286 WHALING 



again, although he got near enough to hear the voices on deck, 

 he failed to catch the lookout's attention, and only by rowing 

 all night did he succeed in regaining the shore. 



During the three days and nights that followed, O'Reilly 

 slept almost continuously. Before going back to Father Mc- 

 Cabe, Macguire and his companion had arranged to get food 

 and water to him; now they returned and next morning the 

 three once more rowed out to sea. Captain David R. Gifford 

 of the Gazelle had agreed with Father McCabe to pick up 

 O'Reilly, and had accepted ten pounds to bind the bargain. 



The rowboat soon sighted the whalers (the Clarice, also of 

 New Bedford, was gamming with the Gazelle) and was shortly 

 afterward sighted by them, and by the end of the morning 

 O'Reilly was aboard the Gazelle and bound for America. 



Now O'Reilly's escape in a New Bedford whaler made no 

 great stir in the world, but it suggested a later project on a scale 

 so large that it commanded attention on both sides of the At- 

 lantic. When those young Fenians were sent to Australia, one 

 of them, named Wilson, who had defiantly pleaded guilty to 

 treason, appealed for help to John Devoy, an ardent Irish 

 patriot who had fled to America. The possibility of royal 

 pardon kept hope alive among the prisoners for several years, 

 O'Reilly's escape giving it added strength; but in 1870, when a 

 general pardon was granted to all political convicts in Australia, 

 those were excepted who had been in the army at the time of 

 their offense. When the Queen assumed the title of Empress 

 of India, an appeal was made for the pardon of these remaining 

 Fenians, but it was rejected. Then Wilson wrote again to 

 John Devoy. But it was five years before any definite plan 

 took shape. 



At last in pursuance of this plan Devoy came to New Bedford 

 in February, 1875, to find a whaling vessel and a whaling cap- 

 tain. Henry C. Hathaway, third mate of the Gazelle when 

 she rescued O'Reilly, had become a captain in the New Bedford 

 police department, and to Hathaway O'Reilly sent Devoy; 

 Hathaway, in turn, took Devoy to John T. Richardson, the 

 whaling agent. 



