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Maps of Interest

This is a painting of the Whaleship Milo done by Arthur Moniz, of Arthur Moniz Gallery in New Bedford Massachusetts.  It was was commissioned by Peter Hawes, great grandson of Captain Hawes and painted by Mr. Moniz in 2005.

Although it is not easy to see a great deal of detail in this illustration,  you will notice a small insert on the bottom right.  This is a reproduction of the Bering Sea scene of destruction painted by Benjamin Russell in 1874.  The scene was painted  in order to memorialize the event for posterity.  The painting is displayed on the cover of "A Ransomed Yankee."

This is a painting by Benjamin Russell in 1874 who was commissioned by Jonathan C. Hawes, and which was given to the New Bedford Whaling Museum by Frederic Hawes in 1968.  Frank Sisson has owned a full scale reproduction of the painting for over twenty years which is displayed on the wall of his den.  The painting has served as a basis for writing the book.

This painting discloses the destruction of whaleships on June 23, 1865, in the Bering Sea off the coast of Siberia.  On the right with full sails is the ship Milo which was ransomed to take prisoners to safety.  On the deck of the Milo are nearly 200 prisoners taken from the other stricken whaleships that you may not be able to see clearly, but they are shown there.  On the left, without sails, is the steamer CSS Shenandoah that went on to destroy many more whalers before departing the Bering Sea a few days later and heading south. 

The Milo was built in 1811 in Newburyport, Massachusetts. It was a three-mast brig with full square sails and was built to withstand the harsh icebound environment of the Arctic Sea.  It was a 400-ton vessel, 108 feet long and 29 feet wide at mid-deck, and it had a depth of 14 feet, 6 inches.  In November 1863, it had recently returned from a whaling voyage to the Bering Sea and was now under new ownership.  Captain Jonathan C. Hawes was captain and part owner of the Milo.  This was the third voyage for Captain Hawes as master, and his first voyage since the beginning of the Civil War.  The Milo would be involved in a significant event of the war, as written in US Naval archives.

Jonathan C. Hawes, Captain and Master of the Whaleship Milo during her lengthy voyage from New Bedford to the Pacific Ocean and Bering Sea during the years 1863 to 1869.

The CSS Alabama, shown on the left, is being defeated by the USS Kearsarge off the coast of France in June 1864.  The Alabama had been a menace on the seas, having destroyed a large number of American merchant ships as well as whalers.  This event is covered in detail in the book and displays the courage of the Kearsarge skipper, Captain John Winslow, against the famous Alabama skipper, Captain Raphael Semmes of the Confederate States Navy.  This left the CSS Florida as the primary threat against Yankee shipping until the CSS Shenandoah came upon the scene in October 1864.

The CSS Florida, however, was captured in Bahia, Brazil, on October 7, 1864, by the USS Wachusett, Captain Napoleon Collins commanding.  She was then towed back to the United States and the plan was for her to be retrofitted as a Federal warship.  This put the Florida out of commission for the South and left the soon to be commissioned Shenandoah as the only significant threat on the seas to Northern shipping.

This is a painting of the CSS Shenandoah in the Bering Sea during June 1865.  However, she was commissioned off Madeira Island on October 19, 1864.  It had previously departed Liverpool as the merchant ship Sea King.  Upon arrival at Madeira Island, she was met by the Confederate supply ship Laurel loaded with Captain James Iredell Waddell, commander, a skeleton crew, deck cannons, ammunition and supplies.  The vessel became an armed cruiser within a few days as guns were positioned and secured, ammunition and supplies were stored and the crew was augmented by volunteers from both vessels.  Within several days, the Shenandoah would intercept and destroy her first victim.

James Iredell Waddell, Captain of the Confederate raider, CSS Shenandoah, during her around the world cruise to destroy Yankee shipping on the high seas.  The Shenandoah was very successful in accomplishing her mission and destroyed or ransomed 37 American vessels at sea to the consternation of the North.  Waddell graduated from the the second class to graduate from the U.S. Naval Academy in 1847.

This is a painting of the burning whaleship, Pearl, at Ponape Island on April 3, 1865.  It was burned and destroyed, along with three other vessels that the Shenandoah captured on April 1.  Captain Waddell benefited greatly by this confrontation by obtaining maps and locations of the Yankee whaling fleet during the summer months in the Bering Sea.  This destruction occurred while General Grant was successfully chasing General Lee which resulted in Lee's surrender at Appomattox Court House on April 9.  That event signaled the beginning of the end of the Civil War, but there were more battles to be fought.  This painting is owned by the Shelburne Museum in Vermont.

This is a painting of the CSS Shenandoah towing prisoners in whale boats behind the ship.  This occurred on June 25, 1865, in the Bering Strait, very close to the Arctic Ocean, and was one of the final sea operations of the rebel against Yankee whaling.  You can see the burning whale ships in the background and the full sails ahead for those ships to be captured and burned, or ransomed.  On June 29, the rebel headed south and learned from an English merchant ship on August 22, that the Civil War was over.  After that, she quietly headed back to Liverpool, England, after having been pursued by American and English ships of war.  She was never intercepted and surrendered the last Confederate flag to the British in November 1865, after arriving at Liverpool.   The painting is owned by the Alaska State Library.

This is a photograph taken by Alexander Gardener on July 7, 1865, of Mary Surratt, David Herold, Lewis Powell and George Atzerodt to record their execution by hanging.  The three men were convicted  by the Military Court on strong evidence to have conspired to murder President Lincoln, Secretary Seward and Vice President Johnson.  Mary Surratt, the mother of escaped conspirator John Surratt and owner of the boardinghouse where the conspirators met, was convicted on suspect testimony by witnesses granted immunity.  "Mrs. Surratt is innocent," Lewis Powell said on the scaffold.  "She doesn't deserve to die with the rest of us."

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Last modified: 03/22/10