19th Century Emigration to the North Americas
The journey
The Great Eastern c.1860s. This image is from a steel engraving of an original painting which first appeared in the Illustrated London News. The 'Great Eastern' was one of the first steel ships to carry passengers on the North Atlantic routes. Designed by Isambard Kingdom Brunel, it could accommodate up to 4,000 passengers and was, until 1890, the largest ship ever built.
The journey across the Atlantic was fraught with danger. Although after the peace treaty of 1815 Irish emigrants no longer had to fear impressment by the British navy, capture by pirates or worry about encountering French or Spanish warships, it was still not plain sailing.
Ten weeks tossing about on the ocean wave, living on oatmeal or dried biscuits and stale water (fresh provisions did not last more than a few days), was not conducive to good health.
Even though conditions did steadily improve - including a five-week reduction in the time taken to reach America - unsanitary conditions made every ocean voyage a high-risk undertaking. During the 1830s, Cholera Morbus (Asiatic Cholera) claimed literally hundreds of lives, while typhoid and other forms of ship's fever claimed almost as many.
Letter written by a ship's surgeon in 1832 while on route to Quebec.
See transcript of a letter written by a ship's surgeon in 1832 while on route to Quebec (24KB)
See transcript of a letter written by a ship's surgeon in 1832 while on route to Quebec (24KB)
Those already weakened by the ravages of the Famine survived more by luck than good management, while the notorious 'coffin ships', stuffed to bursting with poor, ill-nourished and vermin-ridden peasants, experienced a death rate of up to one in five among the passengers. This does not take account of those who perished by shipwreck. Sent out in unseaworthy vessels, hundreds met with a watery grave.
