In Jan 1865 the Confederate commerce raider CSS SHENANDOAH pulled into harbour at Melbourne, and her crews were feted by the local population, to the immense chagrin of the UN consul, who denounced the commerce raiders as pirates preying on helpless Union shipping, and demanded that the Vic governor Gipps (?) respect Britain's neutrality in the matter by interning the ship and crew since they'd stayed longer than th 24 hrs customarily granted to belligrent ships in neutral waters in time of war. The governor refused to follow this line, allowing the SHENANDOAH to sail out again and claim more Union shipping by and after the war's end. Now how would've the course of the war been affected by the British, although belatedly, utilising this incident as the pretext for intervening on the Confederacy's side ?