The C.S.S. Shenandoah left England in 1864 and sailed around the Cape of Good Hope into the Pacific.  She was under the command of James I. Waddell.  Although she was a steam ship with a retractable propeller, almost her entire voyage would be under sail.  Her general mission was to capture and destroy American merchant ships. Her specific orders were to find the American whaling fleet operating in the Arctic Ocean and destroy it.  It was hoped that this action would propel the owners of the vessel to lobby President Lincoln for an end to the war.  The Confederacy was in a difficult position by this time and its leaders were looking for options other than a complete surrender.  In order for the Shenandoah to locate the whaling fleet, she first had to secure whaling charts.  These were the highly prized charts kept by whaling ships showing the location of whales sighted and hunted.  The charts changed as the whales changed routes and new locations of whales were found. Captain Waddell knew he needed to locate current whaling charts to pinpoint the location of the whaling fleet.

Sailing into the Pacific, the Shenandoah learned that several whaling ships were at anchor in Pohnahtik Harbor, Pohnpei, Caroline Islands.  The Shenandoah immediately sailed to Pohnahtik, arriving there April 1, 1865. There were four whalers at anchor when the Shenandoah arrived.  All were headed for the Arctic whaling grounds and had stopped for reprovisioning and repairs.  The Shenandoah sent boarding parties in small boats to each whaler, capturing all four vessels, and set about stripping the ships of anything of value including the coveted whaling charts. The four ships were burned between April 1 and April 15 and with the whaling charts the Shenandoah left the harbor and sailed to the Arctic Ocean. She located and destroyed 40 vessels, nearly the entire American whaling fleet out that season.  All of these ships, including those at Pohnahtik, were captured after General Robert E. Lee surrendered at Appomattox on April 9, 1865, signaling the effective end of the Confederate States of America.  It was not until August, 1865, that the crew of the Shenandoah learned of the capture of Confederate President Jefferson Davis and the official end of the war.  Rather than surrender in some American port, Captain Waddell decided to return the ship to England and sailed around Cape Horn, thus circumnavigating the globe. 

TheShenandoah was the second most successful Confederate raider during the Civil War.  Only the C.S.S. Alabama operating in the Atlantic captured more merchant vessels.  The key to Shenandoah's success was the whaling charts obtained at Pohnahtik Harbor.  Without these charts, the Shenandoah may well have continued north without sighting another whaler and could have sailed around the Arctic in a vain attempt to locate the whaling fleet. 

The 2002 field season will complete the investigation to determine what cultural material remains in Pohnahtik Harbor from the Shenandoah action and how this material might best be preserved as a significant portion of an historically important Civil War site. The investigation results will be presented to the National Park Service and American Battlefield Protection Program to support the area's listing on the National Register of Historic Places.