Packed cheek by jowl below decks, the steerage passengers barely saw the light of day.
When their time was up, it was back down into the dark, dank hold.
During the regular storms the hatches were battened down, and the passengers would subsist on hard-tack biscuits.
With nothing more than buckets for toilets, and only sea-water to wash with, disease was rampant.
Cholera and Typhus accounted for a great many deaths.
According toHistory Places, many of the passengers were already ill with typhus as they boarded the ships.
British ships were not required to carry doctors.
Anyone that died during the sea voyage was simply dumped overboard, without any religious rites.
On ships that actually had sleeping berths, there were no mattresses and the berths were never cleaned.
Despite the horrible conditions, Irish emigrants still boarded these ships so you can escape starvation back home.
A journalist for the Irish Times observed that passengers “were only flying from one form of death”.
Many perished during the journey due to disease and malnutrition.
Those who died were buried at sea.
So many bodies were thrown overboard that sharks were often seen following the ships.
In time, these boats became known as ‘coffin ships’.
It took up to two weeks before anybody could see a doctor.
One ship reached Grosse Isle with 427 passengers but only 150 survived the waiting period.
Photo credit:www.dunbrody.com
Life Onboard the Coffin Ships at Cobh Heritage Centre, Co. Cork, Ireland.
Photo credit:Nicola Barnett/Flickr
