The Catalpa Expedition/Chapter 11

CHAPTER XI

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.

Name.	Place of Birth.	Place of Residence.	Of what Country, Citizen, or Subject.	Age.	Height.	Complexion.	Hair.	Eyes.
Samuel P. Smith	Edgartown.	Edgartown.	United States.	29	5.11	Sandy.	Brown.	Gray.
Antone Farnham.	Brava.	New Bedford.	United States.	43	5.11	Dark.	Black.	Black.
George H. Bolles.	New Bedford.	New Bedford.	United States.	24	5.6	Sandy.	Brown.	Black.
Caleb Cushing.	Harwich.	New Bedford.	United States.	23	5.1	Sandy.	Brown.	Black.
Mopsy Roso.	Malay.	New Bedford.	Malay.	21	5.5	Dark	Black.	Black.
John Roso.	Malay.	New Bedford.	Malay.	30	5.4	Dark	Black.	Black.
Walter E. Sanford.	N. Bridgewater	Raynham	United States	19	5.6	Light	Light.	Blue.
Cyrus S. Hill.	N. Woodstock, N.H.	Exeter, N.H.	United States	21	5.10	Dark.	Black.	Brown.
Antone Ferris.	Cape de Verde Is.	New Bedford.	Cape de Verde.	50	5.8	Dark	Gray.	Black.
Henry D. Paine.	Woodstock, Vt.	Woodstock.	United States.	17	5.9	Light.	Light.	Blue.
John Cocking	New Britain, Conn	New Britain.	United States.	27	5.3	Light.	Light.	Blue.
Edmund F. Gleason.	Candia		United States	30	5.2	Dark.	Black.	Black.
Robert Kanaka.	Hope Island.	New Bedford.	Hope Island.	22	5.7	Black.	Black.	Black.
Mike Malay	Malay.	New Bedford.	Malay.	21	5.3	Black.	Black.	Black.
Zempa Malay.	Malay.	New Bedford.	Malay.	21	5.2	Black.	Black.	Black.
Lumbard Malay.	Malay.	New Bedford.	Malay.	21	5.3	Black.	Black.	Black.
Gingy Malay.	Malay.	New Bedford.	Malay.	21	5.4	Black.	Black.	Black.
Henry Parrott.	St. Helena.	New Bedford.	St. Helena.	22	5.6	Black.	Black.	Black.
Thomas F. Knipe.	St. Helena.	New Bedford.	St. Helena.	22	5.9	Black.	Black.	Black.
Thomas Kanaka.	Hope Island.	New Bedford.	Hope Island.	28	5.6	Black.	Black.	Black.
Robert Ceil.	St Helena.	New Bedford.	St. Helena.	18	5.6	Dark.	Black.	Gray.
Joseph Rosmond	St. Lucia, W.I.	New Bedford.	St. Lucia.	21	5.8	Black.	Black.	Black.
Dennis Duggan	New York.			30	5.9	Light	Light.	Blue.
⁠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.

This was the first anniversary of Captain

THE CATALPA OUTWARD BOUND

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.