Publications | Down Survey | 1997 Issue Contents

James Wilson from Newry and the Catalpa Rescue
Caroline Wilson

A Newry man was one of only two Ulstermen who were transported to Western Australia for involvement in Fenian activities in the 1860s. James Wilson was aboard the very last convict ship sent to Australia, the Hougoumont, which landed sixty-two Irish political prisoners, including the famous John Boyle O'Reilly, among its load of 279 convicts disembarked in January 1868. O'Reilly escaped from a road gang just a year later and made his way to America. Wilson had to wait another seven years before he was rescued from penal servitude by Americans in a dramatic incident known as the Catalpa Rescue.

Wilson was born James McNally on 6 February 1836. He served for seven years in the Bombay Artillery and was stationed in India, Syria and north America. In the early 1860s he returned to Ireland where he joined the 5th Dragoon Guards. He became a Fenian in 1864, taking the oath to be obedient to his leaders, to uphold secrecy and to do his utmost to secure a Democratic Independent Irish Republic. He deserted with Martin Hogan in November 1865 after they had enrolled many soldiers in the organisation . Wilson was arrested in Dublin on 10 February 1866 and court martialled. He was found guilty of mutinous conduct and received a sentence of death which was later commuted to imprisonment for life.

Although Wilson did not receive a transportation sentence he was placed with other Irish Fenians, including Hogan, on board the Hougomont bound for Fremantle. The British government had already decided to end transportation to Western Australia (and therefore to Australia as a whole) but the Hougomont set sail precisely six weeks before this decision was to take effect. A furore was caused shortly before the ship's arrival when the Australian authorities became aware that there were sixty-two Fenians amongst the convicts, and seventeen of them were military offenders. Rumours of an invasion spread amongst the non-Irish and the Governor sent for troops from Tasmania. However there was no trouble and the Fenians were quickly initiated into penal servitude.

On the advice of the Roman Catholic chaplain at Perth Prison the civilian Fenians were allowed to work together, apart from the other convicts, but the military deserters were dispersed among the other convicts, much to their disgust. In 1869 more than half the remaining Fenian convicts were granted royal pardons, but not a single ex-soldier was amongst them. It was generally held that the Duke of Cambridge had prevented Gladstone, the British Prime Minister, from showing them the same clemency, even though some had been sentenced to relatively short terms. It soon became obvious for those who remained that they would never receive a pardon: the only choice was to serve out their terms, or escape.

Wilson himself played a large part in persuading Fenians in America to rescue the military convicts. He wrote letters to members of the Irish Republican Brotherhood in Ireland, to Fenians in the north of England and, most influential of all, to John Devoy in America. He was certainly acutely aware of how to attract support from Irish sympathisers. His letters mix heartrending descriptions of convict life and firm demands that that the released Fenians face up to their responsibilities to those left behind:

"And what a death is staring us in the face, the death of a felon in a British (sic) dungeon, aud a grave amongst Britton's ruffians. I am not a.shamed to speak the truth ... that it is a disgrace to have us in prison today. A little money judiciously expended would release every man that is now in West Australia... Think that we have been nearly nine years in this living tomb since our first arrest, aud that it is impossible for mind or body to withstand the continual strain that is upon them. One or the other must give way...."

Finally, he argues that a rescue attempt would be easy in a thinly populated state, and gives detailed plans of how it could be effected. Devoy had been trying as early as 1872 to organise a rescue attempt by Clan na Gael but had been told that funds were not available. Nevertheless the plan was accepted at the Baltimore Convention of the Organisation in 1874 and Devoy set about raising money. Copies of Wilson's letter, excluding details of the rescue plan, were sent to branches of Clan NA Gael to persuade members to vote funds for the cause.

Unfortunately, Wilson's letters were so effective that they prompted an expedition from the Irish Republican Brotherhood at the same time. There were some awkward negotiations between the Irish and American plotters, which eventually resulted in acceptance of an American plan supported by IRB men and money.

So on Easter Monday 1876 the long series of events known as the Catalpa Rescue began. The American whaling ship Catalpa with a full crew arrived in Western Australia during an expedition which was intended both to raise money and to provide a good cover. Two agents on shore, named Breslin and Desmond, adopted aliases and made detailed plans. Breslin was masterful in his role as a wealthy speculator. He expressed an interest in the penal settlement and was courteously given a tour of the entire convict establishment.

Secret meetings were set up with Wilson who helped coordinate the rescue from inside. Six convicts each left their posts while working outside the secure area and met their rescuers who were waiting with wagons. Such was their confidence that they interrupted the drive to the shore to buy some port and brandy at a local hotel! When they arrived at the shore they got into the ship's long boat to row to the Catalpa. They did not reach the ship for another day by which time the alarm had been raised and police ships launched. The gunboat Georgette pulled alongside the Catalpa and requested that the prisoners be handed over. Captain Anthony refused and, having raised the American flag, warned the pursuers that the ship was in international waters and could not be boarded. Eventually the Georgette was forced to give up the chase although all on board were convinced they had seen some of the missing men.

The success of the rescue attempt did not prevent squabbles as the Catalpa made its way back to the United States. The captain and crew were eager to return to whaling so that the loans from Clan NA Gael branches could be paid back. But the escapees had other ideas, and insisted that they go straight to New York. John Breslin captured the mood in his own account of the journey:

"Hassett found he must have been a freeman in Australia for he was deprived of his liberty on board the Catalpa, and Wilson was knave enough to pretend that he could not use the food, that he found himself becoming weaker and weaker and would die if not put ashore."

Disagreements were dispelled by the cheers of jubilant crowds welcoming the Fenian prisoners ashore in Irish America. So ended the story of Irish political prisoners in Australia, and the Irish in that country did not retain such an edge of anti-British bitterness as was to continue a life of its own in the United states.

James Wilson from Newry settled in Philadelphia. A letter to John Devoy dated 17 July 1877 shows that freedom could be difficult too: he reported that times were hard and work scarce, and enquired about a grant from the Rescued Prisoners' Fund.

Carrie Wilson: History graduate of Brazenose College, Oxford; former researcher with the museum's Ulster-Australia Project; now working for BBC Northern Ireland.

References

	Amos, Keith, The Fenians and Australia c 1865- 1880. (PhD thesis, University of New England, Annidale, 1985)
	O'Brien, William, and Ryan, Desmond (eds.), Devoy's Postbag 1871-1928. 2 vols. (Dublin 1948)