September 28, 2021 • 31 mins
In the second part of this two-part series, the guys return to the astonishing story of the Catalpa, exploring how the men prepared for and committed the actual jailbreak -- and how they got away. Listen in to learn more.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Ridiculous History is a production of I Heart Radio. Welcome
(00:27):
back to the show Ridiculous Historians. Thank you, as always
so much for tuning in. We're continuing our dive into heist.
We're still going through our hist phase. This is part
two of an infamous prison break. Uh, and we cannot
wait to get to the rest of the story with you.
That's Max Williams, our one only super producer. I'm Ben
(00:51):
noel Man this one. I'm into it. It's so cinematic.
Oh boys, what ever? Um, And we're actually getting into
some of the most cinematic parts of the story in
today's episode. So we don't know, we don't need to
preamble this and the amount, let's get right to it.
They start to gather funds together, like like cash money
(01:11):
to put together the resources they need to pull off
this rescue. Yes, yeah, they do, and they get thousands
of dollars together pretty quickly. Uh. And then they also
they start to make their plans. So what they're gonna
do is they're going to charter a boat they're gonna
sail down to Australia and then they're gonna arm themselves.
(01:34):
And about a dozen of them are gonna go spring
the Finians from the joint. That was the original plan,
you know what I mean, come in there with shock
and awe, the roar of thunder and firearms. But as
they thought about it, more and more the voices maybe
maybe it's smarter if we use a little stealth. So
(01:55):
maybe we make this less of an assault and more
of a way for it high east. Yeah, much more
of an ocean's eleven than a suicide squad situation. There
it is. That's a good comparison. So so what do
you need in the heist? You need your specialist picture.
The montage moment, Uh, Devoy is walking around clooney brad
Pitt style and he's he's picking up his people. Uh.
(02:17):
He finds a guy named George Smith Anthony not a Catholic,
a Protestant sea captain who has been in the whaling game.
And he convinces this guy, He's like, look past the politics,
past the you know details here, George, this rescue mission
is a mission of universal freedom and liberty. And much
(02:39):
like our boy O'Reilly you know, found help from a
a kindly whaling captain. Um, the same thing was true here.
This is not the same whaling captain. This is an
area that would have seen a lot of traffic from
whaling vessels due to, you know, the high density of
wales in this part of the ocean. Um. But I
guess whaling captains are by nature sort of like down
for criminality. Down down, yeah, down down to down to
(03:03):
help out some convicts. And I don't know, maybe it's
just a local the whaler's code. I don't know. No,
I'm just thinking to my head, ohalien captains, the original Juggalos.
But that's maybe not accurate. But it's a fun picture anyhow.
You're right, you're absolutely right. Now. So this captain's on board.
George is on board, and he gets the instructions from
(03:27):
the gang. They say, look, you're gonna go out to
see on this whaler, the Catalpa C A T A
l P A, And you're gonna you're gonna act as
though you are on just a routine whaling voyage. Nothing
abnormal about this. Uh, you're not gonna tell your crew
what's really going on. You are not to tell them
this is a rescue mission. Because Devoid thinks back on
(03:51):
the rebellion, you know, and he says, okay, you gotta
watch out for snitches, basically, so he doesn't want anybody
in the crew spilling the beans or dropping the ambergriss
on these folks. So he says, you're gonna keep it secret,
keep it safe, and you're gonna need to return with
a full load of whale oil to recoup all these expenses.
(04:14):
The mission is already getting crazy expensive, by the way, Yeah,
it really is. I believe we are nearing the twenty
thousand dollar mark. Shall we boop that new listeners? The
boop implies, um, we're running it through the handy dandy
(04:37):
inflation calculator. Twenty thousand dollars in eighteen late eighteen hundreds time,
by today's standards, would have been three hundred forty four
thousand dollars. Holy cow, that's a lot. That's a lot.
And this is that's just a rough estimate. It's actually
a little over that. But the interesting thing about this
(04:59):
is when you get the sense of it, when you
get a sense of how much that is in today's money, Uh,
you can see why one guy had even mortgaged his
house to get these dudes out of that Australian prison.
This enormous expense chartering a whaling vessel enacting this conspiracy.
It's still had some pieces missing because Devoie had to
(05:21):
ask himself, well, what are we gonna do when we
actually get on the ground in Australia. How we We've
got to get some help there, that's right. So they
employed the help of Mr John James Breslin, who was
a bearded fellow and Finnian agent. His whole job in
this prison break was to get to Fremantle ahead of
(05:44):
the whaling ship the Katapa, and pretend to be an
American millionaire named James Collins. He had to keep the
James in there for whatever reason. You know, sometimes having
like improv shows, like people will use their same first
name for their characters just makes it easier. Um, I
don't know, maybe that was maybe that was the logic
behind it. But James Collins is the student that he's using,
(06:05):
and he was meant to see what he could see
do a little bit of recon right, yeah, yeah, So
in in our high screw, right this, in our high screw,
our whaler George is kind of our getaway driver. He's
our transporter, you know, Jason Statham style and Breslin here,
excuse me, James Collins millionaire. He is what we call
(06:29):
the face, right. He like he's the one who would
be kind of somewhere between an inside man and a
con artist. Breslin's scheme, his ruse is successful, and he
sees fremantle prison. Uh, and it's not looking easy because
(06:49):
if he if he looks over to the eastern view,
there's anohing but desert stretching out to the horizon. And
if he looks to the west, there's water are a
lot of sharks. And then he noticed that there might
be an advantage in this inhospitable terrain because the security
(07:10):
at the at the prison wasn't super tight. They weren't
super on the ball because frankly, their thought was probably
something like where these guys gonna run, you know, death
by dehydration, death by shark. The prison might be the
safest place, but death by whale becose guys suckers swallow
hole could be like a Pinocchio type situation. Whales are big, right,
(07:34):
there's that if they could make it past the sharks. Right,
So this guy does this thing where he's like James Collins,
American millionaire, I'm interested in making some investments. I'm looking
for investment opportunities. I would love to visit your prison.
And then his stick here is that he is James
(07:56):
Collins is trying to save a couple of bucks by
hiring out cheap prison labor, by renting the prisoners to
do work for him. Yeah, and he even managed to
get a note to the Fenians uh that the rescue
was happening, everything was going as planned, and to just
post up and hold tight and that help was on
(08:17):
the way. And so yeah, you're right. Then he established
this kind of relationship with the prison brass under the
false pretenses of hiring prison laborers to do some cheap
work for him. And whatever his investments and his interest,
I like it. Yeah, make him Southern. Yeah, let's do
that him and abroad. It's definitely stunning, no question about it.
But part of that message also was, Hey, we want
(08:39):
to make sure that you're not locked up or we
can't get to you when the rescue does, you know,
pop off, So be on your best behavior, don't get
into trouble, and try not to get thrown into solitary
because if you're there, we can't help you. We got
one shot, guys, we got one shot. Everybody beyond your
pieas and cues. This is like that poem just before Christmas,
(09:02):
be as good as you can be, because it's also
like that poem by Eminem Lose Yourself. Yes, very much
like the from the Great American poem in Him. They
have to do this for a while because the Catalpa
takes nine months to make it out to Bunbury. This
(09:25):
Captain George Anthony, he's not having a great time on
the trip. There's bad weather, the navigation equipment is all
kinds of food bar. They stopping the as Wars to restock,
and then boom, six of the crew members ghost. They
totally desert and so he's stuck at the as Wars
until he can find replacements for the crew. And then
(09:49):
he also has to you know, maintain this cover of
being an actual whaling vessel. The problem is that the
water he's traversing has been kind of fished out, it's
been kind of depleted. They're not going to make much
money back from this trip, and yeah, that's the very
least of their worries, but they still want that scheme
(10:10):
that roused to appear solid incredible. Anyway, Breslyn meets up
with Captain Anthony. They make a plan. They say, Okay,
these Fenians before James Collins and do like him Southern.
Before Collins, these Fenians had been doing a bunch of
different jobs, right, we mentioned quarrying, We also mentioned building roads,
(10:33):
that kind of hard outdoor labor. But they're not always
doing the same thing. And so to make this work,
Breslyn would need all six of the Finians outside of
the walls of what they did. By the way, call
this the establishment at the time, and he knew that
anybody was stuck inside when they shot, their shot would
(10:54):
be left behind the snow way around it. So another
plot twist happens because heistro alway about the unforeseen plot twist, right,
these two Irish guys turn up. They're in Fremantle, and Breslyn,
being a suspicious sort, says, I think these guys might
be spies. But then he learns that they had. They
(11:16):
had come on the scene because someone had written a
letter to them asking for help, and so they agreed
that on the day of the escape, these two dudes
who just showed up, by the way, we're gonna cut
the telegraph line from Fremantle to Perth. So they would
they would remove the ability to communicate and request reinforcements.
Fast forward April eighteen seventy six, Breslyn gets a message
(11:42):
to the Finians. He says, look, we got money, we
got firearms, we got clothing. You guys make a run
for the Catalpa, the ship tomorrow morning. Let no man's
heart fail him. It's really good at these lines. Dude
come tearing up a little bit, like these guys have.
I would listen to him. Order a sandwich a million
(12:03):
per because you know they're gonna say and super awesome, thick,
sexy Irish accents, no question. Oh you're feeling it with us,
aren't you, Max, I think we're all. I have a
bit of a crush on people with Irish accents, just
putting that out there, and it's a it's a lovely,
lovely accent, much preferred to those guttural scots. Just kidding
you to your guttural scots. But it's a very similar
(12:24):
set up, but arranged right from what O'Reilly experienced when
he escaped. But Anthony had ordered the ship that they
had retained to wait uh several miles out at sea,
beyond Australian borders, outside of Australian waters um and that
he would get a rowboat to wait twenty miles up
(12:45):
the coast from the prison. Breslyn was then meant to
deliver the Finnians to that location where they would get
onto the robot and be rowed back to the ship. Yeah,
Monday morning day arrives sixteen. Those two new guys in
the crew. Uh, they did successfully severed the telegraph wire.
(13:07):
Breslet does get horses, wagons and guns to the rendezvous point.
He waits or to a rendezvous point that's nearer to
the prison, and he's just hoping against hope that these
guys make it out. So let's meet our escaping inmates.
Thomas Derog is out digging potatoes. Nobody's watching them. Where
(13:28):
is it gonna go? Thomas Hassett and Robert Cranston managed
to talk their way out of the walls. Get some
such guy named Martin Hogan is painting a house for
the superintendent. These two other guys, James Wilson and Michael Harrington.
And that's the James Wilson you remember from earlier. This
voice from the tum guy. They said, look, we're supposed
(13:49):
to do a job at the Warden's house. So all
these guys are outside. This is so weird. This is
um kind of petty, but this is an important part
of the film we're building because Noel Breslan sees these
six dudes heading towards them. And there's an interesting historical note,
it could have been seven. It was a guy named
(14:09):
James Jeffrey Roche was supposed to be going with them,
but he had been cut out of the deal right
for some treacherous deeds where he basically tried to dime
out his cohorts in exchange for a lighter sentence. So
he was a cooperator as well, but for the British
and this was definitely unknown now, so he was ejected
(14:31):
from the plan. Again't surprise they didn't take more heavy
handed measures with a guy like that. Yeah, yeah, And okay,
So they're on the lamb, they're escaping, done and they've
been gone less for less than an hour when some
of the guards say, hey, what what happened to the
(14:51):
Irish guys? But they make it to the shore and
when they get to the shore, Anthony, Captain Anthony's crew
is waiting with the boat. But the Katalpa again, like
you said, is way out at sea. We're talking hours
of rowing just to reach the actual ship. So they
get about half a mile from the shore and then
(15:12):
Breslan sees police mounted police arriving and they've got trackers
with them. That's right. They weren't expecting to be chased.
This would be a nice leisurely rowing. I'm sure they
would have done at a brisk pace. Still, Uh, you know,
being pursued for your life, certainly you're gonna row for
your life. So adding insults and injury, we now have
(15:33):
a Coastguard vessel and a steamer that was commanded by
the Royal Navy. Um, they've all been deployed to catch
the robots. So it became this like you know, medium
speed chase on the water. I mean man versus a machine. Right,
they had a steamer. Those are pretty those are I
don't know what I mean. I guess it's all about steamships.
(15:55):
Weren't like super super fast, Um, and asked the robot.
But they had the they had a head start, I suppose.
So the men were just rowing for their actual lives
while being pursued by authorities from the Coast Guard and
the British who are armed with carbine rifles. So Breslan,
who we know is excellent at rallying the troops, pulls
(16:17):
out a copy of a letter that he had just
mailed to the British Governor of Western Australia. Uh and
in and in like total Breslan style, We're gonna do
a little reading here too. This is to certify that
I have this day released from the clemency of her
most Gracious Majesty Victoria, Queen of Great Britain, etcetera, etcetera,
(16:41):
six irishmen condemned to imprisonment for life by the enlightened
and magnanimous government of Great Britain. Uh in real stargasm here,
I love it for having been guilty of the atrocious
and unpardonable crimes known to the unenlightened portion of mankind
as love of country and hatred of tyranny. People are
(17:01):
firing at them, by the way, put no question about it.
Pew pew, like bullets bouncing off the water, like cutting
you know, little h ripples through the water right around them.
This is stuff of a cinema. Love of country and
hatred of tyranny. For this act of Irish assurance, my
birth and blood being my full and sufficient warrant, allow
me to add that in taking my leave. Now I've
(17:24):
only to say a few cells I've emptied. I have
the honor and pleasure to bid you good day, sir,
from all future acquaintances. Excuse me, I pray in the
service of my country. John J. Bresling, I thought he
was an American millionaire, says somebody psych The Findians love this,
you know. They're being tossed in the ocean and rowing
(17:44):
their their keysters off. They let out a cry, rallying cry,
and they keep going for the Catalpa, And now they're
getting closer. They can see it in the distance. But
that steamer, which by the way, is named the Georgett,
is on their high knees. Since we're a family show
and the end is rising, they know us. Storms on
the way, darkness falls, waves are crashing. It's the boat
(18:07):
is overloaded, by the way. It's a it's a rowboat.
It's got a lot of people on it, and it
was getting blown out. To see. Captain Anthony is literally
standing tall. He's telling everybody, bail, bail all the water
you can. And he even he privately, we learned later,
is thinking I don't think we're gonna make it. I
(18:27):
don't think so. So it does not look good, does
not look good. And just credit what credit is due.
Always this account and this kind of sequence of events
beautifully uh dramatized in that Smithsonian article that we mentioned,
and we're kind of following their lead on this one,
but we then have, uh, what what you're talking about?
The wind kind of rising man, that's uh, that's that's
(18:47):
some good foreshadowing. Ah, yeah, here's what. Here's what happens.
So they're rowing through the nights, they don't drown, and
when morning comes, that steamer is kind of ignoring the
rowboat and they say, we're going straight for the Catalpa
because we know where these guys are headed. They're not
making it. Two freedom in this rowboat. So the captain
(19:08):
of the steamer, the georgeet and goes to a guy
named Sam Smith who is running the Catalpa while Anthony
is doing the rescue mission. And the captain of the
steamer says, hey, can I come aboard? And the guy
who's in charge of the Katalpa says not by a
damn site. And because of this, the steamer is already
(19:31):
low on fuel and they have to go return to
shore to re up. And that's what Captain Anthony and
his finny and pals make a mad dash for the Catalpa,
and a cutter starts racinging British cutter. They barely get
to the Catalpa like right before the British, and then
the whaling ship takes off Captain Anthony's back at the helm,
(19:53):
he turns it away from Australia and that's when their
luck ran out. Yeah, yeah, nothing last forever um. They
had a good run, aided by that magical, seemingly magical wind,
(20:14):
and the Katalpa, being you know, a sailing ship relying
on the wind, was no longer able to to move.
It didn't have anything to fill it sails and push
it forward. So by morning time, the Georgiette, which was
that steamer that was loaded down with a cannon by
the way, pulled up right alongside the Katalpa, and the
(20:34):
Fenians have truly believed their collective goose was cooked. The
British began to board and the Fenians uh prepared for
their what they believed was going to be their last stand.
And this is where Captain Anthony gets his time to shine.
This is where he makes his speech and he we
won't give you the whole thing, but he tells these
(20:55):
newly rescued Finians, look, the choice is yours. You can
die here or you can die back in that prison.
We're out guns, were outmanned, out numbered, out planned, etcetera.
And the crew, remember they didn't understand the real mission
when they set off originally, but they are going to
stand with these Finians. And they're grabbing everything they can
to fight, and they're grabbing harpoons like they would use
(21:18):
in their whaling missions. The Georgette fires awarding shot across
the Katapa's bow and they say he too. And then
Anthony says what for? And they're like, you have escaped
prisoners aboard dot ship? Um, this is what for? Like
I'll give you what for? Or is this what for? Like? Why? Why? Okay,
(21:39):
it's a y situation, gus um. So he says prisoners.
What does Anthony say? Anthony says, you were towards to
this notion that they have escaped prisoners. Uh, you're mistaken.
You have made a grievous error and judgment. There are
no prisoners aboard this ship. They are all free men,
again referring back to that letter, because in their minds
they were being held unjustly for the you know, egregious
(22:02):
send quote unquote of love of country, right of resisting
tyranny from their perspective, So the British say, all right,
you got fifteen minutes to pump your brakes. We're gonna
blow up your mast. And the Katapa is also very close,
you know, now it's been calmed and it it doesn't
have any wind to propel it. It's very close to
(22:23):
floating back, drifting back into Australian waters. And so Anthony
points to the stars and stripes on the ship and
he says, this ship is sailing under the American flag
and she is on the high seas. If you fire
on me, I warn you that you are firing on
the American flag, which is quick thinking because they're in
(22:44):
international waters, right, this is a British ship. It would
be firing on a U. S ship. And he is
he's saying like the late nineteenth century equivalent of you
want smoke, Yeah, I mean, it would be an active
war essentially, or you know, create a serious international incident. Um,
it would have been a problem. But just as he's
making this incredible speech and and and pulling this really
(23:06):
bold power move with the British. The wind comes back
and the sails are hoisted and they're able to high
tail it out of there with the Georgette still you know, following,
but only for about an hour. And they've clearly been
shaken a little bit by what they were told. The idea,
this is an American ship and any firing on it
(23:27):
would be an active aggression against the High States of America.
So they didn't fire on the American ship because again
they were in international waters. It was just the two
sides words against each other, you know. The cap the
commander of the ship said nope, these are not escaped convicts.
This is my crew and they are freemen. So it
was very, very tricky. It became a political situation here,
(23:49):
and the British commander finally decided, you know what, screw this,
let's head back. And at this point the Fenians were
for all intents and purposes, actually free man. Fade out
on the peaceful seas, uh and yeah, there you go,
(24:10):
there you go, and then we open like fade in.
Four months later, the Katalpa makes it to New York,
thousands of people are waiting to meet these six men.
Thousands of people are cheering, and there's a Fenian procession
up Broadway. John Devoy, John Breslin, and George Anthony are
(24:31):
hailed as straight up heroes. News of this prison break
spreads across the planet. A lot of people find this
to be like an heroic move, but not the British. Surprise,
they say, the US government is associating with terrorists or
their their specific words, where the U. S Government is
(24:52):
fermenting terrorists and he said like a fine kim chi, yes,
and the and the They say additionally, they're like, look
that Captain Anthony and his crew. They might be laughing
and blah blah blah. Everybody's having a bit of a
go at. How do I see? But they said this
(25:12):
is a little nerdy, even though that's a good point.
They said, they're laughing at our scrupulous obedience to international law.
That's what's happening here, which is like, yeah, no, I
hate to say it. Yes, So eventually, you know, they
changed this story a little bit later and they say,
actually this is good for us because those guys were
(25:33):
an expensive nuisance, uh, and the United States can have
any number of here we go disloyal turbulent plotting conspirators. Again,
They're like, we don't want you can have them in,
take them. We gave them to you. That's what happened.
Kind of like a bad live of insults right there.
It really is it, really and truly turbulent? Yes, uh
(25:57):
so what is that? Sorry? Turbulent disloyal plot in conspiracies.
Oh to all their silly machinations too. I love to
add that as a kicker, um, but hitherto fourth, I'm
just gonna keep with the silliness. Uh. This group of
men were referred to as the Fremantle Six, and they
were definitely still carrying around what would today probably be
considered PTSD from their time um when they were incarcerated
(26:20):
in Freemantle Prison, And even though they'd made their getaway,
they were essentially, according to Devoi in many of his writings,
broken men. Yeah yeah, I mean they've been through uh
horrific things, you know. And Devoid had known these guys
as soldiers, so he wasn't ready for the permanent changes,
(26:44):
the psychological and physical damage that had been racked upon
them over a decade's worth of time in the prison. System,
but he did see more silver lining. The men were
free and the rescue was a shot in the arm
for Irish morale across the globe, and it brought this
(27:06):
new wave in the fight for Irish independence. And ultimately
you could say that the Fremantle six and the katal
Per Rescue played a role in the independence of the country.
Ireland became independent in nineteen twenty two, and Devoy was
alive long enough to see it. Oh, it makes me happy.
It's about as happy an ending as you can get
(27:27):
from a story like this. It's very It really reminds
me of like, you know, the Shushank redemption, you know,
like kind of like an Andy Duffrain, kind of putting
one over on the on the batties that tormented him
the whole time, and the ending up with the upper hand. Yep, exactly, Mexico.
That was. That's a great story too, and there's there
there are more details here. But we thought this was
(27:50):
such a breathtaking heist, and it's got an international conspiracy,
it's got geopolitics, it's got some chase scenes. This is great.
This is a film that Noel Max and I would
make if it were not already a film, The Katala
Rescue came out in two thousand seven, So so when
beat us to the punch just a little bit? Alright,
(28:12):
who's in it? Man? I've never heard of this film?
Was it a was it a small picture? Let's see
it's directed by Lisa Sabini Harney who also wrote it. Uh.
I don't have too much information. I'm gonna have to
check it out and watch it. I think, Yeah, I'm
looking at the cast and it's not anybody that I recognize.
It may well have been finance uh in in Ireland.
(28:34):
A lot of these uh cast members seem to be
of Irish descent. But do you have the full cast
of characters along with the narrator? And you know they
always talk about you know, your heroics will be honored
in song, and that is absolutely not only in in film,
but in the song. So let's hear a little bit
of this. Uh. This Irish folk song of the katal
put A ship fund command was called the katar Hop
(29:00):
but they say she came up to Western and Australia
and took six pole fenions away. All right, Max, you
said it had some uh had some vibes, right. I
like its commendation of like you know, traditional Irish Irish music,
but it's a lot of sea shanty in it too,
(29:21):
which is really cool to me and I STI love
the cadence of these types of songs that you need
to see it right on the page. It's like a
noble whale ship and command called the Catalpa. They say,
it's like this format for this Irish folk songs. I've
been watching a lot of the Wire and you get
a lot of those. The cops are doing their funerals
in the in the Irish bar where they all hang out.
(29:43):
But man, what a tale. I can't wait to watch
the film. I hope it's good. I can't wait either.
I think it's I think it's gonna be wonderful. And
we hope that you enjoyed. Uh this two part episode,
that's right, our higst Face ended up being a four
episode thing. Will return to heist again in the future.
(30:03):
We would like to hear, as we said earlier, some
of your favorite heist stories. We would like to know
also for Australians in the in the crowd ridiculous historians
living in Australia. Uh, do people talk about the Catalpa escape?
Often is it something that everyone is aware of. You know,
as we said, we haven't been to Australia yet. We
(30:26):
very much would like to go in the future. Would
be cool to go do some live shows there or
just the visit. Let us know what you think. And
while you're thinking about that, let's give some well deserved
thank yous, Oh my gosh, thank you super producer Max Williams,
Alex Williams who composed our theme researcher Extraordinariy Gabe and
Lucier because it rhymes with extraordinary. Jonathan Strickland, the one
(30:51):
and only quister. We missed you, Bud. We'll we'll have
you on the show as soon as we can. We
can get in his schedule. He is a very busy guy,
you know, all the acts of supervility, right, Just eat
up the calendar. Christopher Hastiota is here in spirit eaves
Jeff Code out in the world on adventures you bam.
This voyage has been an honor to to to to
(31:13):
to to take with you, my friend. Oh likewise, back
at yougal, We'll see you next time, folks. For more
podcasts for my Heart Radio, visit the I Heart Radio
app Apple Podcast or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.
Ridiculous History is a production of I Heart Radio. Welcome
(00:27):
back to the show Ridiculous Historians. Thank you, as always
so much for tuning in. We're continuing our dive into heist.
We're still going through our hist phase. This is part
two of an infamous prison break. Uh, and we cannot
wait to get to the rest of the story with you.
That's Max Williams, our one only super producer. I'm Ben
(00:51):
noel Man this one. I'm into it. It's so cinematic.
Oh boys, what ever? Um, And we're actually getting into
some of the most cinematic parts of the story in
today's episode. So we don't know, we don't need to
preamble this and the amount, let's get right to it.
They start to gather funds together, like like cash money
(01:11):
to put together the resources they need to pull off
this rescue. Yes, yeah, they do, and they get thousands
of dollars together pretty quickly. Uh. And then they also
they start to make their plans. So what they're gonna
do is they're going to charter a boat they're gonna
sail down to Australia and then they're gonna arm themselves.
(01:34):
And about a dozen of them are gonna go spring
the Finians from the joint. That was the original plan,
you know what I mean, come in there with shock
and awe, the roar of thunder and firearms. But as
they thought about it, more and more the voices maybe
maybe it's smarter if we use a little stealth. So
(01:55):
maybe we make this less of an assault and more
of a way for it high east. Yeah, much more
of an ocean's eleven than a suicide squad situation. There
it is. That's a good comparison. So so what do
you need in the heist? You need your specialist picture.
The montage moment, Uh, Devoy is walking around clooney brad
Pitt style and he's he's picking up his people. Uh.
(02:17):
He finds a guy named George Smith Anthony not a Catholic,
a Protestant sea captain who has been in the whaling game.
And he convinces this guy, He's like, look past the politics,
past the you know details here, George, this rescue mission
is a mission of universal freedom and liberty. And much
(02:39):
like our boy O'Reilly you know, found help from a
a kindly whaling captain. Um, the same thing was true here.
This is not the same whaling captain. This is an
area that would have seen a lot of traffic from
whaling vessels due to, you know, the high density of
wales in this part of the ocean. Um. But I
guess whaling captains are by nature sort of like down
for criminality. Down down, yeah, down down to down to
(03:03):
help out some convicts. And I don't know, maybe it's
just a local the whaler's code. I don't know. No,
I'm just thinking to my head, ohalien captains, the original Juggalos.
But that's maybe not accurate. But it's a fun picture anyhow.
You're right, you're absolutely right. Now. So this captain's on board.
George is on board, and he gets the instructions from
(03:27):
the gang. They say, look, you're gonna go out to
see on this whaler, the Catalpa C A T A
l P A, And you're gonna you're gonna act as
though you are on just a routine whaling voyage. Nothing
abnormal about this. Uh, you're not gonna tell your crew
what's really going on. You are not to tell them
this is a rescue mission. Because Devoid thinks back on
(03:51):
the rebellion, you know, and he says, okay, you gotta
watch out for snitches, basically, so he doesn't want anybody
in the crew spilling the beans or dropping the ambergriss
on these folks. So he says, you're gonna keep it secret,
keep it safe, and you're gonna need to return with
a full load of whale oil to recoup all these expenses.
(04:14):
The mission is already getting crazy expensive, by the way, Yeah,
it really is. I believe we are nearing the twenty
thousand dollar mark. Shall we boop that new listeners? The
boop implies, um, we're running it through the handy dandy
(04:37):
inflation calculator. Twenty thousand dollars in eighteen late eighteen hundreds time,
by today's standards, would have been three hundred forty four
thousand dollars. Holy cow, that's a lot. That's a lot.
And this is that's just a rough estimate. It's actually
a little over that. But the interesting thing about this
(04:59):
is when you get the sense of it, when you
get a sense of how much that is in today's money, Uh,
you can see why one guy had even mortgaged his
house to get these dudes out of that Australian prison.
This enormous expense chartering a whaling vessel enacting this conspiracy.
It's still had some pieces missing because Devoie had to
(05:21):
ask himself, well, what are we gonna do when we
actually get on the ground in Australia. How we We've
got to get some help there, that's right. So they
employed the help of Mr John James Breslin, who was
a bearded fellow and Finnian agent. His whole job in
this prison break was to get to Fremantle ahead of
(05:44):
the whaling ship the Katapa, and pretend to be an
American millionaire named James Collins. He had to keep the
James in there for whatever reason. You know, sometimes having
like improv shows, like people will use their same first
name for their characters just makes it easier. Um, I
don't know, maybe that was maybe that was the logic
behind it. But James Collins is the student that he's using,
(06:05):
and he was meant to see what he could see
do a little bit of recon right, yeah, yeah, So
in in our high screw, right this, in our high screw,
our whaler George is kind of our getaway driver. He's
our transporter, you know, Jason Statham style and Breslin here,
excuse me, James Collins millionaire. He is what we call
(06:29):
the face, right. He like he's the one who would
be kind of somewhere between an inside man and a
con artist. Breslin's scheme, his ruse is successful, and he
sees fremantle prison. Uh, and it's not looking easy because
(06:49):
if he if he looks over to the eastern view,
there's anohing but desert stretching out to the horizon. And
if he looks to the west, there's water are a
lot of sharks. And then he noticed that there might
be an advantage in this inhospitable terrain because the security
(07:10):
at the at the prison wasn't super tight. They weren't
super on the ball because frankly, their thought was probably
something like where these guys gonna run, you know, death
by dehydration, death by shark. The prison might be the
safest place, but death by whale becose guys suckers swallow
hole could be like a Pinocchio type situation. Whales are big, right,
(07:34):
there's that if they could make it past the sharks. Right,
So this guy does this thing where he's like James Collins,
American millionaire, I'm interested in making some investments. I'm looking
for investment opportunities. I would love to visit your prison.
And then his stick here is that he is James
(07:56):
Collins is trying to save a couple of bucks by
hiring out cheap prison labor, by renting the prisoners to
do work for him. Yeah, and he even managed to
get a note to the Fenians uh that the rescue
was happening, everything was going as planned, and to just
post up and hold tight and that help was on
(08:17):
the way. And so yeah, you're right. Then he established
this kind of relationship with the prison brass under the
false pretenses of hiring prison laborers to do some cheap
work for him. And whatever his investments and his interest,
I like it. Yeah, make him Southern. Yeah, let's do
that him and abroad. It's definitely stunning, no question about it.
But part of that message also was, Hey, we want
(08:39):
to make sure that you're not locked up or we
can't get to you when the rescue does, you know,
pop off, So be on your best behavior, don't get
into trouble, and try not to get thrown into solitary
because if you're there, we can't help you. We got
one shot, guys, we got one shot. Everybody beyond your
pieas and cues. This is like that poem just before Christmas,
(09:02):
be as good as you can be, because it's also
like that poem by Eminem Lose Yourself. Yes, very much
like the from the Great American poem in Him. They
have to do this for a while because the Catalpa
takes nine months to make it out to Bunbury. This
(09:25):
Captain George Anthony, he's not having a great time on
the trip. There's bad weather, the navigation equipment is all
kinds of food bar. They stopping the as Wars to restock,
and then boom, six of the crew members ghost. They
totally desert and so he's stuck at the as Wars
until he can find replacements for the crew. And then
(09:49):
he also has to you know, maintain this cover of
being an actual whaling vessel. The problem is that the
water he's traversing has been kind of fished out, it's
been kind of depleted. They're not going to make much
money back from this trip, and yeah, that's the very
least of their worries, but they still want that scheme
(10:10):
that roused to appear solid incredible. Anyway, Breslyn meets up
with Captain Anthony. They make a plan. They say, Okay,
these Fenians before James Collins and do like him Southern.
Before Collins, these Fenians had been doing a bunch of
different jobs, right, we mentioned quarrying, We also mentioned building roads,
(10:33):
that kind of hard outdoor labor. But they're not always
doing the same thing. And so to make this work,
Breslyn would need all six of the Finians outside of
the walls of what they did. By the way, call
this the establishment at the time, and he knew that
anybody was stuck inside when they shot, their shot would
(10:54):
be left behind the snow way around it. So another
plot twist happens because heistro alway about the unforeseen plot twist, right,
these two Irish guys turn up. They're in Fremantle, and Breslyn,
being a suspicious sort, says, I think these guys might
be spies. But then he learns that they had. They
(11:16):
had come on the scene because someone had written a
letter to them asking for help, and so they agreed
that on the day of the escape, these two dudes
who just showed up, by the way, we're gonna cut
the telegraph line from Fremantle to Perth. So they would
they would remove the ability to communicate and request reinforcements.
Fast forward April eighteen seventy six, Breslyn gets a message
(11:42):
to the Finians. He says, look, we got money, we
got firearms, we got clothing. You guys make a run
for the Catalpa, the ship tomorrow morning. Let no man's
heart fail him. It's really good at these lines. Dude
come tearing up a little bit, like these guys have.
I would listen to him. Order a sandwich a million
(12:03):
per because you know they're gonna say and super awesome, thick,
sexy Irish accents, no question. Oh you're feeling it with us,
aren't you, Max, I think we're all. I have a
bit of a crush on people with Irish accents, just
putting that out there, and it's a it's a lovely,
lovely accent, much preferred to those guttural scots. Just kidding
you to your guttural scots. But it's a very similar
(12:24):
set up, but arranged right from what O'Reilly experienced when
he escaped. But Anthony had ordered the ship that they
had retained to wait uh several miles out at sea,
beyond Australian borders, outside of Australian waters um and that
he would get a rowboat to wait twenty miles up
(12:45):
the coast from the prison. Breslyn was then meant to
deliver the Finnians to that location where they would get
onto the robot and be rowed back to the ship. Yeah,
Monday morning day arrives sixteen. Those two new guys in
the crew. Uh, they did successfully severed the telegraph wire.
(13:07):
Breslet does get horses, wagons and guns to the rendezvous point.
He waits or to a rendezvous point that's nearer to
the prison, and he's just hoping against hope that these
guys make it out. So let's meet our escaping inmates.
Thomas Derog is out digging potatoes. Nobody's watching them. Where
(13:28):
is it gonna go? Thomas Hassett and Robert Cranston managed
to talk their way out of the walls. Get some
such guy named Martin Hogan is painting a house for
the superintendent. These two other guys, James Wilson and Michael Harrington.
And that's the James Wilson you remember from earlier. This
voice from the tum guy. They said, look, we're supposed
(13:49):
to do a job at the Warden's house. So all
these guys are outside. This is so weird. This is
um kind of petty, but this is an important part
of the film we're building because Noel Breslan sees these
six dudes heading towards them. And there's an interesting historical note,
it could have been seven. It was a guy named
(14:09):
James Jeffrey Roche was supposed to be going with them,
but he had been cut out of the deal right
for some treacherous deeds where he basically tried to dime
out his cohorts in exchange for a lighter sentence. So
he was a cooperator as well, but for the British
and this was definitely unknown now, so he was ejected
(14:31):
from the plan. Again't surprise they didn't take more heavy
handed measures with a guy like that. Yeah, yeah, And okay,
So they're on the lamb, they're escaping, done and they've
been gone less for less than an hour when some
of the guards say, hey, what what happened to the
(14:51):
Irish guys? But they make it to the shore and
when they get to the shore, Anthony, Captain Anthony's crew
is waiting with the boat. But the Katalpa again, like
you said, is way out at sea. We're talking hours
of rowing just to reach the actual ship. So they
get about half a mile from the shore and then
(15:12):
Breslan sees police mounted police arriving and they've got trackers
with them. That's right. They weren't expecting to be chased.
This would be a nice leisurely rowing. I'm sure they
would have done at a brisk pace. Still, Uh, you know,
being pursued for your life, certainly you're gonna row for
your life. So adding insults and injury, we now have
(15:33):
a Coastguard vessel and a steamer that was commanded by
the Royal Navy. Um, they've all been deployed to catch
the robots. So it became this like you know, medium
speed chase on the water. I mean man versus a machine. Right,
they had a steamer. Those are pretty those are I
don't know what I mean. I guess it's all about steamships.
(15:55):
Weren't like super super fast, Um, and asked the robot.
But they had the they had a head start, I suppose.
So the men were just rowing for their actual lives
while being pursued by authorities from the Coast Guard and
the British who are armed with carbine rifles. So Breslan,
who we know is excellent at rallying the troops, pulls
(16:17):
out a copy of a letter that he had just
mailed to the British Governor of Western Australia. Uh and
in and in like total Breslan style, We're gonna do
a little reading here too. This is to certify that
I have this day released from the clemency of her
most Gracious Majesty Victoria, Queen of Great Britain, etcetera, etcetera,
(16:41):
six irishmen condemned to imprisonment for life by the enlightened
and magnanimous government of Great Britain. Uh in real stargasm here,
I love it for having been guilty of the atrocious
and unpardonable crimes known to the unenlightened portion of mankind
as love of country and hatred of tyranny. People are
(17:01):
firing at them, by the way, put no question about it.
Pew pew, like bullets bouncing off the water, like cutting
you know, little h ripples through the water right around them.
This is stuff of a cinema. Love of country and
hatred of tyranny. For this act of Irish assurance, my
birth and blood being my full and sufficient warrant, allow
me to add that in taking my leave. Now I've
(17:24):
only to say a few cells I've emptied. I have
the honor and pleasure to bid you good day, sir,
from all future acquaintances. Excuse me, I pray in the
service of my country. John J. Bresling, I thought he
was an American millionaire, says somebody psych The Findians love this,
you know. They're being tossed in the ocean and rowing
(17:44):
their their keysters off. They let out a cry, rallying cry,
and they keep going for the Catalpa, And now they're
getting closer. They can see it in the distance. But
that steamer, which by the way, is named the Georgett,
is on their high knees. Since we're a family show
and the end is rising, they know us. Storms on
the way, darkness falls, waves are crashing. It's the boat
(18:07):
is overloaded, by the way. It's a it's a rowboat.
It's got a lot of people on it, and it
was getting blown out. To see. Captain Anthony is literally
standing tall. He's telling everybody, bail, bail all the water
you can. And he even he privately, we learned later,
is thinking I don't think we're gonna make it. I
(18:27):
don't think so. So it does not look good, does
not look good. And just credit what credit is due.
Always this account and this kind of sequence of events
beautifully uh dramatized in that Smithsonian article that we mentioned,
and we're kind of following their lead on this one,
but we then have, uh, what what you're talking about?
The wind kind of rising man, that's uh, that's that's
(18:47):
some good foreshadowing. Ah, yeah, here's what. Here's what happens.
So they're rowing through the nights, they don't drown, and
when morning comes, that steamer is kind of ignoring the
rowboat and they say, we're going straight for the Catalpa
because we know where these guys are headed. They're not
making it. Two freedom in this rowboat. So the captain
(19:08):
of the steamer, the georgeet and goes to a guy
named Sam Smith who is running the Catalpa while Anthony
is doing the rescue mission. And the captain of the
steamer says, hey, can I come aboard? And the guy
who's in charge of the Katalpa says not by a
damn site. And because of this, the steamer is already
(19:31):
low on fuel and they have to go return to
shore to re up. And that's what Captain Anthony and
his finny and pals make a mad dash for the Catalpa,
and a cutter starts racinging British cutter. They barely get
to the Catalpa like right before the British, and then
the whaling ship takes off Captain Anthony's back at the helm,
(19:53):
he turns it away from Australia and that's when their
luck ran out. Yeah, yeah, nothing last forever um. They
had a good run, aided by that magical, seemingly magical wind,
(20:14):
and the Katalpa, being you know, a sailing ship relying
on the wind, was no longer able to to move.
It didn't have anything to fill it sails and push
it forward. So by morning time, the Georgiette, which was
that steamer that was loaded down with a cannon by
the way, pulled up right alongside the Katalpa, and the
(20:34):
Fenians have truly believed their collective goose was cooked. The
British began to board and the Fenians uh prepared for
their what they believed was going to be their last stand.
And this is where Captain Anthony gets his time to shine.
This is where he makes his speech and he we
won't give you the whole thing, but he tells these
(20:55):
newly rescued Finians, look, the choice is yours. You can
die here or you can die back in that prison.
We're out guns, were outmanned, out numbered, out planned, etcetera.
And the crew, remember they didn't understand the real mission
when they set off originally, but they are going to
stand with these Finians. And they're grabbing everything they can
to fight, and they're grabbing harpoons like they would use
(21:18):
in their whaling missions. The Georgette fires awarding shot across
the Katapa's bow and they say he too. And then
Anthony says what for? And they're like, you have escaped
prisoners aboard dot ship? Um, this is what for? Like
I'll give you what for? Or is this what for? Like? Why? Why? Okay,
(21:39):
it's a y situation, gus um. So he says prisoners.
What does Anthony say? Anthony says, you were towards to
this notion that they have escaped prisoners. Uh, you're mistaken.
You have made a grievous error and judgment. There are
no prisoners aboard this ship. They are all free men,
again referring back to that letter, because in their minds
they were being held unjustly for the you know, egregious
(22:02):
send quote unquote of love of country, right of resisting
tyranny from their perspective, So the British say, all right,
you got fifteen minutes to pump your brakes. We're gonna
blow up your mast. And the Katapa is also very close,
you know, now it's been calmed and it it doesn't
have any wind to propel it. It's very close to
(22:23):
floating back, drifting back into Australian waters. And so Anthony
points to the stars and stripes on the ship and
he says, this ship is sailing under the American flag
and she is on the high seas. If you fire
on me, I warn you that you are firing on
the American flag, which is quick thinking because they're in
(22:44):
international waters, right, this is a British ship. It would
be firing on a U. S ship. And he is
he's saying like the late nineteenth century equivalent of you
want smoke, Yeah, I mean, it would be an active
war essentially, or you know, create a serious international incident. Um,
it would have been a problem. But just as he's
making this incredible speech and and and pulling this really
(23:06):
bold power move with the British. The wind comes back
and the sails are hoisted and they're able to high
tail it out of there with the Georgette still you know, following,
but only for about an hour. And they've clearly been
shaken a little bit by what they were told. The idea,
this is an American ship and any firing on it
(23:27):
would be an active aggression against the High States of America.
So they didn't fire on the American ship because again
they were in international waters. It was just the two
sides words against each other, you know. The cap the
commander of the ship said nope, these are not escaped convicts.
This is my crew and they are freemen. So it
was very, very tricky. It became a political situation here,
(23:49):
and the British commander finally decided, you know what, screw this,
let's head back. And at this point the Fenians were
for all intents and purposes, actually free man. Fade out
on the peaceful seas, uh and yeah, there you go,
(24:10):
there you go, and then we open like fade in.
Four months later, the Katalpa makes it to New York,
thousands of people are waiting to meet these six men.
Thousands of people are cheering, and there's a Fenian procession
up Broadway. John Devoy, John Breslin, and George Anthony are
(24:31):
hailed as straight up heroes. News of this prison break
spreads across the planet. A lot of people find this
to be like an heroic move, but not the British. Surprise,
they say, the US government is associating with terrorists or
their their specific words, where the U. S Government is
(24:52):
fermenting terrorists and he said like a fine kim chi, yes,
and the and the They say additionally, they're like, look
that Captain Anthony and his crew. They might be laughing
and blah blah blah. Everybody's having a bit of a
go at. How do I see? But they said this
(25:12):
is a little nerdy, even though that's a good point.
They said, they're laughing at our scrupulous obedience to international law.
That's what's happening here, which is like, yeah, no, I
hate to say it. Yes, So eventually, you know, they
changed this story a little bit later and they say,
actually this is good for us because those guys were
(25:33):
an expensive nuisance, uh, and the United States can have
any number of here we go disloyal turbulent plotting conspirators. Again,
They're like, we don't want you can have them in,
take them. We gave them to you. That's what happened.
Kind of like a bad live of insults right there.
It really is it, really and truly turbulent? Yes, uh
(25:57):
so what is that? Sorry? Turbulent disloyal plot in conspiracies.
Oh to all their silly machinations too. I love to
add that as a kicker, um, but hitherto fourth, I'm
just gonna keep with the silliness. Uh. This group of
men were referred to as the Fremantle Six, and they
were definitely still carrying around what would today probably be
considered PTSD from their time um when they were incarcerated
(26:20):
in Freemantle Prison, And even though they'd made their getaway,
they were essentially, according to Devoi in many of his writings,
broken men. Yeah yeah, I mean they've been through uh
horrific things, you know. And Devoid had known these guys
as soldiers, so he wasn't ready for the permanent changes,
(26:44):
the psychological and physical damage that had been racked upon
them over a decade's worth of time in the prison. System,
but he did see more silver lining. The men were
free and the rescue was a shot in the arm
for Irish morale across the globe, and it brought this
(27:06):
new wave in the fight for Irish independence. And ultimately
you could say that the Fremantle six and the katal
Per Rescue played a role in the independence of the country.
Ireland became independent in nineteen twenty two, and Devoy was
alive long enough to see it. Oh, it makes me happy.
It's about as happy an ending as you can get
(27:27):
from a story like this. It's very It really reminds
me of like, you know, the Shushank redemption, you know,
like kind of like an Andy Duffrain, kind of putting
one over on the on the batties that tormented him
the whole time, and the ending up with the upper hand. Yep, exactly, Mexico.
That was. That's a great story too, and there's there
there are more details here. But we thought this was
(27:50):
such a breathtaking heist, and it's got an international conspiracy,
it's got geopolitics, it's got some chase scenes. This is great.
This is a film that Noel Max and I would
make if it were not already a film, The Katala
Rescue came out in two thousand seven, So so when
beat us to the punch just a little bit? Alright,
(28:12):
who's in it? Man? I've never heard of this film?
Was it a was it a small picture? Let's see
it's directed by Lisa Sabini Harney who also wrote it. Uh.
I don't have too much information. I'm gonna have to
check it out and watch it. I think, Yeah, I'm
looking at the cast and it's not anybody that I recognize.
It may well have been finance uh in in Ireland.
(28:34):
A lot of these uh cast members seem to be
of Irish descent. But do you have the full cast
of characters along with the narrator? And you know they
always talk about you know, your heroics will be honored
in song, and that is absolutely not only in in film,
but in the song. So let's hear a little bit
of this. Uh. This Irish folk song of the katal
put A ship fund command was called the katar Hop
(29:00):
but they say she came up to Western and Australia
and took six pole fenions away. All right, Max, you
said it had some uh had some vibes, right. I
like its commendation of like you know, traditional Irish Irish music,
but it's a lot of sea shanty in it too,
(29:21):
which is really cool to me and I STI love
the cadence of these types of songs that you need
to see it right on the page. It's like a
noble whale ship and command called the Catalpa. They say,
it's like this format for this Irish folk songs. I've
been watching a lot of the Wire and you get
a lot of those. The cops are doing their funerals
in the in the Irish bar where they all hang out.
(29:43):
But man, what a tale. I can't wait to watch
the film. I hope it's good. I can't wait either.
I think it's I think it's gonna be wonderful. And
we hope that you enjoyed. Uh this two part episode,
that's right, our higst Face ended up being a four
episode thing. Will return to heist again in the future.
(30:03):
We would like to hear, as we said earlier, some
of your favorite heist stories. We would like to know
also for Australians in the in the crowd ridiculous historians
living in Australia. Uh, do people talk about the Catalpa escape?
Often is it something that everyone is aware of. You know,
as we said, we haven't been to Australia yet. We
(30:26):
very much would like to go in the future. Would
be cool to go do some live shows there or
just the visit. Let us know what you think. And
while you're thinking about that, let's give some well deserved
thank yous, Oh my gosh, thank you super producer Max Williams,
Alex Williams who composed our theme researcher Extraordinariy Gabe and
Lucier because it rhymes with extraordinary. Jonathan Strickland, the one
(30:51):
and only quister. We missed you, Bud. We'll we'll have
you on the show as soon as we can. We
can get in his schedule. He is a very busy guy,
you know, all the acts of supervility, right, Just eat
up the calendar. Christopher Hastiota is here in spirit eaves
Jeff Code out in the world on adventures you bam.
This voyage has been an honor to to to to
(31:13):
to to take with you, my friend. Oh likewise, back
at yougal, We'll see you next time, folks. For more
podcasts for my Heart Radio, visit the I Heart Radio
app Apple Podcast or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.
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