Call for historic Fenian rescue to be marked
The 150th anniversary of the daring rescue of six Fenian prisoners by boat from a British penal colony in Western Australia should be commemorated nationally.
That’s according to Fianna Fáil Cork County Councillor Gearoid Murphy who said the ‘largely forgotten’ Catalpa expedition of 1876 deserves far more recognition.
At Monday’s full meeting of Cork County Council, the Kanturk-Mallow representative put forward a motion calling for a national commemoration to be held on 17 April next year. The motion also called for all six prisoners to be officially pardoned.
He said: “This motion is about a fascinating piece of Irish history which was very prominent during the Irish independence movement at the time in the 1870s.
“It concerns the rescue of six Fenian prisoners from Western Australia by a boat purchased by Fenians in America and financed by Irish Americans.
“The ship was called the Catalpa and it carried out a daring amphibious rescue of prisoners on the beach. But what was equally daring was the escape from Western Australia afterwards as the Blue Squadron of the British Royal Navy pursued them into international waters,” said Cllr Murphy.
The expedition was organised by rebel activists John Devoy and John Boyle O’Reilly who successfully rescued Fenian prisoners James Wilson, Thomas Hassett, Michael Harrington, Thomas Darragh, Martin Hogan, and Robert Cranston from a British penal colony in Fremantle, Western Australia.
Thomas Hassett was born in Doneraile in 1859. According to historical records, he joined the Young Irelanders’ Phoenix Literary Society in 1859 and left Ireland to serve in the Irish Papal Brigade in 1860 and was wounded at the Battle of Perugia. He joined the British Army in 1861 and was sworn into the Irish Republican Brotherhood in 1864.
Cllr Murphy continued: “This was widely acclaimed at the time and captured imaginations across republican movements in Ireland and Irish America.
“Since our independence was won 50 years after that, approximately, it faded into obscurity. However, now with the 150th anniversary approaching, I think that the time is right for us to remember and commemorate this important piece Irish history, Irish American history, and Australian history.”
Supporting Cllr Murphy motion, Fianna Fáil Cllr Gobnait Moynihan said: “It's not a story I've heard before, and I say story because sometimes you forget with these things, it sounds like a movie, but they're actually people and they had a family and it's important that they are remembered and pardoned as well.”
Cork County Council will now write to the Minister for Culture, Communications and Sport, Patrick O'Donovan, TD; and the Minister for Justice, Jim O'Callaghan, TD, requesting that a formal commemoration of the Catalpa expedition be help on 17 April next year.