Confederate sympathies in the colonies

In 1864, the Confederate raider CSS Shenandoah (a 1160-ton screw steam cruiser) was enroute to the Pacific to raid the US whaling fleet. After a few other adventures, she took refuge in the colony port of Melbourne in early 1865, where she was refitted, took on supplies and surreptitiously recruited "stow-aways" as crew.

After an effective anti-commerce patrol, Shenandoah became the only Confederate warship to circumnavigate the globe during the conflict and was the last Confederate military unit to surrender at the war's end.

A court later found that the British Government had breached the laws of neutrality in rendering assistance in Melbourne and ordered reparations to be paid.


Now what if this incident was based on a raiding Confederate dirigible instead...

[EDIT] Interesting news article posted here for the 150th Anniversary of this event

http://us-civil-war.suite101.com/article.cfm/css_shenandoah_confederate_raider
http://ahoy.tk-jk.net/MaraudersCivilWar/CSSShenandoah.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CSS_Shenandoah
http://www.history.navy.mil/photos/sh-us-cs/csa-sh/csash-sz/shendoah.htm