CHAPTER XI_The Catalpa Expedition

THE VESSEL AND THE START

It was an ideal conspiracy, you see, the plans being made under the

cover of darkness. Mr. Devoy was a brilliant talker, and he knew his

subject well. He hurried over the story of the revolution in which the

men were engaged, making prominent the fact that his friends who had

been transported to Western Australia were not criminals.

Then he sketched the plan of rescue. In his enthusiasm it probably

seemed the easy task to Devoy which he represented it to be. His

friends would provide a whaleship, fitted for sea. Captain Anthony

was to sail as soon as possible, and beyond keeping up a pretense of

whaling, his part would merely be to show his vessel off the coast of

Australia on a certain date. There he would be hailed by a company of

men in a boat. He would take them aboard and sail for home. The shore

end of the escape would be managed by others.

Captain Anthony asked for time in which to consider the proposition,

and he was given one day. Meanwhile he was pledged never to speak of

the plan, not even to Mrs. Anthony, whether or not he accepted the

commission. The captain did some hard thinking that night, and the next

evening, when he again met the committee at Richardson's, he told them

he would go. They expressed their gratification, gave authority to Mr.

Richardson and Captain Anthony to select a suitable vessel, and left

the city, well satisfied with their selection of a commander.

I have always suspected that Devoy and his friends must have aroused

the sympathy of Captain Anthony and awakened within him a personal

interest in the men whose zeal for patriotism had placed them in

an unfortunate position. A promise that he would be well paid was

certainly inadequate to the weary voyage, the risk, and the sacrifice

he must make in leaving his family. Captain Anthony had been married

but a year, and there was a baby daughter but a few months old. His

mother was ill, and had not the spirit which dominated Devoy appealed

to him, there can be no satisfactory explanation of his assumption of

the trust.

Mr. Richardson and Captain Anthony now commenced their search for a

vessel. They looked at the Jeannette, a New Bedford whaler, the Sea

Gull, a Boston clipper and fast, but in need of expensive repairs, and

the Addison, formerly a whaleship, but at that time a packet running

on the route between Boston and Fayal. None were regarded as entirely

suitable.

At last they heard of the Catalpa. She was formerly a whaleship sailing

out of New Bedford, but had been placed in the merchant service. She

had just returned with a cargo of logwood from the West Indies and

was for sale. Captain Anthony and Mr. Richardson went to East Boston,

where she lay. They were satisfied with her, and, finding she could

be bought cheaply, communicated with the committee, which authorized

her purchase. She was bought on March 13, 1875, and the price paid was

$5,500.

The Catalpa was a vessel of 202.05 tons net, 90 feet in length, 25 feet

in breadth, with a depth of 12.2 feet. She was rigged as a merchant

bark, with double topsails, a poop deck, and cabin half above decks.

Her main deck was roomy and she had an open hold, there being nothing

between decks excepting her beams. The house and galley were on deck,

merchant fashion; altogether she seemed a stanch vessel. The bark was

brought around to New Bedford and the fitting commenced at City Wharf

under Captain Anthony's direction.

Davits and whaleboat gear were rigged, a forecastle was built for the

sailors, a half deck put in, sail and rigging pens built on one side

and a steerage on the other. Then it was discovered that the riding

keelson was rotten, and John W. Howland, who was in charge of the

repairs, performed a mechanical feat never before attempted. The foot

of the mainmast rests upon this part of the vessel, yet a new piece was

put in with such skill that the rigging did not settle throughout the

voyage.

The bark was provided with a forward and after cabin. Two rooms on the

starboard side were knocked into one for the use of the captain, the

mate's room was on the port side, opposite, and the second and third

mates were furnished accommodations in the forward cabin.

The vessel was fitted ostensibly for a whaling voyage of eighteen

months or two years in the North and South Atlantic. Captain Anthony

was given supreme authority in the arrangement of the vessel and in

securing the fittings, and gave his personal attention to the stowing

of the ship.

On the day of sailing, the vessel and outfit had cost the Clan-na-Gael

committee $18,000. The vessel stood in the name of James Reynolds of

New Haven, a fact which aroused considerable curiosity among the New

Bedford whaling agents, since he was a newcomer in the field which they

had regarded as a monopoly.

The conspirators made but one request with relation to the crew. They

wished to have one of their number accompany the vessel, and Dennis

Duggan was selected. He was shipped as carpenter. Otherwise the

responsibility was placed with Captain Anthony, and it was a difficult

task, requiring no little discretion and knowledge of the character of

men.

He made a wise choice, it will be seen later, in the selection of

Samuel P. Smith of Edgartown as first mate. The crew was purposely made

up largely of Kanakas, Malays, and Africans, since they were likely

to be less suspicious than other sailors and could better endure the

climate of the southern seas.

The shipping articles described the crew as finally made up as follows.

The names of some of the men were invented and bestowed upon them by

the shipping agents.

------------------+--------------------+--------------+----------------+

| | Place of |Of what Country |

Name. | Place of Birth. | Residence. | Citizen, or |

| | | Subject. |

------------------+--------------------+--------------+----------------+

Samuel P. Smith. | Edgartown. | Edgartown. | United States. |

Antone Farnham. | Brava. | New Bedford. | Brava. |

George H. Bolles. | New Bedford. | New Bedford. | United States. |

Caleb Cushing. | Harwich. | New Bedford. | United States. |

Mopsy Roso. | Malay. | New Bedford. | Malay. |

John Roso. | Malay. | New Bedford. | Malay. |

Walter E. Sanford.| N. Bridgewater. | Raynham. | United States. |

Cyrus S. Hill. | N. Woodstock, N.H.| Exeter, N.H. | United States. |

Antone Ferris. | Cape de Verde Is. | New Bedford. | Cape de Verde. |

Henry D. Paine. | Woodstock, Vt. | Woodstock. | United States. |

John Coeking. | New Britain, Conn.| New Britain. | United States. |

Edmund F. Gleason.| Candia. | | United States. |

Robert Kanaka. | Hope Island. | New Bedford. | Hope Island. |

Mike Malay. | Malay. | New Bedford. | Malay. |

Zempa Malay. | Malay. | New Bedford. | Malay. |

Lumbard Malay. | Malay. | New Bedford. | Malay. |

Gingy Malay. | Malay. | New Bedford. | Malay. |

Henry Parrott. | St. Helena. | New Bedford. | St. Helena. |

Thomas F. Knipe. | St. Helena. | New Bedford. | St. Helena. |

Thomas Kanaka. | Hope Island. | New Bedford. | Hope Island. |

Robert Ceil. | St. Helena. | New Bedford. | St. Helena. |

Joseph Rosmond. | St. Lucia, W.I. | New Bedford. | St. Lucia. |

Dennis Duggan. | New York. | | |

------------------+--------------------+--------------+----------------+

------------------+-----+--------+------------+-------+-------+

| | | | | |

| | | | | |

------------------+-----+--------+------------+-------+-------+

------------------+-----+--------+------------+-------+-------+

New Bedford, April 29, 1875.

Although the suspicions of nobody had been aroused in any quarter which

would lead to anxiety, the shipping agents were very persistent in

their inquiries about the destination of the ship.

"Captain Anthony is going where he has a mind and will stay as long

as he pleases," was Mr. Richardson's invariable reply to those who

questioned him.

The bark was now ready for sea, and Devoy, who was at this time night

editor of the "New York Herald," went to New Bedford to give Captain

Anthony his final instructions.

"You will cruise until fall, about six months, in the North Atlantic,"

were Devoy's orders. "Then you are to put in at Fayal, ship home any

oil which you may have taken, and sail at once for Australia, where

we expect you to arrive early in the spring of 1876. You are to go to

Bunbury, on the west coast, and there communications will be opened up

with you from our Australian agent."

The serious illness of Captain Anthony's mother delayed his departure

for two days. Devoy remained over, and at nine o'clock on Thursday

morning, April 29, 1875, he waved his handkerchief in farewell to

Captain Anthony as he rowed away from the dock to board the Catalpa.

Although a large company of his friends had made up a party to

accompany the captain down the bay, he could not trust himself to bring

his wife. He had said good-by to his wife and baby at home.

[Illustration: THE CATALPA OUTWARD BOUND]

This was the first anniversary of Captain Anthony's wedding, and

among those who were on the bark was Rev. O.A. Roberts, the clergyman

who had officiated at the marriage. Mr. Roberts was curious to see a

chronometer, and after the vessel was under way he examined it and

asked about its winding. Captain Anthony's attention thus being called

to it, he learned that he was bound to sea without a key for his

chronometer. Fortunately a mechanic named Arnett was on the vessel, and

he bored and filed an old clock key to fit the chronometer, and it was

wound. This was only the commencement of trouble with the chronometer,

which continued throughout the voyage.

Late in the afternoon, off Cuttyhunk, the friends on shore left the

Catalpa. During the remainder of that day Captain Anthony was in the

depths of despondency. While in the companionship of Devoy and the

conspirators he had imbibed the enthusiasm and spirit of the affair.

But now he was alone with the responsibility. There was not an officer

with whom he could share his secret. With a hulk of a whaleship he was

defying the mightiest naval power on earth.

In the evening half a gale was blowing and the bark was plunging

drearily in heavy seas, under short sail. The captain thought of his

wife, his child, and his mother sick at home, and he thought of the

task he had assumed to accomplish in the convict land of Australia.

There was gloom within the little cabin that evening, as well as

without.