Coffin Ships

This week I will be exploring another aspect of the Potato famine; the great emigration. The term 'coffin ship' was created because so many people died while traveling from Ireland to their destination.

A coffin ship memorial at Galway, Ireland

 It was very common for Irish landlords to evict people from their homes or have them sent to jail. For this reason, many Irish decided to flee to another country. Sometime the landlords would even pay for the Irish to leave, just so they would not have to be burdened by them. Oftentimes, poor, starving people were put on severely overcrowded ships for countries like Canada, America, and England. The ships created the perfect conditions for outbreaks of disease like dysentery and typhoid fever. Many people died on the ships; their bodies simply thrown over board. 

Upon arrival of their destination, the Irish immigrants were often extremely sick with disease contracted while on the ship. Many people died shortly after leaving the ship while walking along to road. A popular destination was Canada, specifically Grosse Isle. It is estimated that 100,000 Irish sailed to Canada, where 1 in 5 died, including 5,000 at Grosse Isle alone. Many people who arrived to Canada tried to travel to the United States, but the large increase of Irish in America led congress to pass laws making it more difficult and expensive to enter the country. 

Depiction of life on a coffin ship

Other Irish tried to travel to England for the guaranteed food and short ship ride. However, England had many of the same problems as other countries. The huge increase in population of poor, sick people lead to the massive spread of disease. Also, native people became infuriated with the job competition as a result of so many Irish willing to work for any form of money. Soon, England began to forcibly export Irish immigrants back to Ireland, even if they were clearly sick. 

 
The Irish tried to travel to other countries, but they were always met with the same dislike. It had become custom of other people to believe that all Irish carried disease and were poor, demanding money and food for free. 


References:
coffin ship memorial: http://images.travelpod.com/users/scottmclean/1.1249677397.the-coffin-ship.jpg
depiction of coffin ship: http://www.victoriana.com/Irish/IrishPoliticalCartoons.htm
information: http://www.historyplace.com/worldhistory/famine/coffin.htm