This is my first post on this forum. I joined because of this thread and John Minear's mention of the ship Julia Ann and the rescue of Irish patriot John Mitchel from Australia. My Great Grandfather was Charles Button Davis who was, in fact, the captain of the ship that brought John Mitchel to San Francisco as was mentioned on page 197 of Mitchel's Jail Journal. Mr. Pond was the owner of the ship, not the captain. There has been much family lore about this event. I remember as a child being told that Captain Davis was forced to quit traveling to British ports for fear of being arrested as a Pirate. Where I'm confused is with the name of the ship. Our family history and Captain Davis Tombstone list the name as Julian, not Julia Ann. There were ships with both names at the time of John Mitchel's escape. I expect that Capt. Davis would know the name of his ship and I wouldn't be amazed if John Mitchel got it wrong in his Jail Journal. That would bring into question that the same ship was used to save John Mitchel and later shipwrecked while transporting mormons in 1855.