by Joy Lefroy
12.1 ILLUSTRATOR INTERVIEW: HOW THE BOOK ARTWORK WAS CREATED
Interview with Marion Duke, illustrator of The Catalpa Escape
Q: How did you first become involved with this book project?
A: I was approached by Fremantle Arts Centre Press after I illustrated a similar book, The Pipeline C Y O’Connor Built, which was written by Joy Lefroy and Diana Frylinck.
Q: How closely did you work with the authors, Joy and Mike Lefroy, when creating the illustrations?
A: Joy and Mike provided me with a great amount of written and pictorial information on the Catalpa and the escape, as well as lots of historical photographs, including those of the actual prisoners.
Q: The story of the Catalpa’s escape is quite complex. How did you choose which scenes to represent in your illustrations?
A: I started to storyboard the text by cutting up the manuscript into small chunks that I could then play around with. I picked out the parts of the story that I felt had the most amount of interest and drama, and did rough thumbnail sketches of illustrations I felt would best describe the action. I also picked out some of the important photographs and documents I felt should be included, and roughly worked out where they should be placed in the storyboard.
Q: What media did you use in creating this book’s illustrations?
A: I used a variety of techniques and media to illustrate the story. I started by working on old books that I shellacked open to create a double-page spread. I made enough of these to illustrate the entire 32-page book, including the endpapers and cover. On each double-page spread I placed a small panel of wood where I would later add the text in Photoshop. Then each part of the story was illustrated using a mixture of collage and painting.
Q: What artistic techniques did you apply?
A: Collage featured strongly in the creation of the illustrations—on some of the pages I glued down old photographs, documents, rope, rocks and sand, and I made other small parts out of clay and found objects. The other parts of the illustrations I painted using acrylic. Once the illustrations were completed, I photographed them and finished them off in Photoshop.
Q: What kind of research goes into illustrating a book such as this? Did you learn anything new about the world of ships and/or about the 1870s?
A: I learnt a lot about the Catalpa’s story and the life of prisoners in Fremantle jail, which was an extremely unpleasant place at that time. I also learnt about the whaling industry and the hard lives the men on those ships had. As a long-time Fremantle resident at the time, I found this extremely interesting as I was able to visit the exact locations where the men would have lived and worked and where the escape took place.
Q: What is your creative process like? Did you work on the illustrations in sequence or on several simultaneously?
A: As much as possible I worked on all the illustrations simultaneously, building up the backgrounds and then going back over them all to add the final details. I would often lay all the illustrations out on the floor so I could view them in sequence and make sure that each page and double-page spread works with the pages on either side of it, ensuring that the illustrations had a ‘rhythm’ that reflected the pace of the story.
Marion Duke and her artworks. Photographs: Mike Lefroy.
12.2 STUDENT ACTIVITIES
Activity 1: Art and technology
Create a picture using mixed media. Scan or photograph your work, upload to a computer then add a layer of text. Print and present your mixed media work to the class.
13.1 INFORMATION: ALL AT SEA IN A LEAKY BOAT
The Fenians escaped from Rockingham beach in one of Catalpa’s whaleboats—very similar to that in the photograph below.
A whaleboat exhibit in the Western Australian Maritime Museum, Fremantle. Photograph: Mike Lefroy.
These boats, named Beetle whaleboats after New Bedford whaleboat builder Charles Beetle, could be sailed and rowed, were fast, light and manoeuvrable. Normally they were rowed by five men, with a sixth man handling a steering oar at the stern.
During the escape sixteen men were crammed into the boat for the trip to rendezvous with Catalpa.
13.2 STUDENT ACTIVITIES
Activity 1: Maths
A typical American whaleboat was pointed at both ends, approximately 28 foot long and 6 foot wide at its widest point. Convert these measurements into metres (1 foot=0.3048 metres) then draw the outline of the whaleboat (on the school playground) in chalk. Sit sixteen people in the space. Remember they had to have room to swing their arms and row and space to store equipment such as the mast and sails, weapons and supplies. (Hint: Find a website to check the conversion. Draw a scale model of the whaleboat.)
Activity 2: Technology
Make a model of a boat from a waterproof material (such as plasticine). Your boat can be any shape and size. Weigh your boat.
Estimate, then trial, what weight your boat will hold before it sinks. Describe this in proportion to the weight of your boat.
Explain why you can make a boat that floats out of a material such as plasticine that doesn’t normally float in water. (Hint: Think carefully what you have to do to a non-floating substance like plasticine to make it into a boat.)
Activity 3: English
During the escape, sixteen men, stores and weapons were crammed into the whaleboat for the trip out to Catalpa, which waited offshore. Some had never been in a small boat. The men spent 28 hours at sea nearly sinking in a vicious storm.
Using your five senses, brainstorm the sensations and emotions the escapees might have experienced. For instance, they may have felt seasick.
Write a description of your night spent in this boat on the ocean during the storm.
14.1 INFORMATION: THE AMERICAN WHALING SHIP CATALPA
When John Devoy read the letter written by Martin Hogan that was smuggled out of Fremantle Prison, he became determined to free the military Fenians.
Devoy was a leading figure in the Clan na Gael (America’s Irish Republican Brotherhood). He began a fundraising campaign to raise money for an escape.
Encouraged by Fenian John Boyle O’Reilly (who in 1869 had escaped from Bunbury, Western Australia, aboard the American whaling ship Gazelle), Devoy decided to buy a whaling ship. These were very common in the waters off Fremantle at this time so were unlikely to arouse suspicion.
O’Reilly put Devoy in touch with Henry Hathaway, who had been third mate on Gazelle. Hathaway recommended a whaling agent called JT Richardson, who joined the rescue mission with great enthusiasm and persuaded his son-in-law George Anthony, an experienced and respected whaler, to be the captain. The group bought a former New Bedford whaler named Catalpa and set about refitting her for the voyage.
Catalpa weighed 202 tons, was 27.4 metres long and 7.6 metres wide. The ship was built in 1844 and had already spent years roaming the world’s oceans hunting whales. More recently she had been converted into a cargo ship and had just returned with a cargo of wood from the West Indies.
Richardson began recruiting a crew—he had agreed he would not hire any Englishmen as they were seen to be the enemies of the Irish. As well as Americans, the crew of twenty-three was made up of six nationalities. Captain George Anthony recruited the experienced Samuel Smith in the key role of First Mate. When they left America, only one member of the crew, Dennis Duggan, knew the real purpose of the voyage apart from the Captain.
Duggan was a Fenian who had been involved in the uprising in Ireland and had escaped to America. He was a carriage builder and carpenter by trade so would be a useful crewmember. On the crew list he appears as a German citizen because it was thought that any Irishman on the crew might arouse suspicion about the real intent of the voyage.
Just before Catalpa sailed, John Devoy gave Captain Anthony his sailing instructions:
‘You will cruise until Fall [Autumn], about six months, in the North Atlantic. Then you will put into Fayal, ship home any oil you have taken, and sail at once for Australia, where we expect you to arri
ve 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’
On Thursday 29 April 1875 Catalpa sailed from New Bedford.
After the ship returned triumphantly to America in August 1876 she was given by the grateful Clan na Gael to Captain Anthony and his father-in-law JT Richardson. She sailed on three more whaling voyages before being ‘sold foreign’. She was altered into a coal barge and ended her life on the beach at Belize, British Honduras, where she was condemned and burned.
14.2 INFORMATION: THE WESTERN AUSTRALIAN COASTAL STEAMER SS GEORGETTE
The 211-ton steamship SS Georgette was built in 1872 in England. She was 46.2 metres long and 6.9 metres wide, with two engines, two masts and sails.
Georgette was sold to Western Australian buyers for £14,000 and arrived in Fremantle, Western Australia, in September 1873. She began working as a coastal trading and passenger service vessel operating between Fremantle, Albany and Champion Bay (Geraldton). She is best known, especially in Ireland and America, for her part in the Catalpa escape in 1876.
After the Fenian escape was discovered on the morning of 17 April, SS Georgette was commandeered by British authorities to search for Catalpa and the escaped convicts.
Short of fuel, Georgette returned to Fremantle on the afternoon of 18 April after unsuccessfully trying to board Catalpa in search of the escaped prisoners. The next morning, now refuelled with coal and armed with a company of soldiers and a large cannon on the bow, she headed out again in search of Catalpa. Having steam engines as propulsion, the Georgette had no trouble running Catalpa down, as the sailing ship was becalmed.
Georgette pulled alongside and demanded the return of the prisoners. Captain Anthony replied that they had only free men on board. Superintendent John Stone of the Water Police, in command of Georgette, then ordered a warning shot be fired across Catalpa’s bow and threatened to aim the next cannonball directly at the ship.
Captain Anthony ordered his crew to raise the American flag. He pointed to the ‘Stars and Stripes’ fluttering from the mast and shouted back:
‘That’s the American flag. I am on the high seas. My flag protects me. If you fire on this ship you fire on the American flag.’
On board Georgette Superintendent Stone called a meeting with his officers to decide what to do. They were unsure if they were still in British waters and under British law, or in international waters. Since Britain had recently been fined $2 million for attacking an American ship on the high seas, Stone reluctantly decided to retire.
On 29 November 1876, SS Georgette left Fremantle on what would be her last voyage. On board were fifty passengers and a cargo of jarrah. Two days later, just after midnight, a leak developed. The ship’s pumps failed and by 4am the water was rising so fast Captain John Godfrey had the passengers and crew bailing with buckets while he changed course towards the coast.
By evening the rising water put out the engine’s fires, leaving Georgette adrift still some kilometres from shore. Godfrey then gave the orders to lower the lifeboats but the first was smashed against the side of the ship. The second lifeboat was successfully launched but twelve lives were lost.
Georgette drifted into Calgardup Bay, where she was spotted by an Aboriginal stockman, Sam Isaacs. Isaacs raced to his employer’s homestead to raise the alarm. Only Ellen Bussell and her sixteen-year-old daughter Grace were at home. Isaacs and Grace Bussell then returned to the beach on horseback.
Bussell and Isaacs raced down the cliffs and into the surf, swimming their horses out to the swamped lifeboats. They rode into the water many times and hauled all the surviving passengers to safety.
Newspapers around the world picked up the story. Bussell was acclaimed as ‘Western Australia’s Grace Darling’* and awarded a silver medal from the Royal Humane Society. Isaacs received a bronze medal.
Today the wreck of SS Georgette lies off Redgate Beach, Western Australia.
*Grace Darling was the daughter of an English lighthouse keeper who had been involved in the heroic rescue of shipwreck survivors from the Forfarshire in 1838.
Redgate Beach in Western Australia, where the Georgette was wrecked. Photograph: Mike Lefroy.
15.1 INFORMATION: LETTER TO GOVERNOR ROBINSON FROM JOHN BRESLIN
As the whaleboat headed out to sea John Breslin read aloud a letter he had written to William Robinson, Governor of Western Australia, announcing the successful escape. When he finished, he wrapped the letter in a waterproof package together with a piece of wood and launched the triumphant note towards the shore. It is not known if the Governor ever received the message, but a copy of it appears in Breslin’s account of the escape, written some time later.
Rockingham 17 April 1876
“To His Excellency the British Governor of Western Australia”
“This is to certify that I have this day released from the clemency of Her Most Gracious Majesty Victoria, Queen of Great Britain, etc., etc., six Irishmen, condemned to imprisonment for life by the enlightened and magnanimous Government of Great Britain, for having been guilty of the atrocious and unpardonable crimes known to the enlightened portion of mankind as ‘love of country’ and ‘hatred of tyranny’; for this act of ‘Irish assurance’ my birth and blood being my sufficient warrant. Allow me to add that
In taking my leave now, I’ve only to say
A few cells I’ve emptied (a sell in its way);
I’ve the honor and pleasure to bid you good day.
From all future acquaintance excuse me I pray.
In the service of my country.
John J Breslin”
15.2 INFORMATION: JT RICHARDSON
This is the house flag of John T Richardson, a prominent New Bedford shipping agent. It flew from the foremast to indicate the ‘ownership’ of Catalpa, ostensibly purchased by JT Richardson as a whaling ship, but secretly owned by the Clan na Gael with the real purpose of sailing to Fremantle to rescue the Fenian prisoners.
As a member of the religious order of Quakers, JT Richardson had a great belief in freedom and justice and supported the Irish cause for freedom. He recruited his son-in-law George Anthony to be captain of the ship.
The illustration on the first page of the book (New Bedford, February 1875) shows the secret meeting between Richardson, Captain Anthony and John Devoy with other members of the Clan na Gael. It was at this meeting that the proposed plan to rescue the Fenians was explained to Captain Anthony in the hope he would accept the challenge and take command of the expedition.
15.3 STUDENT ACTIVITIES
Activity 1: Interpreting historical references
Go through the Breslin letter to Governor Robinson and highlight any words you don’t understand. Research their meaning.
Rewrite the letter so that people today will understand what he is saying to the Governor. You do not need to make the last four lines rhyme.
16.1 INFORMATION: THE CONFRONTATION BETWEEN GEORGETTE AND CATALPA
On the evening of 18 April 1876, with the Irish prisoners safely on board, Captain Anthony attempted to sail Catalpa away from the Western Australian coast. However, the wind had died away to nothing and they were becalmed. Being a sailing ship, there were no other means of propulsion. They just had to sit and wait.
Georgette, the coastal steamship that had been commandeered by the British authorities, had returned to Fremantle on the afternoon of 18 April after unsuccessfully trying to board Catalpa in search of the escaped prisoners. The next morning, refuelled with coal and armed with a company of soldiers and a large cannon on the bow, she headed out again in search of Catalpa. Having steam engines as propulsion, the Georgette had no trouble running Catalpa down.
There was still no wind and Catalpa lay with limp sails, unable to move on the glassy sea. Georgette pulled alongside and demanded the return of the prisoners. Captain Anthony replied that they had only free men on
board. Superintendent John Stone of the Water Police, in command of Georgette, then ordered a warning shot be fired across Catalpa’s bow and threatened to aim the next cannonball directly at the ship.
Captain Anthony ordered his crew to raise the American flag. He pointed to the ‘Stars and Stripes’ fluttering from the mast and shouted back:
‘That’s the American flag. I am on the high seas. My flag protects me. If you fire on this ship you fire on the American flag.’
On board Georgette Superintendent Stone called a meeting with his officers to decide what to do. They were unsure if they were still in British waters and under British law, or in international waters. Since Britain had recently been fined $2 million for attacking an American ship on the high seas, Stone reluctantly decided to retire.
In the meantime the wind picked up and Captain Anthony swung Catalpa’s bow to the west. The Fenians were sailing to freedom at last!
The high seas
This term is commonly used to refer to international waters. Under current international law, a nation owns its territorial (coastal) waters, which extend twelve nautical miles (22.2km) beyond its coast. All ships may move freely outside that area. Each nation also has exclusive rights to all marine life in waters extending 200 nautical miles (322km) beyond its shores. This is called exclusive economic zones (EEZ).
In 1876 international waters began much closer to land. If you were more than three nautical miles off the coast you were on the high seas. The confrontation between Catalpa and Georgette took place close to the coast but near the three nautical mile limit. At the time neither vessel was sure if they were in International waters or not.
