Fund-raising was still unfinished in February 1875, when hetravelled toNew Bedford in search of a ship and crew. Devoy carried anintroductionfrom John Boyle O'Reilly, a former inmate at Fremantle whohad escapedby stowing away on a whaling ship in 1869, and contactedformer whalerHenry Hathaway. Hathaway then introduced Devoy to JohnRichardson, awhaling agent and Fenian sympathizer who nominated hisson-in-law,George S. Anthony, to command the rescue vessel. Devoyexplained therescue plan. Under the guise of a whaling voyage, Anthonymerely wouldhave to sail to a given point off the coast of WesternAustralia on acertain date, take on several passengers, then make abeeline back tothe United States. He would be well compensated.Anthony relished thechance to return to the sea, but it would meanleaving behind his wifeof less than a year, his infant daughter andhis invalid mother--not tomention the risk of capture and imprisonmentby the British. Toaggravate matters, the Irishmen had only given him24 hours to make hisdecision. That night Anthony weighed the risks anddecided to accept thecommand.

Within days of his decision, Anthony and his father-in-law began to scour the wharfs of Boston for a ship.

Theyfinally purchased a three-masted barque, Catalpa, for$5,200--to bereimbursed with money raised by the Clan. Anthonyrecruited 22 seasoneddeckhands from New Bedford and nearby ports. A23rd man,Dennis Dugan,was added to the roster by the Clan na Gael tolook after itsinvestment. Otherwise, the crew was comprised mainly ofPacific islandnatives and Africans. Catalpa slipped her moorings atNew Bedford atroughly 9 a.m. on April 29, 1875. Anthony then took areading on theship's chronometer - a time-keeping instrument that wasvital tonavigating the craft - and got bearings that placed the90-foot whalerin the heart of New York state!Anthony unable to repairthe Chronometerhad to rely on his own skill as a navigator.

Theend of October found Catalpa docked at Fayal Island in theAzores, whereshe off loaded 210 barrels of sperm oil for transportback to NewBedford. The profits helped to finance the mission. Then,withoutwarning or explanation, most of Catalpa's crew deserted atFayal. Threemore hands had to be discharged for medical reasons.Meanwhile, Irishagents who had been dispatched from the United Statesto "manage theland end of the rescue" had left Sydney where they hadcollected furtherfunds from local Fenian supporters who were makingtheir way off thesouthern coast of Australia toward Fremantle, WestAustralia.

Theywere led by John Breslin, a 40-year-old railroad agent andformerhospital official who was posing as a wealthy American miningspeculatornamed James Collins. He reached Fremantle in November. Hiscompanion wasThomas Desmond, a carriage maker who found work as awheelwright inPerth, about 20 miles north of Fremantle. Breslin andDesmond were ableto travel freely, gathering important intelligenceand plotting theircourse of action.

Freemantle Prison c1864

Thegenteel Breslin managed to endear himself to the governor andwas led ona tour of the Fremantle stockade by the prisonsuperintendent himself.Five other Irish sympathizers aided Breslin andDesmond:William Foley,an ex-prisoner residing in the community; DenisMcCarthy and JohnDurham, who volunteered to cut the telegraph wiresafter the prisonbreak; John King, a New Zealander who turned up withnearly $4,000 thathis countrymen had raised to help fund Breslin'soperations; and ThomasBrennan, a Fenian who had traveled from theUnited States at his ownexpense.

On April 11, a telegram from Breslin arrived: The British gunboatsweregone. A sudden storm and scrutiny by several customs officersdelayedCatalpa's departure until Saturday, April 15. She arrived abouta dozenmiles offshore of Rockingham at noon on Sunday. Just an hourlater,Anthony was at the tiller of a longboat, guiding five sailorstoward therendezvous site. The jailbreak commenced before dawn onMonday. At 5:30a.m., Breslin alerted the stable to harness his horsesto his carriage.At 6 a.m., Thomas Brennan left Fremantle with a wagonload of luggageand weapons and headed straight for the beach. An hourlater, Desmondordered his own team and carriage to be harnessed, andheaded out tomeet Breslin at a prearranged spot on the main route toRockingham. Atabout 8 o'clock, Breslin spotted three prisonersscurrying along theroad toward him. James Wilson, Robert Cranston andMichael Harringtonhad slipped away from their morning work assignmentsoutside the prisonwalls--a privilege granted them for their goodbehavior--and quicklymade their way to the pick-up point, where theyclimbed onto Desmond'scarriage. Not far behind, the three remainingprisoners--James Donagh,Thomas Hassett and Martin Hogan--clamberedonto Breslin's carriage andsoon were eating Desmond's dust. The timewas about 8:15 a.m. Brennan,first to arrive on the coast, hurried tostow the luggage and weapons onboard Catalpa's whaleboat. At 10:30,the carriages with Desmond andBreslin at the reins rattled up.Passengers and crew boarded thewhaleboat and shoved off none too soon.