A STRANGE EPISODE
Nothing stranger ever happened on land or sea than the circumstance
whereby Captain Anthony came into possession of the charts used on the
convict ship Hougoumont, which were subsequently employed to frustrate
the plans of the government which first provided them.
A large English bark was signalized on the 16th of February in lat.
39° 46´ S., long. 31° 54´ E. It was a beautiful morning, and Captain
Anthony concluded to board her and see if he could procure a detailed
chart of the Australian coast, which he was now rapidly approaching.
The vessel proved to be the Ocean Beauty, seventy days from Liverpool
and bound for New Zealand. The captain was a big, convivial Englishman,
full of jolly stories which he loved to tell. Captain Anthony spent a
pleasant hour in his cabin and finally asked him if he had made many
voyages in this direction.
"Been making them out here all my life," he said. "Why, I was master of
a convict ship, the Hougoumont, and carried a shipful of prisoners to
Australia in 1868."
The name "Hougoumont" seemed familiar to Captain Anthony. Suddenly it
flashed upon his mind that this was the vessel which Devoy had named
as taking the Fenian prisoners whom he was bound to rescue out to
the colony. The meeting at this time, and the reminder, unnerved the
captain for a moment and if the Englishman had been observant he might
have suspected from his conduct that the mention of the name of the
vessel created an unexpected sensation.
But the suggestion started the captain of the Ocean Beauty to relate
reminiscences of life on the convict ship. He told Captain Anthony of
John Boyle O'Reilly. "You may have heard of him," he said, "for he
escaped in one of your whaleships." He recalled the publication of a
paper by O'Reilly on the Hougoumont called "The Wild Goose," so named
because the soldiers of Sarsfield, who entered the service in foreign
armies upon the failure of their effort for liberty, were called "The
Wild Geese." It was published weekly, Father Delaney, the ship's
chaplain, furnishing O'Reilly with the paper and writing materials.
John Flood, Dennis B. Cashman, and J. Edward O'Kelly were editors,
with O'Reilly, and Cashman wrote an ornamental heading entwined with
shamrocks, and the sub-heads as well. It was published on Saturdays,
and O'Reilly read it to the company between decks on Sundays. In this
publication his narrative poem "The Flying Dutchman," written off the
Cape of Good Hope, first appeared.
"We published seven weekly numbers of it," O'Reilly has written. "Amid
the dim glare of the lamp the men, at night, would group strangely on
extemporized seats, the yellow light full on the pale faces of the
men as they listened with blazing eyes to Davis's 'Fontenoy,' or the
'Clansmen's Wild Address to Shane's Head!' Ah, that is another of the
grand picture memories that come only to those who deal with life's
stern realities!"
The Englishman's reference to Australia opened the way for Captain
Anthony to inquire the possibilities of the place for refitting and
taking aboard fresh provisions. The Englishman advised it, saying that
it was a cheap place to recruit ship.
"Have you a sheet chart of the coast you could spare me?" asked Captain
Anthony finally.
"Lots of them. Here's the roll I used when I was master of the
Hougoumont. Help yourself. You're welcome to any you want."
The Englishman handed out a bulky roll, and Captain Anthony selected
a chart of the western coast of Australia on a large scale, showing
the survey about Swan River, Freemantle, Bunbury, Rottnest Island and
lighthouse.
Then, as the wind was strengthening, Captain Anthony arose to go. The
Englishman bid him "God speed," and the men parted.
Upon reaching the Catalpa, Captain Anthony went down into the cabin,
chuckling in great glee.
"What's happened?" asked Mr. Smith.
"Why," said the captain, "would you believe it? I've just been given
the very chart which was used by the captain of the Hougoumont to land
the prisoners we're after, at Freemantle. The captain little thought it
was to be used in taking a ship there to rescue the same men."
The hilarity over this circumstance kept the two men in good humor for
a long time.