Just Finished Reading: The Sea King – The Life of James Iredell Waddell by Gary McKay

Those of you who read here regularly will know, or have seen me say, that I don’t really ‘do’ biographies. I’m honestly not really interested in the minutiae of people’s lives and have no real desire to know the intricate and intimate details or who did what to who when. If a particular person did, said, or thought a particular thing that I’m interested in then I’m interested in that thing rather than understanding why that person’s first marriage failed.

Anyway, I digress.

One of the reasons I ended up reading this particular biography was that I wasn’t aware of its genre before I bought it [grin]. Not exactly observant of me – since it alluded to it on the front cover – but such things happen from time to time. But a biography it turned out to be – of probably the most successful navy captain in the American Civil War and quite possibly one of the most successful in American naval history. Waddell was, I discovered, a fascinating character. He was a dyed in the wool (or would that be cotton) Southern Gentleman in the classic style who fought a duel with a fellow office – then in the United States navy over an argument regarding regulations. He also taught for many years at the US Navy premier training schools passing on his legendary skill in both navigation and gunnery. He was according to those who knew him an officer admired by many and one likely to go far indeed – until the outbreak of Civil War whilst at sea. On his return to New York he found that he could not take up arms against the break-away Confederacy he so identified with and so, as a man of honour resigned his commission and gave his word, as a gentleman, that he would not take up arms against the Union. This was apparently not enough and he, reluctantly, signed a document to say just that. Retiring to his family home he applied to be paid the back-pay he was entitled to. After much argument it was agreed that he would get his money – only on condition that he, yet again, affirm that he would not take up arms for the Confederacy. His honour, now well and truly called into question, forced him to do just that and he quickly made his way South to enlist in any capacity he could fill.

After many weeks where he was either under or unemployed he was finally sent to Europe and there, again after several adventures and misadventures eventually took his post of Captain of the soon to be infamous Confederate commerce raider the CSS Shenandoah. In the brilliant campaign waged against Union merchant shipping he practically singlehandedly destroyed the American whaling fleet, almost brought the United States and Britain into a state of war and was a hairs breadth from bombarding San Francisco where he would have captured a fair proportion of the American gold reserves. Still fighting weeks after the Confederacy was defeated Waddell and his crew where labelled pirates and hunted by every navy on Earth until they finally surrendered in Liverpool harbour from which they had begun their campaign many months before.

If I hadn’t already read about the Shenandoah and the Alabama in previous books the story portrayed here would have certainly blown me away – it still did a pretty good job! It is definitely the stuff of legend that can inspire young boys (and much older young boys) to read the exploits of heroes with open mouths and eyes wide in astonishment. Why the adventures of the Confederate commerce raiders haven’t been made into a Hollywood blockbuster is beyond me. It has just about everything going for it – in bucket loads! Honour, adventure, danger, ships chasing each other at full steam, dodging icebergs and much else besides, political intrigue and double-dealing….. I’d certainly pay to see that on the silver screen and I doubt if I’d be the only one there.

As you can tell my interest in this period of maritime naval history has yet to diminish. Indeed it has expanded to cover the 40 or so years between the first ironclads and the early 20th Century when recognisable warships came online with the Dreadnought class of ships. Expect a number of books on this subject in the coming year as well as novels both of this period and other great ages of naval conflict. Oh, and as you might have guessed, I highly recommend this book to anyone interested in the Civil War and Military/Navy History.