The Catalpa Escape Podcast Series - Episode 5

The Catalpa Escape was the escape, on 17 April 1876, of six Irish ‘military’ Fenians from the ‘Convict Establishment’, now Fremantle Prison, in the then nearly 47 year old British colony of Western Australia.

A number of Fenians were initially transported on the convict ship Hougoumont to Fremantle, arriving on 9 January 1868. In 1869 and 1871, pardons had been issued to many of the imprisoned Fenians. But not to the ‘military’ Fenians who remained in Western Australia’s penal system.

In 1874, one of these ‘military’ Fenians, James Wilson, secretly sent a letter to New York City journalist John Devoy, who worked to organise a rescue. Using donations collected by Devoy from Irish-Americans, a merchant ship, Catalpa, was purchased and crewed and sailed into international waters off Rockingham, Western Australia.

On 17 April 1876 at 8:30 am, Wilson and five other Fenians working outside the prison walls – Thomas Darragh, Martin Hogan, Michael Harrington, Thomas Hassett, and Robert Cranston – boarded a whaleboat and soon after were were taken aboard the Catalpa, and made their escape to New York.

In the Catalpa Escape Podcast Series, leading up to 17 April 2026 and the 150th anniversary of the Catalpa Escape, Fremantle writer and Catalpa historian Margo O’Byrne tells Fremantle Shipping News Editor Michael Barker just how the Fenians came to be in Fremantle, how the plot to free them was hatched in the USA, and how it was dramatically carried out.

Enjoy the story!

In Episode 1 of the Catalpa Escape Podcast Series, our narrator, Margo O’Byrne, set the scene for the famous 1876 Catalpa Escape of the ‘Military’ Fenians from just south of Fremantle, Western Australia.

Episode 2 dealt with the raising the money through the auspices of Clan na Gael – the Irish Association in America – and how John Devoy became the key plotter of the escape.

In Episode 3, we found ourselves in New Bedford in key meetings of key men. Devoy, Goff, Reynolds, Hathaway, Richardson – and George Smith Anthony. And Anthony’s wife Emma. A suitable ship needs to be found and purchased for the Fremantle mission. A Captain to sail her and control the mission needs to be found. Enter Anthony. The Catalpa is spotted. Reynolds takes out mortgage on his house to purchase the Catalpa.

In Episode 4, Margo O’Byrne explained how the Clan-Na-Gael rescue committee needed to find a way to realise the funds to pay for the rescue attempt. Richardson and Hathaway moved the Catalpa to New Bedford and prepared it for the voyage. Captain Anthony selected a crew. And it was time, to think about who would be on the ground in Fremantle to coordinate the final moments of the escape of the Fenians. Duggan, Brennan, Breslin and Desmond all figured in the story, with Breslin and Desmond ready to sail to Fremantle vis Sydney and Captain Anthony and his First Kate Sam Smith ready to sail the Catalpa to Fremantle.

In this episode, Episode 5, Margot relates just how the Catalpa voyage progressed on its way to the Azores, then Tenerife, and onwards. Who knew just where they were actually heading? Did Captain Anthony have to take Brennan aboard along the way? And just what luck did Captain Anthony have when he crossed a British ship on the Indian Ocean south of Port Elizabeth?

The action is really building and Margo O’Byrne narrates it all in Episode 5 of the Catalpa Escape Podcast Series.

in case you missed the earlier episodes, here they are –

Episode 1: here’s Episode 1.

Episode 2: here’s Episode 2

Episode 3: here’s Episode 3.

Episode 4: here’s Episode 4.

By Michael Barker, Editor, Fremantle Shipping News

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