Last Flag Down: The Epic Journey of the Last Confederate Warship
Written by John Baldwin and Ron Powers
Narrated by Michael Kramer
4/5
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Currently unavailable
Currently unavailable
About this audiobook
As the Confederacy felt itself slipping beneath the Union juggernaut in late 1864, the South launched a desperate counteroffensive to force a standoff. Its secret weapon? A state-of-the-art raiding ship whose mission was to sink the U.S. merchant fleet. The raider's name was Shenandoah, and her executive officer was Conway Whittle, a twenty-four-year-old warrior. Whittle would share command with a dark and brooding veteran of the seas, Capt. James Waddell, and together with their crew, they would spend nearly a year destroying dozens of Union ships, all while continually dodging the enemy.
Then, in August of 1865, a British ship revealed the shocking truth to the men of Shenandoah: The war had been over for months, and they were now being hunted as pirates. What ensued was an incredible 15,000-mile journey to the one place the crew hoped to find sanctuary, only to discover that their fate would depend on how they answered a single question. Wondrously evocative, LAST FLAG DOWN is a riveting story of courage, nobility, and rare comradeship forged in the quest to achieve the impossible.
John Baldwin
John Baldwin is a deacon and has served in many ministries at Parkway Hills Baptist Church in Plano, Texas. He also serves on the board of directors for High Adventure Treks for Dads and Daughters and Dads and Sons (HATS). This organization promotes father/daughter and father/son communication, leadership, and relationships through shared adventures such as white water kayaking, rock climbing, and other outdoor activities. By day, John is a business technology consultant working with the largest credit card banks.
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Reviews for Last Flag Down
20 ratings2 reviews
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Based primarily on the journal kept by the Executive Officer, Conway Whittle, it documents the Shenandoah's 58,000 mile journey from England to the Bering Sea and back. During the journey the ship captured 40 Federal merchant and whaling ships, burning most of them. What makes the story all the more interesting is that most of the ships were taken after the war ended. The crew was unaware of the war's end until August of 1865, several months too late. Once they found out the war had ended they sailed to England and surrendered to a Royal Navy ship at Liverpool. If you've never heard the Shenandoah's story, this is a good place to start.
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The authors do an excellent job of weaving Conway Whittle's personal observations with the facts of the C S S Shenandoah's journey - a cruiser that became, more or less, a pirate ship for the Confederacy. Use of naval terms flow easily with the text so as not to be distracting or leave the reader feeling ignorant (of course a glossary is included in the back of the book). Struck by the character of Whittle - his honest journal entries, a faith in God that he felt he didn't really have, his skill and courage as a sailor and his very humaness, I turned to genealogy research (nothing too hard or special) to follow Whittle after the war and his return to the states. Addendum: A few facts to add or clear up - Authors failed to give Whittle's actual birth/death dates. William Conway Whittle, Jr. died January 5, 1920 and is buried at Elmwood Cemetery in Norfolk, VA. He & his wife had 6 children, losing one (Richard) by 1900. (on page 329 the authors write that 4 children are born to the Whittles) Whittle's mother, Elizabeth Sinclair Whittle, died in the 1855 yellow fever epidemic - this is not made clear on page 24 where a variety of years are given that must be calculated for her death year & 1855 doesn't seem to be the answer.