SEA KING / SHENANDOAH / EL MAJIDI

SEA KING WAS BUILT FOR ROBERTSON & CO OF GLASGOW BY ALEXANDER STEPHEN & CO AT KELVINHAUGH AND WAS A VESSEL OF 1152 TONS AND WAS FITTED WITH A STEAM ENGINE, AS WELL AS BEING A FULLY RIGGED SAILING VESSEL.HER OFFICIAL NUMBER WAS 48547.

 IN 1863 SHE WAS USED BY THE BRITISH GOVERNMENT TO CARRY TROOPS FROM THE U.K TO NEW ZEALAND ( OPERATED BY SHAW SAVILL & CO ) AND LEFT WOOLWICH BOUND FOR AUCKLAND VIA ST.VINCENT AND CAPE HORN  WITH 300 TROOPS AND 100 ODD WOMEN AND CHILDREN ONBOARD.

SHE LEFT AUCKLAND ALLEGEDLY, TO GO TO A CHINESE PORT TO LOAD FOR LONDON, BUT SHE WAS SECRETLY TRANSFERRED FROM THE SHAW SAVILL & CO  CHARTER AND WAS PLACED UNDER THE CONTROL OF THE AMERICAN GOVERNMENT ( CONFEDERATE ) SHE WAS MET OF THE MADEIRA ISLANDS BY ANOTHER CONFEDERATE VESSEL, WHO SUPPLIED AND ARMED HER AND THE CREW WERE CHANGED OVER TO CONFEDERATE OFFICERS AND MEN, AND SHE WAS COMMISSIONED AS THE 'SHENANDOAH' FOR THE CONFEDERACY

DURING  A SIX MONTH VOYAGE SHE DESTROYED 37 VESSELS.

WHEN THE VESSELS COMMANDER, JAMES WADDELL LEARNED OF THE END OF THE WAR HE SAILED HER BACK FROM THE ALEUTIAN ISLANDS BACK UP THE RIVER MERSEY IN THE U.K AND GAVE UP HIS VESSEL TO THE U.K NAVY, ( HE HAD BEEN WORRIED THAT IF HE SURRENDERED TO THE UNITED STATES, THAT HE AND HIS CREW WOULD HAVE BEEN HUNG AS PIRATES ) 

HE AND HIS CREW BEING ALLOWED TO GO THEIR WAY.

SHE WAS LATER USED BY THE SULTAN OF ZANZIBAR AS HIS YACHT, WHO RE-NAMED HER 'EL MAJIDI'

SHE WAS WRECKED OF THE COAST OF AFRICA IN 1879.