There is a song called "The Catalpa" commemorating the escape of a group of Irish convicts from Australia with the aid of the American whaling bark the Catalpa in 1876.

After reading the Wikipedia article about this event - wiki article   - I was unclear whether the song was written recently or in the past.    The first references to it the article makes appear to be modern:

"Irish rebel music band The Wolfe Tones recorded a song about the Catalpa incident called "The Fenians' Escape".
The Real McKenzies, a Celtic punk band from British Columbia, Canada, included their rendition of the song "The Catalpa" on the 2005 Fat Wreck Chords album "10,000 Shots "

. . . but it's listed as "traditional".   So does the song originate at the time of the incident or was it written recently?

Thanks in advance.