Surviving examples have always been very rare. Now thay are a little less rare, as a group of 19 appeared in the marketplace in 2006. A big plus to these is that all are for vessels clearing customs at New Bedford in 1864, on whaling voyages. Whaling-related documents are rare in their own right! I'm in the process of writing up this find for a collector journal, and yesterday was astounded to discover via the internet, and your site especially, that (as I'm putting it): An internet search on some of the ship names revealed a sensational twist to the story of this find. The William Thompson (#38) and Sophia Thornton (#72) never returned from the voyages chronicled here; both were captured and burned by the infamous Confederate raider Shenandoah in the Bering Sea on June 22, 1865. The General Pike (#21) was captured three days later, but bonded and released to carry prisoners from the many destroyed vessels to San Francisco. The Civil War had ended some two months earlier, but conclusive proof had yet to reach the Shenandoah. Accounts of these captures fill in two important details: the Wm. Thompson and Sophia Thornton were vessels of 495 and 426 tons, respectively, confirming that the $3 stamp tax on their manifests was correct. The exploits of the Shenandoah have been the subject of numerous articles and books (e.g. Chaffin, 2006). A compact and rollicking online summary is furnished by Mackenzie Gregory's website (The numbers in parens are those of the manifests for these ships; they were numbered chronologically, between 1 and 72). And here I'd like to quote a long passage from your site beginning with the capture of the Wm. Thompson, ending possibly with the capture, bonding, and release of the General Pike on June 27, but possibly with the big events of June 28. I was also delighted to learn that the Jireh Swift, whose manifest was not among this bunch, but for which I have an 1864 bill of exchange made in San Francisco by its master Thos. Williams, was also a victim of the A small quibble: you described the General Pike as the "General Price." I also noticed you didn't give a tonnage, possibly because there was no such ship in the lists? What was your source for these tonnages? Was it Lund's book? Can you tell me the tonnage of the General Pike? Thanks for a great website! Bye for now, Mike Mahler
I am just back from a trip to Europe, hence my silence. Thank you for your for your very interesting mail, and please use whatever you wish from my Confederate Raiders. I had obviously mistakenly typed General Price when it should read General Pike, I am grateful to you for finding that error, although I do strive for accuracy, I am fallable at times. I have never been able to find the tonnage of the Bark General Pike, my basic reference was Chester G. Hearn's Gray Raiders of the Sea. I have just ordered another book about the Confederate Raiders from the States, on its arrival if I find a tonnage for General Pike, I will naturally pass it on to you Mike. I have a list of the 38 ships captured by Shenandoah, whether they were burned or bonded, should you like that list mailed please just yell. When you finish your article, I would love a copy, and with your approval we will put it up on AHOY. Nice to hear from you. Best regards,
Thank you! I did buy Chaffin's book, which also has a list of the captures. Since writing I discovered another bill of exchange made by Thos. Williams, previously master of Jireh Swift, but this one after he returned to San Francisco, August 1865. Again drawn on his whaling factors Swift & Allen of New Bedford. I have only a photocopy made when it was offered to me 15 years ago. If I knew then what I just discovered I would certainly have bought it! I haven't submitted the article yet, will certainly send a copy. I decided to also submit a companion article on other whaling-related documents bearing revenue stamps, and am still working on that. I can attach the text of the article on the manifests here; figures are all 300dpi, too big for email I think.
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