P. Smith, and a representative of the conspirators, Dennis Duggan, who shipped as a carpenter. The remainder were mostly Kanakas, Malays and Africans, some with invented names. Departure and voyage On 29 April 1875, Catalpa sailed from New Bedford, Massachusetts. At first, most of the crew was unaware of their real mission. Anthony noticed too late that the ship's marine chronometer was broken, so he had to rely on his personal skills for navigation. They hunted whales in the Atlantic for five months before sailing to Fayal Island in the Azores, where they offloaded 210 barrels of sperm whale oil in late October. Unfortunately, much of the crew deserted the ship and they also had to leave behind three sick men. Anthony recruited replacement crew members and set sail for Western Australia on 6 November. Undercover operatives To manage the "land end" of the rescue operation, John Devoy signed up Fenian agents John J. Breslin and Thomas Desmond to go to Western Australia. Breslin masqueraded as American businessman "James Collins", with suitable letter of introduction, while Desmond adopted the alias of Johnson. They departed the US in September 1875 and arrived in Fremantle in November 1875, after which "they separated and became ostensible strangers." Coincidentally, the Irish Republican Brotherhood had sent two of their own agents (Denis Florence MacCarthy and John Walsh) to organise an escape attempt, and a local Fenian named John King was working on his own plan. John Breslin was able to bring all three plans together. Breslin, as Collins, lodged in the Emerald Isle Hotel in Fremantle, while Thomas Desmond took a job as a wheelwright and recruited five local Irishmen who were to cut the telegraph lines connecting Perth to Albany on the day of escape (there was no link to the eastern colonies of Australia until 1877). Breslin became acquainted with Sir William Cleaver Robinson, the Governor of Western Australia. Robinson took Breslin on a tour of the Convict Establishment (now Fremantle Prison) where he secretly informed the prisoners that an escape was due. While staying at the hotel, Breslin engaged in a love affair with 22-year-old chamber maid, Mary Tondut. She became pregnant and Anthony paid for her to go to Sydney but never saw her again. In December 1876, Tondut gave birth to Breslin's only child, John Joseph Tondut. Rescue preparations Catalpa fell behind the intended schedule owing to weather conditions. After