Doug Anderson

During the Great Famine, an estimated 5,000 ships transported nearly two million Irish emigrants to Canada and the United States. These vessels earned the grim moniker "coffin ships" due to the appallingly high passenger mortality rates. Two of the four ships chartered by Denis Mahon for his 1,490 evicted tenants experienced death rates of approximately 50% . An estimated 100,000 people perished during the one-to-three-month transatlantic voyages, their bodies often unceremoniously dumped overboard, occasionally attracting sharks.

 

Mahon's passengers were theoretically allotted daily rations of one pound of flour or a biscuit and three quarts of water per person. However, living conditions were dire. The windowless cargo holds were dark, malodorous, and teeming with lice, fever, and disease, with only a few buckets provided for human waste. To maximize space and profit, shelves were installed along the hull walls, portioned into six-foot-square spaces designed for four unrelated people to sleep head-to-toe, sometimes stacked two or three levels high like bunk beds.

 

Passengers were typically allowed only about one hour on deck daily for fresh air and cooking. The severity of conditions often depended on the whims and disposition of the ship's captain and crew. Upon arrival at their final destinations, survivors were quarantined, hospitalized, or, sadly, buried.