BALLYDEHOB born author Michael Barry’s latest book, Catalpa, recounts one of the most daring and improbable rescue missions in Irish history.
It is the story of the dramatic escape of six Fenian prisoners from Freemantle Prison in Australia, and their journey to America on a whaling ship.
Michael, the author of numerous books of historical interest, said that what makes this escape so fascinating is that it is set against the wider struggle for Irish independence.
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Catalpa: The Epic Story of the Greatest Prison Rescue in Irish History, published by Gill Books, is a tale of rebellion, exile and endurance, and how a handful of determined men defied an empire and achieved the unthinkable.
As military Fenians – soldiers in the British Army who had secretly sworn allegiance to the Irish Republican Brotherhood – they faced life sentences with no prospect of ever seeing Ireland again.
Their plight became known in America, through letters smuggled out of the colony. John Devoy, the Irish revolutionary leader in New York, who had personally known and recruited many of the men, came up with a breathtakingly audacious solution: send a ship halfway around the world, infiltrate the colony, spirit the prisoners out of Fremantle and carry them to freedom under the protection of the American flag.
West Cork readers interested in history will no doubt be aware that one of the Catalpa six was Michael Harrington from Goleen.
Thomas Hasset was from Doneraile. And the Fenian agents sent on a separate mission to Western Australia, Walsh and McCarthy, were from Cork county.
Another connection, close to home, was Thomas Desmond, assistant to John Breslin. The Fenian agent sent to Fremantle was a native of Queenstown, now Cobh.
The book really is a rich repository because it also features the story of Jerome Collins from Dunmanway, and the founding of Clan na Gael.
Returning to Michael Harrington’s story, the author said he was born in Goleen in 1825, and was the eldest of the Catalpa Six.
He enlisted in the British Army in 1844 and served in India.
He only lived for another decade after his escape: he died in 1886, at the age of 61, and was buried in Calvary Cemetery, New York.
A plaque and legend, written by the late historian Jim O’Meara, in his memory stands at the harbour area in Goleen.
Michael Harrington’s name is also chiselled on the stone remains of the family homestead, located between Goleen and Crookhaven.
