FAMOUS

SHIPS

Arguments can be made as to what and why a ship will become ‘famous.’  Some achieve this due to an outstanding performance in relation to speed, size of ship, how many guns she carried, etc.  Others become famous due to events in which they participated or individuals that commanded them.  The CATALPA became famous due to an event that took place.

A little history is necessary in order to fully understand the event that takes place.  There was, in 1848, a rebellion against England by William O’Brien and his Young Ireland movement that was unsuccessful.  One result of this was that a secret organization called the Fenians was organized in Ireland and America that consisted mostly of Irishmen driven from their land by famine.  The purpose of the Fenians was to make Ireland a republic independent from England and plots were created against the English government (sounds kind of like today).  In 1865-67 several incidents occurred that led to the execution of three Fenians and shipment of seven of them to the English penal colony in Australia.  This story involves those seven individuals.

Captain George S Anthony had fifteen years of whaling already accomplished when he decided it was time to retire at the age of 31 and become a mechanic in a machine shop.  He had a young bride of a year and a three-month old son but the lure of the sea could not be denied.  He mentioned this to his father-in-law one day in February 1875.  A few days later he was invited to join five men in his clothing shop who were all Irish refugees and members of a rescue committee of the Clan-na-Gael.  One of these five was the city marshal.  They asked Captain Anthony if he would take the CATALPA on a whaling voyage with the secret intention of picking up the prisoners who were in Australia.  After some discussion, he accepted the challenge.

The CATALPA, which was purchased by the Clan in East Boston (therefore the owners of the ship), was 202.05 tons net, ninety feet long and twenty-five feet in breadth.  She was rigged as a merchant bark, with double topsails and a poop deck.  On April 29 she put to sea from New Bedford.  She had a crew of 23, only one of which new the real mission of the ship (he was a Clan member, the carpenter).  The ship then went whaling in the North Atlantic until fall.  The CATALPA then passed the Cape of Good Hope into the Pacific.  While so doing, she spoke an English Bark OCEAN BEAUTY.  Captain Anthony went aboard for a visit and found that the captain of the OCEAN BEAUTY was the individual who initially carried the Fenians to prison in Fremantle, Australia.  He came away with the very chart used in landing the prisoners!

From February 29 to March 10, a prolonged gale blew dead ahead and only 120 miles easting was made.  But fair winds came from the west and then the CATALPA sailed along with a bone in her teeth.  On March 28, she reached anchorage off Bunbury Harbor, Australia, at the head of Geogrape Bay, according to the captain’s instructions.  The plan for the escape of the prisoners was then explained to Captain Anthony and, over the next several weeks, plans were made to carry out the escape of the Frenians.  The escape was carried out on April 17, 1876, the whaleboat from the CATALPA having been lowered and rowed to the beach on the 16^th.  The CATALPA was anchored more then 12 miles offshore to avoid suspicion, so they had a hard pull ahead of them.  In addition, the armed mail steamer GEORGETTE (British) was nearby and they had to hurry. 

 The CATALPA was still distant when a gale and early darkness came on.  The whaleboat’s mast broke and went over the side.  Soon the men had enough work just bailing the seas they shipped.  The rescued men, violently seasick, lay huddled in the bottom.  At sunrise the seas became calm, but they had another problem.  The GEORGETTE was spotted – they were looking for the escaped prisoners.  The men in the boat all laid down and managed to not be spotted by the British.  The whaleboat was within three miles of the CATALPA when it was spotted by a guard boat.  The CATALPA, seeing the situation, immediately put on sail and raced the guard boat to the whaleboat – the CATALPA winning.  The six rescued men went aboard.

The next day, the CATALPA was overhauled by the 400-ton GEORGETTE.  Many soldiers were aboard and a big gun gleamed on her upper deck.  She fired a shot across the CATALPA’s bow and came abeam.  Colonel Harvest, in charge of the deck, ordered Captain Anthony to heave to.  He refused.  A faint breeze filled the CATALPA’s sails and the two ships moved along with Captain Anthony and Colonel Harvest in spirited contention.  Captain Anthony’s response was to have First Mate Smith pass out cutting spades, whaling guns and heavy pieces of iron.  After several hours, the wind freshened.  Captain Anthony, by some slick sailing, led the GEORGETTE to think the CATALPA was going to haul back and the steamer stopped.  Then the CATALPA fairly leaped away.  With the now strong breeze, she simply out sailed the slow steamer which shortly gave up the chase and headed for port.

The CATALPA reached New Bedford in September.  Although a letter was sent to the Police Department asking about the “absconders”, nothing was done.  The “absconders,” the last Irish political prisoners in Fremantle, remained free to their deaths.  The fame of the CATALPA soon passed into history.  Her eventual fate is unknown