Page:Life of John Boyle O'Reilly.djvu/199

From Wikisource
Jump to navigation Jump to search
This page has been proofread, but needs to be validated.
HIS LIFE, POEMS AND SPEECHES.
161

selected by Captain Hathaway to consist of Malays, Kanakas, and Portuguese negroes, with one or two whites. It was necessary that the ship should present in every respect the appearance of a genuine whaler. Captain Anthony had a roving charter, "To go where I liked, stay as long as I pleased, and return home when I got ready. I was to be at Australia in the spring of 1876 to co-operate with Fenian agents for the release of six prisoners confined at Fremantle."

The Catalpa cruised for a year, capturing one whale in the North Atlantic, from which $11,000 were realized, and on the 1st of March, 1876, arrived at Bunbury, Western Australia. Captain Anthony's story is as terse as a log book: "We cleared at Teneriffe on the 10th of November for River La Platte and other places beyond the seas; did not go to the river, but sailed direct for Bunbury on the west coast of Australia, arriving the last of March. The day after arrival, received a telegram from Fremantle, signed J. Collins, as followed: 'Any news from New Bedford? When are you going to Fremantle.' I answered, 'No news from New Bedford; shall not go to Fremantle.'"

Two days later "Collins" came from Fremantle and took lodgings in the hotel at which Captain Anthony was staying. He was introduced to the latter, who invited him on board his ship. There Breslin and Anthony studied the chart of the coast and decided upon their plans. The next day the coasting steamer Georgette stopped at Bunbury on her way to Fremantle. Anthony and Breslin went as passengers; the former, as a fellow sailor, made acquaintance with the Captain of the Georgette, who gave him all the information he desired in regard to the course taken by vessels in those waters, the soundings, etc. On arriving at Fremantle they were surprised to find a British gunboat in the harbor, and decided to defer operations until her departure. Anthony remained at Fremantle five days, driving with Breslin over the twenty-three miles of road between that place and Rockingham, which was to be their point of