The Catalpa, and the Fenians involved in the great rescue of 1876 Catalpa: The Epic Story of the Greatest Prison Rescue in Irish History, by Michael B. Barry (Gill Books, €24.99/£23.99) The Catalpa was a whaling vessel built in 1844 and bought for $5,250 by Clann na Gael for the rescue of six Fenians from a prison settlement in Freemantle, near Perth, in Western Australia. The…
