John (John Joseph) Breslin

Born in Ireland around 1830, John (John Joseph) Breslin later became active in the Fenian movement and spent much of his life in the United States. He is most closely associated with the rescue of six Fenian prisoners from Western Australia aboard the Catalpa, an operation remembered as one of the boldest episodes in nineteenth-century Irish nationalism.

Breslin was not only involved in the planning of that escape but also wrote about it. His best-known surviving book is The Cruise of the Catalpa: A Poem, which was published after his death and preserves the story in a dramatic, patriotic style.

He died in 1887. Though not a widely known literary figure today, his name endures through the Catalpa story and through the small but striking body of writing connected to that event.