Catalpa rescue
Another round of pardons was issued in 1871, after which only a small group of "military" Fenians remained in Western Australia's penal system.
In 1874, prisoner James Wilson secretly sent a letter to New York City journalist John Devoy, who worked to organize a rescue.
Using donations collected by Devoy from Irish-Americans, Fremantle escapee John Boyle O'Reilly, then living in Boston, purchased a merchant ship, Catalpa, and sailed her to international waters off Rockingham, Western Australia.
[1][2] In 1869, O'Reilly escaped on the whaling ship Gazelle in Bunbury with assistance of the local Catholic priest, Father Patrick McCabe, and settled in Boston.
Another round of pardons were issued in 1871, after which only a small group of "military" Fenians remained in Western Australia's penal system.
[1][4]: 71 In 1875, the Clan's committee purchased (in the name of their member James Reynolds)[5] three-masted merchant bark Catalpa for $5,500 ($152,600 in 2023 dollars[6]).
Under Captain Anthony's direction, Catalpa was carefully restored to the fitting and rigging of a whaleship "ostensibly for a voyage of eighteen months or two years in the North and South Atlantic".
[4]: 76–78 Anthony's recruited crew of twenty-three included a highly qualified first mate, Samuel P. Smith, and a representative of the conspirators, Dennis Duggan, who shipped as a carpenter.
Breslin masqueraded as American businessman "James Collins", with suitable letter of introduction, while Desmond adopted the alias of Johnson.
[7]: 85 Breslin, as Collins, lodged in the Emerald Isle Hotel in Fremantle, while Thomas Desmond took a job as a wheelwright and recruited five local Irishmen who were to cut the telegraph lines connecting Perth to Albany on the day of escape (there was no link to the eastern colonies of Australia until 1877).
Anthony and Breslin briefly travelled back together to Fremantle on SS Georgette on 1 April, arriving the next day[10] and were horrified to find the Royal Navy gunboat HMS Conflict in port, necessitating postponement of their plan.
[4]: 131 The escape had been planned for 6 April, but the appearance of HMS Conflict and other Royal Navy ships and customs officers led to a postponement.
According to Anthony, a seventh Fenian, James Kiely, was intentionally left behind because during his trial he had offered to divulge the names of comrades in an effort to obtain a reduced sentence for himself.
The storm lasted till dawn on 18 April and was so intense that Anthony later stated that he did not expect the small boat to survive.
At 7 am, with the storm over, they again made for Catalpa but an hour later spotted the screw steamer Georgette, which had been commandeered by the colonial governor, making for the whaler.
The two boats raced to reach the Catalpa first, with the whaleboat winning, and the men climbing aboard as the police cutter passed by.
[1][citation needed] Early on 19 April the refuelled and now armed Georgette returned and came alongside the whaler, demanding the surrender of the prisoners and attempting to herd the ship back into Australian waters.
Ignoring the demand to surrender, Anthony hoisted and pointed towards the U.S. flag, warning that an attack on Catalpa would be considered an act of war against the U.S.,[1] and proceeded westward.
This was well recognised by Captain O'Grady of Georgette, who had sailed out of New York, was friendly toward Anthony and had, on 1 April, unwittingly entertained him in the steamer's pilot house, closely briefing him on the coast between Fremantle and Rockingham.
The news sparked celebrations in the United States and Ireland and anger in Britain and Australia (although there was also sympathy for the cause within the Australian population).
"Not by a damned sight," was Mr. Smith's reply.In The Emerald Whaler (1960) by William Laubenstein, a fictionalised version, the encounter became much more confrontational:[7]: 86 This is Her Majesty's ship of war Georgette... "Hell of a lookin' warship," Sam jibed.
"In addition, over the years, Georgette was presented as bigger and larger than it actually was: roughly the same size as Catalpa, and outfitted with a single cannon.
In Thomas Keneally's The Great Shame and the Triumph of the Irish in the English-Speaking World (1999), she is described as the Royal Navy's newest ship, twice the size of Catalpa.
The Fenians transported to Western Australia adopted the phrase for themselves during their voyage on board Hougoumont, even publishing a shipboard newspaper entitled The Wild Goose.
So come all you screw warders and jailers Remember Perth regatta day Take care of the rest of your Fenians Or the Yankees will steal them away.
On the seventeenth of April last the Stars and Stripes did fly On board the bark Catalpa, waving proudly to the sky; She showed the green above the red as she did calmly lay Prepared to take the Fenian boys in safety o'er the sea.
