Whaling-bark “Catalpa” of New Bedford rescuing prisoners from Australia in 1876; on the left is the police-boat racing to intercept the convicts in the rowboat, and on the right is the English armed cruiser “Georgette” coming to the assistance of the police. The prisoners barely escaped.
A number of Irish subjects who had joined the Fenian conspiracy of 1866 had been banished to Australia for life and were serving in the English penal colony at Freemantle. John Boyle O’Reilly had escaped with the aid of a whaleship and immediately began to form a plot to release his fellow prisoners. O’Reilly suggested a whaleship for the rescue, chiefly because it would create little suspicion, as whaleships were frequently seen off the coast of Australia. Captain H. C. Hathaway, who was the head of the night police force at New Bedford, was then consulted, and he recommended their approaching a certain George S. Anthony, a most successful whaler. Accordingly a meeting was held in a dark room, and Captain Anthony finally accepted the leadership of the expedition, probably not realizing fully the danger involved. The “Catalpa” was selected, and she sailed from New Bedford on April 29, 1875, not even an officer sharing the secret with the brave commander. The ship actually captured whales and finally arrived off Bunbury on the coast of Australia. In the mean time a man called John J. Breslin, who used to be a freight agent in Boston, had gone to Australia with a fellow conspirator to arrange the land end of the scheme. On the day appointed Captain Anthony rowed ashore with his crew, and with great difficulty Breslin and his six prisoners, who had escaped from their work in the woods, were placed on board the rowboat, which set out to sea to join the “Catalpa,” some miles off shore. A storm came up, but by good fortune and skilful seamanship, after a whole day and night, the “Catalpa” was sighted. At the same time the English cruiser “Georgette” was seen coming out of Freemantle in search of the refugees. By great luck for some reason she never noticed the small whaleboat and after questioning the “Catalpa” put back towards the shore. The rescued and rescuers rowed on and finally were observed by the men on the “Catalpa.” At the same time Captain Anthony noticed with horror that there was an armed guard boat almost as near the “Catalpa” as was his boat. It was a terrific race, but the whaleboat arrived a few seconds ahead and the occupants climbed on board; the officers had lost, and the prisoners were free. The rescued men knew their pursuers and, leaning over the rail of the “Catalpa,” wished them “Good morning,” and there was nothing for the officers to do but to answer them in the same tone. When the captain reached home he weighed one hundred and twenty-three pounds, having lost thirty-seven pounds on the voyage, through worry and excitement. The police of Western Australia endeavored to get these prisoners returned, but as their letter was addressed to the same Captain Hathaway who assisted the plotters of the expedition, there was not much help in this direction!
It is a very curious fact that at the precise moment that Disraeli was telling the House of Lords that he would not release these prisoners they were free on the Yankee ship. Receptions were held in New Bedford and Boston in honor of Captain Anthony and the other rescuers, and the daring captain will always be a hero with the Irish people.
DECLINE OF WHALING AND THE CAUSES
The first whaler to sail from San Francisco was the “Popmunnett” in the year 1850, and for thirty years after there were a few whaleships registered in this port. Steam whalers were introduced into the American fleet in 1880, when New Bedford sent out one, but it was the adoption of steam and the proximity to the Arctic that made San Francisco a whaling port at the time other places were giving up the pursuit. In 1893 there were thirty-three vessels enrolled there, many of which had been transferred from the Eastern cities. Since 1895 Boston, New Bedford, Provincetown, and San Francisco have been the only places from which whalers have been regularly registered, and in 1903 Boston recorded her last whaleship.
A modern steam whaler in the act of shooting a harpoon gun.
The modern harpoon gun, showing line with which to hold the whale.
There are a number of reasons for the decline of the whale fishery, but the chief factor was undoubtedly the introduction of kerosene. The opening of the first oil well in Pennsylvania sealed the fate of whaling. Henceforth sperm candles were used for ornament, and whale oil lamps soon became interesting relics. Other causes doubtless contributed to this rapid decline; for instance, the financial crisis of 1857; the uncertainty of the business, especially since Arctic whaling was begun in 1848; the increased cost of fitting out the ships for longer voyages; and the California gold craze in 1849, when many crews and officers deserted. Also the rise of the cotton industry from about 1850 to 1875 in New Bedford drew a great deal of capital from the uncertain whale fishery to the more conservative investments in cotton mills, which were successful from the very start. As whaling died out the mills were built up, and it is owing to these same mills that the city was saved from becoming a deserted fishing village. Then later even the lubricating oils began to be made from the residuum of kerosene, and about the same time wax was invented for candles, which again robbed the whaling industry of another market for oil. Soon came the Civil War, in which many vessels were captured or destroyed, then followed the sinking of forty or more vessels of the Charleston Stone Fleet described elsewhere, and finally came the Arctic disasters of 1871 and 1876, all of which hastened the end of the industry.