The Catalpa Adventure: Escape to Freedom

In April 1875, the whaler 'Catalpa' sailed from New Bedford in America, embarking on a hair-raising seafaring mission. Its destination was Fremantle, Western Australia; its goal to rescue six Fenian prisoners from the toughest prison there. The Irishmen, convicted of treason against the British Queen and regarded as traitors, were suffering from hunger, overwork and disease. Fearing they would die, they had pleaded with their comrades in America to be rescued. On Easter Monday 1876, the pri...