Catalpa flag to go on display - but for only two days

The flag of the ship that carried out the daring rescue of six Fenians from Western Australia 150 years ago this week is to go on display in the National Museum - but only for a mere two days. 

The US flag from the Catalpa can be seen in the National Museum, Collins Barracks, Dublin from 12 noon on Saturday 18 April and from 1pm on Sunday 19 April. Bizarrely, the Museum claims that this very limited display is because “its size prevents it from being shown in standard gallery spaces”. This despite the fact that Collins Barracks has extensive exhibition space. 

It was only due to public pressure, including the raising of the issue in the Seanad by Sinn Féin’s Conor Murphy, that the flag is being displayed at all. The Museum had no plans to mark the 150th anniversary. 

• Joe Clarke (left, on crutch) presenting the Catalpa flag to the National Museum in October 1972

The flag of the Catalpa was in the possession of Joe McGarrity, the Tyrone Republican and Clan na Gael leader in the United States. It was his wish that it be passed on to the National Museum and in October 1972 the 1916 Rising veteran and vice-president of Sinn Féin, Joe Clarke, then aged 90, presented it to the Museum. 

The Catalpa rescue was one of the most extraordinary and significant events in Irish revolutionary history, yet its story is not told in the National Museum, with the flag hidden away from public view for years. Speaking in the Seanad on 26 March Sinn Féin Seanadóir Conor Murphy called for an Irish state commemoration of the event. No plans to date were made despite the fact, as Senator Murphy pointed out, that there have been events in Fremantle, Western Australia, and in Boston, USA. 

Also related to the Catalpa escape are original letters from the prisoners and other items from the correspondence of John Devoy, the Clan na Gael leader who masterminded the rescue. Again these are not on display and no plans have been announced to exhibit them. 

People are encouraged to write to the National Museum, Collins Barracks, Dublin 7 and the National Library, Kildare Street, Dublin 2, to call for the Catalpa items to be displayed and the 150th anniversary properly marked. 

Across the world to freedom | An Phoblacht