Fenians

The plot they hatched was as audacious as it was impossible. Driven by two men, an Irish Catholic nationalist (who’d been convicted and jailed for treason in England before being exiled to America), and a Yankee whaling captain—a Protestant from New Bedford. Along with a third man—an Irish secret agent posing as an American millionaire—they devised a plan to sail halfway around the world to Fremantle, Australia, with a heavily armed crew to rescue a half-dozen condemned Irishmen from one of the most remote and impregnable prison fortresses ever built. To succeed, the plan required precise timing, a months-long con and more than a little luck of the Irish. The slightest slip-up, they knew, could be catastrophic for all involved. By the time the Fremantle Six sailed into New York Harbor in August, 1876, more than a year had passed since the plot had been put into action. Their mythic escape resonated around the world and emboldened the Irish Republican Brotherhood for decades in its struggle for independence from the British Empire.

From their website, seen 4 October 2026 · Read more on their website

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