The Great Irish Famine An Epic of Death and Emigration - BY AWAKE! WRITER IN IRELAND

Emigration En Masse

Emigration was not new. Since the beginning o the 18th century, there had been a steady trickle of emigrants from Ireland to Britain and America. After the winter  of 1845, the trickle became a torrent!  By 1850, 26 percent   of the residents of New York were Irish-there were more Irish-born citizens there than in Ireland's capital city, Dublin.

During the six years of the famine, five thousand ships mad the hazardous  3,000 mile journey across the Atlantic.Many of the ships were old. Some had previously  served as slave ships.  They only continued in service because of the emergency. Little improvement had been made in their claustrophobic living quarters. There was not sanitation, and passengers had to survived on only the barest rations.

Thousands of passengers, already weakened by the famine, became sick.  Many died while at sea. In 1847, ships bound for Canada came to be coffin ships. Of the 100,000 or so emigrants they carried over 16,000 died either at sea or soon after landing. Letters sent back to friends and relatives in Ireland told of these perilous conditions-but still the emigrants left in droves.

A few landlords assisted their former tenants. One, for example, chartered three ships and contributed toward the passage of a thousand of his tenants. Most emigrants though, had to struggle to find their own fare.  Often only one or two from a large family could afford the passage.  Imagine the heartbreak at the dockside  as thousands of family members said farewell-likely never to see one another again.  

Next time: The Great Irish Famine An Epic of Death and Emigration -BY AWAKE! WRITER IN IRELAND -Disease and a Third Crop Failure

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