 "This is not a new discovery, but it was previously unknown to our
project," said Daniel Stowell, director of the Papers of Abraham
Lincoln, the group conducting a monumental worldwide search for
documents written by or to Abraham Lincoln. "We continue to be
amazed at the places on this earth where original Lincoln documents
surface. We are thrilled that the Australian National Maritime
Museum shared with us a scan of the document so it could be included
in our ongoing documentary project. This brings to four the total
number of documents in Australia that we have identified thus far."
In July, Stowell presented a paper to the Australian Historical
Association about Australian views of Lincoln and was also invited
to speak to American Civil War Round Tables in Melbourne, Sydney and
Brisbane about the Papers of Abraham Lincoln project.
Following the presentation in Brisbane, a member of the audience
informed Stowell about a Lincoln document at the Australian National
Maritime Museum in Sydney that was unknown to the Papers of Abraham
Lincoln. The document is a ship's passport, or registration papers,
for the Jireh Swift, designed and built by a former American slave.
The Australian connection is a fascinating journey back to 1865.
The Jireh Swift was built in 1853 by African-American shipwright
John Mashow (1805-1864), who was born into slavery in South
Carolina. Freed in 1815, Mashow made his way to New England and
became a well-known and respected shipbuilder. He designed more than
100 ships and built about 60, including 14 whaling ships such as the
Jireh Swift. Many of these American whalers found their way to the
Pacific, drawn to the abundance of whales, the shipyards and the
trading opportunities.
The passport for the Jireh Swift is in four languages and was
used to confirm the nationality and legitimacy of the vessel and its
crew. The document includes the statement "the vessel Jireh Swift …
is of the United States of America, and no subject of present
belligerent Powers have any part or portion therein…" The passport
is dated Sept. 1, 1862 -- a year after the beginning of the American
Civil War, exactly three weeks before President Lincoln announced
his intention to issue the Emancipation Proclamation, and less than
three years before the assassination of the president whose
signature it bears.
When the Civil War began, the Confederacy had almost no naval
strength. Rather than engage the Union in a naval battle, the
Confederates employed a different tactic -- to seek and destroy as
many merchant ships as possible in order to cripple the Northern
economy and force the Union's powerful navy out to sea.
The Confederate ship Shenandoah, captained by the charismatic
James Waddell, was part of this strategy. It was a fast, iron-framed
clipper ship with auxiliary steam power. Waddell took command of the
ship in October 1864 and within six weeks had captured eight
merchant and whaling vessels, most of which he destroyed.
In January 1865, Waddell directed the CSS Shenandoah to the
Australian port of Melbourne for repairs. Over the complaints of the
U.S. consul, the Australian authorities allowed the Shenandoah to
enter the port and restock, mindful of Great Britain's commitment to
a neutral stance in the American Civil War.
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 The Shenandoah was an instant sensation, as news of Waddell's
raids had reached Australia. People turned out by the thousands to
tour the "pirate" ship, and there was a gala ball to host the ship's
officers.
When the Shenandoah left Melbourne in February 1865, Waddell
rejected a number of offers from locals who wanted to join him
despite the desertion of 17 of his own crew while in the Australian
port; Waddell did not want to run afoul of the Foreign Enlistment
Act, which prohibited employing British subjects. Once the
Shenandoah was out to sea, however, about 45 Melbourne stowaways
emerged from various crevices in the ship, and Waddell allowed them
to enlist.
After leaving Australia, the Shenandoah made its way to the
Bering Sea and captured 38 more ships, released six on bond,
destroyed 32 and took 1,053 prisoners, all without the loss of a
single life.
On June 22, 1865, the Jireh Swift was destroyed after leading the
Shenandoah on a chase through the ice fields of the Bering Sea. It
is likely that the last shots of the Civil War were fired that day,
directed at the Jireh Swift, as neither Waddell nor the captain of
the Jireh Swift, having been away from America for many months and
lacking fresh news of the war, was aware of its conclusion weeks
earlier.
In early August, Waddell learned of the surrender of the
Confederate forces and also discovered that he and his crew were
being hunted as pirates by the U.S. Navy. Waddell suspected that
surrendering in an American port meant death, so he stripped the
ship of all weaponry and lowered the steam engine's stack to give
the Shenandoah the appearance of a regular merchant ship. The ship
made it to England without being recognized and, after a brief
detention, the captain and crew were released.
A tribunal was set up in Geneva in 1871 to assess the United
States' claim against Britain for damages inflicted on American
shipping by British-built or assisted Confederate ships. In the case
of the Shenandoah, the tribunal found Britain responsible for all
acts committed by the ship after leaving port in Melbourne,
including the destruction of the Jireh Swift.
___
The Papers of Abraham Lincoln is a long-term documentary editing
project dedicated to identifying, imaging, transcribing, annotating
and publishing all documents written by or to Abraham Lincoln during
his lifetime, 1809-1865. The project is administered through the
Abraham Lincoln
Presidential Library and Museum and is co-sponsored by the
Center for State Policy and Leadership at the University of Illinois
Springfield and by the Abraham Lincoln Association.
[Text from
Abraham
Lincoln Presidential Library and Museum
file received from the
Illinois Historic
Preservation Agency]
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