John Devoy's Catalpa Expedition

by Terry Golway (Introduction), Philip Fennell (Editor), Marie King (Editor)

The story of John Devoy’s 1876 Catalpa rescue is a tale of heroism, creativity, and the triumph of independent spirit in pursuit of freedom. The daily log on board the whaling ship Catalpa begins with the typical recount of a crew intact and a spirit unfettered, but such quiet words deceive the truth of the audacious enterprise that came to be known as one of the most important rescues in Irish American history. John Devoy’s men rescued six Irish political prisoners from the Australian coast, allowing millions of fellow Irishmen and American-Fenians, many of whom secretly financed the dangerous plot, to draw courage from the newly exiled prisoners.
Philip Fennell and Marie King tell the story from John Devoy’s own records and the ship's logbooks. John Devoy's Catalpa Expedition includes an introduction by Terry Golway and the personal diaries, letters, and reports from John Devoy and his men.

Hardcover

First published March 1, 2006

About the author

Terry Golway is a journalist, historian and the author of more than a dozen books. His latest, "Terror From America," is his first novel. It takes place in New York and London as Irish Americans are using politics and violence to win freedom for Ireland. In the novel, Sherlock Holmes arrives in New York to break up the conspiracy.

Golway has worked for the New York Observer, the New York Times and Politico, and has written for many other publications, including America magazine and the Irish Echo. He is an adjunct professor of history and political science at the College of Staten Island, his alma mater. He also holds a Ph.D. in US History from Rutgers University.

Reviews

[Robin · Rating 5 out of 5]

A collection of publications, sea logs, and meeting minutes that paints a nuanced picture of the infamous prison break. It's still exciting and grand, but the editors draw on diverse scholarly resources to pull together a more complete picture. It's a damn shame most of these incisive insights are relegated to endnotes - curse the HASS discipline for normalising such a wretched citation style - but one can also see the appeal of letting Devoy tell his tale uninterrupted by modern intrusions. Informative, well-rounded, and the perfect companion piece to the somewhat whitewashed account published by Anthony via Pease over a hundred years earlier.

[Amy]

The Clan na Gael, of which Jerome J. Collins founded, carried out this amazing secretive rescue of some fenians in prison in Western Australia.