On this day, 17 April 1876…

Easter Monday Breslin, Desmond and Brennan helped the six Fenian prisoners escape from Fremantle Prison and raced them in two horse drawn carts to a Rockingham beach where Captain Anthony was waiting with a whaleboat. They all boarded the whaleboat and rowed out to the Catalpa anchored near Garden Island. Six Fenians: James Wilson, Thomas Darragh, Martin Hogan, Michael Harrington, Robert Cranston and Thomas Hassett.