British Ships in the Confederate Navy
This book describes the Confederacy’s efforts to purchase vessels from British shipyards or owners and commission them in the Confederate Navy. These efforts included having the ships built in British shipyards to Confederate Navy specifications by shadow companies (e.g. CSS Florida and CSS Alabama) and purchasing already-built ships deemed suitable for outfitting as naval vessels (e.g. Sea King, a vessel built as a British naval transport, which became the CSS Shenandoah). These actions required the Confederacy to overcome several problems. The main one was the British Neutrality Act, which forbade any military assistance to a belligerent. This law barred British shipyards from building or outfitting naval vessels for either belligerent and prohibited anyone from outfitting an already-built vessel as a naval vessel for either side. Another problem was the Foreign Enlistment Act, which forbade British citizens from serving in foreign forces. This law caused difficulties in manning any ship that had circumvented the Neutrality Act and was commissioned into the Confederate Navy. To ensure strict neutrality in the Civil War, the British government paid close attention to any evidence of violations, with prompting from various U.S. consular offices and the U.S. embassy. As a result, the Alexandra and the Pampero (intended to be the CSS Texas) were seized by the government before they could leave British waters. Besides telling the story of getting the ships, sailing them out of British waters, and manning and commissioning them once away from British oversight, this book recounts the voyages, successes and defeats of the various Confederate raiders. It also includes a chapter on Confederate blockade-runners built in British ports — since they were unarmed merchant vessels the Neutrality Act didn’t apply — and some of their exploits. Chapters entitled “The Men and Ships That Ran the Blockade” and “Tales of Old Men” add a human face to the blockade-runners and include information on several naval officers on leave from the Royal Navy who captained some of them. These two chapters on blockade-runners don’t exactly fit the title but provide intriguing stories. The strength of this volume is that the author, Joseph McKenna, a former librarian at the Central Library at Birmingham, England, was able to track down sources from many contemporary periodicals and newspapers. These efforts provid new information and insights. British Ships in the Confederate Navy is an excellent book. It will be of interest to Civil War naval history buffs who are willing to pay its high price. Reviewer: Joseph A. Derie Joseph A. Derie is a VMI graduate and a long time Civil War buff and military book reviewer. A retired Coast Guard officer and licensed officer of the Merchant Marine, he is a Certified Marine Investigator and marine surveyor.
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Illustrated, photographs, appendix, notes, bibliography, index, 292 pp, 2010. McFarland,