in the Bering Sea between Siberia and Alaska had been a safe haven for Yankee whalers for most of the American Civil War. This prosperous whaling ended in the spring and summer of 1865 when Shenandoah arrived and captured 20 of the 58 Yankee whalers working here. These whalers were destroyed more than a month after CSA President Jefferson Davis was captured on May 10, 1865. On June 27, 1865, Waddell learned from a prize, Susan & Abigail, that General Robert E. Lee had surrendered the Army of Northern Virginia almost three months earlier at Appomattox Court House. Susan & Abigail'''s captain produced a San Francisco newspaper reporting the flight from Richmond of the Confederate government 10 weeks previously. However, the newspaper also contained President Davis' proclamation that the "war would be carried on with re-newed vigor." Waddell then captured 10 more whalers in the space of seven hours just below the Arctic Circle. On August 3, 1865, Waddell learned of the war's definite end when Shenandoah encountered the Liverpool barque Barracouta, which was bound for San Francisco. Waddell was heading to the city to attack it, believing it weakly defended. He learned of the surrender of Johnston's army on April 26, and Kirby Smith's army on May 26, and most crucially of the capture of President Davis. Captain Waddell then knew the war was over. Captain Waddell lowered the Confederate flag, and Shenandoah underwent physical alteration. Her guns were dismounted and stowed below deck, and her hull was painted to look like an ordinary merchant ship. Names and dates of 38 vessels captured by CSS Shenandoah, 1864–1865: 1. October 30, 1864: the cargo bark Alina is scuttled south of the Azores, west of Dakar, near . 2. November 6: the cargo schooner Charter Oak of Boston, Massachusetts, is burned in the mid-Atlantic at . 3. November 8: the cargo bark D. Godfrey of Boston is sunk southwest of the Cape Verde Islands, near . 4. November 10: the cargo hermaphrodite brig Susan of Boston is scuttled southwest of the Cape Verde Islands. 5, 6. November 12: the neutral cargo ship Kate Prince of Portsmouth, New Hampshire, is bonded for $40,000 at ; the prisoners are sent to Bahia, Brazil. The bark Adelaide is ransomed for $24,000 and released. 7. November 13: the cargo schooner Lizzie M. Stacey of Boston is scuttled and burned near the Equator. 8. December 4: