The Dunbrody Famine Ship
![Picture](/uploads/2/6/4/3/26436374/1611654.jpg)
The Irish people have been through a lot politically, economically, and religiously over the history of the country. One event that had a major impact on the Irish people was the Potato Famine. In 1845, this famine really struck the country of Ireland. Potatoes were the primary crop of a community that were primarily farmers, so when they were unable to grow their only crop, the results were devastating. An estimated one million people died during these years of great famine from starvation or diseases that quickly spread. Another million people emigrated to other countries, primarily Canada, Australia, and the United States, for hope of a better life. The people were looking for more opportunities. In Ireland, the prices of everything had risen exponentially, making living there without an income because you could not grow your crops nearly impossible.
The answer to this predicament was emigration. Hundreds of people would get a ticket for a voyage that would take six to eight weeks for hopefully a brighter future. We were able to visit one of these ports and tour through an exact replica of on these famine ships, the Dunbrody. The Dunbrody took off from New Ross in County Wexford. The ship was constructed in Quebec and was built as a cargo ship. Graves & Sons commissioned the ship. When it was ready to launch, there was a greater need for a passenger ship because of the mass emigration that was taking place. In 1845, the Dunbrody took off carrying its first passengers.
The ship was said to have carried anywhere between a hundred and sixty passengers to over three hundred. The majority of the passengers would have been steerage class passengers and therefore a poorer community. There would be a weekly food ration that would not be much at all, and due to the weather, sometimes even that would not be distributed. There would be about six to a bunk that was barely big enough for one. The passengers were allotted thirty minutes a day to be on board and the rest of their time would be spent in the dark, damp belly of the ship. The conditions were harsh and many contracted diseases and would not make it to their destination. Being able to walk through the ship and see how these people would have been living for such a long time made it all real and was a very heartbreaking experience.
This emigration is something that has defined Ireland for quite some time and still is today. In recent years, people have wanted to learn about their Irish roots more including American President, John F. Kennedy. His ancestors came over on the Dunbrody many years ago, and in 1963, JFK visited his homestead and acknowledged his thankfulness for his Irish ancestry. We were able to stop by this homestead as well, which was a great touch of home and brought an even more appreciation for the great man that was John F. Kennedy.
This whole experience was a very moving one for all of us. I, personally, have Irish roots. My great-grandmother immigrated to the United States as a child because of the potato famine. Being able to see what she would have gone through was something that I will never forget. The sacrifice that these people made in hope of a better future was incredible and extremely admirable. Seeing this ship just showed that concept in a whole new light.
The answer to this predicament was emigration. Hundreds of people would get a ticket for a voyage that would take six to eight weeks for hopefully a brighter future. We were able to visit one of these ports and tour through an exact replica of on these famine ships, the Dunbrody. The Dunbrody took off from New Ross in County Wexford. The ship was constructed in Quebec and was built as a cargo ship. Graves & Sons commissioned the ship. When it was ready to launch, there was a greater need for a passenger ship because of the mass emigration that was taking place. In 1845, the Dunbrody took off carrying its first passengers.
The ship was said to have carried anywhere between a hundred and sixty passengers to over three hundred. The majority of the passengers would have been steerage class passengers and therefore a poorer community. There would be a weekly food ration that would not be much at all, and due to the weather, sometimes even that would not be distributed. There would be about six to a bunk that was barely big enough for one. The passengers were allotted thirty minutes a day to be on board and the rest of their time would be spent in the dark, damp belly of the ship. The conditions were harsh and many contracted diseases and would not make it to their destination. Being able to walk through the ship and see how these people would have been living for such a long time made it all real and was a very heartbreaking experience.
This emigration is something that has defined Ireland for quite some time and still is today. In recent years, people have wanted to learn about their Irish roots more including American President, John F. Kennedy. His ancestors came over on the Dunbrody many years ago, and in 1963, JFK visited his homestead and acknowledged his thankfulness for his Irish ancestry. We were able to stop by this homestead as well, which was a great touch of home and brought an even more appreciation for the great man that was John F. Kennedy.
This whole experience was a very moving one for all of us. I, personally, have Irish roots. My great-grandmother immigrated to the United States as a child because of the potato famine. Being able to see what she would have gone through was something that I will never forget. The sacrifice that these people made in hope of a better future was incredible and extremely admirable. Seeing this ship just showed that concept in a whole new light.
Connemara vs. the Burren
![Picture](/uploads/2/6/4/3/26436374/399521.jpg)
Driving through the west of Ireland is an adventure in itself, twisting around small roads in the mountains and bouncing down roads sunk into unstable foundations. Though only miles apart, there are vast differences in the landscape as you drive from the Cliffs of Moher in County Clare to the Connemara region in Galway.
As the big red bus wound through the roads between the Cliffs and Galway City where we were staying, Brian told us about the region we were passing through known as the Burren. Burren means "Great Rock" in Irish and could not be more accurate name to describe what we saw. Millions of years ago, Ireland was submerged in a tropical sea, creating the massive formations of limestone that are exposed today. The Karst landscape is riddled with large caves formed by rivers eating away the limestone over thousands of years. On the mountains, ecologists study the interesting assortment of flora caused by the combination of the limestone and Gulf Stream. The Gulf Stream, which gives Ireland its temperate climate, brings seeds from the Mediterranean which sometimes fall in large cracks in the limestone. Encouraged by the heat trapped in the limestone, they take root and flourish. Growing alongside these tropical plants are alpine plants such as the blue Gentian flowers that enjoy the rocky landscape and gusting winds. The rocky landscape makes it incredibly hard to grow anything, because there is only a thin layer of soil on top of the bed rock. The stone walls that mark land are built with the stones cleared from the fields. When the fields have been cleared, grass is planted so animals can graze.
The rocky landscape of the Burren directly contrasts the boggy land in the Connemara region. The bogs were created by glaciers which left vast deposits of decaying vegetation and soil in deep layers floating on underground lakes. Very few plants can be sustained in bog land, so farmers must come up with other ways to grow or raise food, such as building raised beds with sand to grow potatoes. The shortage of fuel and lack of money to buy it caused farmers to get inventive and come up with a way to use the bog to their advantage. Deep grooves are made in the earth so the peat can be cut out in chunks which are then laid out to dry and later burned, becoming a sustainable source of fuel.
When Cromwell invaded Ireland in 1649, he needed a place to put the people who threatened his republic, so he decreed that Catholics should move to the West of Ireland. Their lands were seized and given to those loyal to Britain and willing to build a Protestant nation. Catholic families who were already very poor were forced to move into areas without good soil for crops or a source for fuel. They worked to survive and figured out ways to eek out a meager living in their small stone hovels. When the potato blight came, the Great Hunger hit the West harder than any other part of Ireland, because potatoes were the only crop they could grow and they were already so impoverished that they could not recover. Many left and went to the cities to beg for assistance and more were evicted by their landlords with a boat ticket to America on the coffin ships, leaving abandoned farms and villages.
The population in these areas drastically decreased during the Great Hunger and the wave of Emigration that followed, and it still has not fully recovered. The Emigration during the period of the Great Hunger started a trend that has continued into present day, with a short respite during the Celtic Tiger of the late 90's. Young people leave Ireland by the thousands in search of jobs in Australia, England and Canada, few return to their homeland. 1 in 4 students will emigrate to other countries. This is mainly due to unemployment in the nation after the recession. Young people do not stick around the small towns of the West if they do stay in Ireland but are more likely to find a job in cities like Galway or Dublin. This looks unlikely to change unless the economy improves and more jobs become available.
The country in the West is beautiful. Postcard Ireland, if you will. The people were really friendly and wonderful storytellers, with the incredible talent of answering a single question with an hour long explanation. Looking at the fine houses that now exist, it is hard to imagine the horrific conditions that existed in the area. But then you drive by a small stone building that looks about the size of a shed...14 people used to live in that tiny hovel. It puts everything into perspective. Sometimes we complain because the internet is slow or we don't like what mom made for dinner, but the Irish Catholics in the West were barely subsisting, let alone thriving. It's no wonder that so many people left when they got the chance, but it's sad that so many are still being forced to leave in order to find jobs. I'm grateful for the Irish Immigrants that built so much of the United States of America, especially now that I have seen what they left behind and the odds they faced of even making it across the ocean alive.
As the big red bus wound through the roads between the Cliffs and Galway City where we were staying, Brian told us about the region we were passing through known as the Burren. Burren means "Great Rock" in Irish and could not be more accurate name to describe what we saw. Millions of years ago, Ireland was submerged in a tropical sea, creating the massive formations of limestone that are exposed today. The Karst landscape is riddled with large caves formed by rivers eating away the limestone over thousands of years. On the mountains, ecologists study the interesting assortment of flora caused by the combination of the limestone and Gulf Stream. The Gulf Stream, which gives Ireland its temperate climate, brings seeds from the Mediterranean which sometimes fall in large cracks in the limestone. Encouraged by the heat trapped in the limestone, they take root and flourish. Growing alongside these tropical plants are alpine plants such as the blue Gentian flowers that enjoy the rocky landscape and gusting winds. The rocky landscape makes it incredibly hard to grow anything, because there is only a thin layer of soil on top of the bed rock. The stone walls that mark land are built with the stones cleared from the fields. When the fields have been cleared, grass is planted so animals can graze.
The rocky landscape of the Burren directly contrasts the boggy land in the Connemara region. The bogs were created by glaciers which left vast deposits of decaying vegetation and soil in deep layers floating on underground lakes. Very few plants can be sustained in bog land, so farmers must come up with other ways to grow or raise food, such as building raised beds with sand to grow potatoes. The shortage of fuel and lack of money to buy it caused farmers to get inventive and come up with a way to use the bog to their advantage. Deep grooves are made in the earth so the peat can be cut out in chunks which are then laid out to dry and later burned, becoming a sustainable source of fuel.
When Cromwell invaded Ireland in 1649, he needed a place to put the people who threatened his republic, so he decreed that Catholics should move to the West of Ireland. Their lands were seized and given to those loyal to Britain and willing to build a Protestant nation. Catholic families who were already very poor were forced to move into areas without good soil for crops or a source for fuel. They worked to survive and figured out ways to eek out a meager living in their small stone hovels. When the potato blight came, the Great Hunger hit the West harder than any other part of Ireland, because potatoes were the only crop they could grow and they were already so impoverished that they could not recover. Many left and went to the cities to beg for assistance and more were evicted by their landlords with a boat ticket to America on the coffin ships, leaving abandoned farms and villages.
The population in these areas drastically decreased during the Great Hunger and the wave of Emigration that followed, and it still has not fully recovered. The Emigration during the period of the Great Hunger started a trend that has continued into present day, with a short respite during the Celtic Tiger of the late 90's. Young people leave Ireland by the thousands in search of jobs in Australia, England and Canada, few return to their homeland. 1 in 4 students will emigrate to other countries. This is mainly due to unemployment in the nation after the recession. Young people do not stick around the small towns of the West if they do stay in Ireland but are more likely to find a job in cities like Galway or Dublin. This looks unlikely to change unless the economy improves and more jobs become available.
The country in the West is beautiful. Postcard Ireland, if you will. The people were really friendly and wonderful storytellers, with the incredible talent of answering a single question with an hour long explanation. Looking at the fine houses that now exist, it is hard to imagine the horrific conditions that existed in the area. But then you drive by a small stone building that looks about the size of a shed...14 people used to live in that tiny hovel. It puts everything into perspective. Sometimes we complain because the internet is slow or we don't like what mom made for dinner, but the Irish Catholics in the West were barely subsisting, let alone thriving. It's no wonder that so many people left when they got the chance, but it's sad that so many are still being forced to leave in order to find jobs. I'm grateful for the Irish Immigrants that built so much of the United States of America, especially now that I have seen what they left behind and the odds they faced of even making it across the ocean alive.