This documentary film tells the story of one of the greatest prison escapes in history. A celebrated story in its day, this 150-year-old story has long since been forgotten. Set amid the background of a period of great change in world history – the last days of Colonial Britain – the remnants of their time resonate today in the British policy towards Northern Ireland. ...read more
The bare bones of the story of the Catalpa Rescue is familiar to most members of the Friendly Sons. It tells of the escape, on 18 April, 1876, of six Irish Republican Brotherhood (IRB) prisoners from the Convict Establishment (now Fremantle Prison) in the British Penal Colony of Western Australia. It describes their successful evasion of recapture aboard a New Bedford whaling bark, Catalpa, and their triumphant reception in the USA and subsequent freedom. ...read more
