PART II EMIGRANT PERSPECTIVE
Prof Mark McGowan has stated only 7.5% of the tickets from Ireland to Canada (the cheaper American destination) were subsidized by landlords that year. Emigrant vessels sailed from the many ports of Ireland in the early 19 th century, notably Belfast, Cork, Dublin, Galway, Limerick, Londonderry, New Ross, Sligo and Waterford. Other Cork ports, Kinsale and Youghal, were also quite active. However, by 1827 the Port of Liverpool was carrying 50% of all Irish emigrants to America – a figure that would rise to 75% in 1830 and more than 80% after 1834 (Adams 1932, 204). When 24,666 emigrants voyaged to North America in 1820, with 17,921 to BNA, and just 6,745 to the USA, there were three main arrival ports in BNA, five in the USA, and Quebec was the busiest emigrant port in North America.
Fig. 16. Quebec on the St Lawrence The Three BNA Ports: - Quebec, St John, and Halifax.
QUEBEC (Lower Canada) at a narrowing of the mighty St Lawrence River, was the maritime gateway for the Canadas (Upper and Lower) accommodating the commonly quoted 90% of all emigration into BNA from the UK up until the Great Irish Famine years. ST JOHN (New Brunswick) on the Bay of Fundy was second in importance, rich in lumber and a convenient port for travel onward to Maine and Massachusetts in the USA. HALIFAX (Nova Scotia) was a distant third in traffic, with an excellent and strategically important harbor and British Naval Yard. The BNA population grew from 430,394 in 1806 to 1,052, 588 in 1830, a 2.45-fold increase, and the BNA population growth chart derived from Macgregor’s interpolated stats 1830-60 demonstrates the importance of Quebec, the entry point to the Canadas, as (French) Lower Canada’s population doubled and (British) Upper Canada’s tripled 1806-30.
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