Westward Cork Migration by Sail 1815-1860 by John Sutton

PART I CALENDAR OF CORK EMIGRANT SHIP SAILINGS 1815-60

Murphy, John Neil, Michael

5 1834-06-02 rubeola 34 1834-06-04 typhus 10 1834-06-03 rubeola 8 1834-06-04 rubeola 23 1834-06-26 typhus 3 1834-05-24 diarrhoea 12 mo. 1834-05-29 measles 6 mo. 1834-07-06 diarrhoea 18 mo. 1834-05-25 typhus

Quinlan, Catherine Quinlan, Ellen Quirke, John Shean, John Shean, Margaret Symes, William Walsh, David

*Captain Deaves Responds ‘I arrived here on the 18th, with three hundred passengers, forty of whom were sent to hospital on the 18th and 19th, more or less affected with measles and typhus fever. We lost seven on the passage, viz : one man, by a fall and six children, from the want of proper attention being paid them, their parents being seasick. I landed the remainder of them on the 20th, got the vessel cleaned and fumigated on the 21st, and the passengers were sent on board on the 24th. The poor creatures have been on board ever since, with only eleven beds between two hundred and fifty. The straw beds which they had were thrown overboard, and they are now obliged to lie on the boards, without a covering, the greater part having nothing on the passage but their wearing apparel, which they are obliged to keep on to prevent the boards from cutting their hips. There are mothers and their children in this state. It is inconsistent with reason to expect them to remain healthy while they are in this state. There is no constitution able to bear such treatment in these piercing nights. There are fifty of my passengers in hospital at present, and the remainder must be soon there if something is not done for them. — The people ought to be kept on shore until the vessel is liberated; for while there is such a number together, there will always be somebody complaining. Dr. Poole has reported seventy-eight in hospital. There have been six deaths and a few bad cases, but the greater part of them were very slightly affected; in fact, there was nothing the matter with some of them. I think it advisable to allow the vessel to proceed immediately with the passengers she has on board, as there have been but two fresh cases of measles since they have been re-embarked — or allowed to re-land them and then proceed, provided passage be found them to Quebec. It is a sad thing to detain the vessel here such a length of time. Dr. Poole expected I would be allowed to proceed last Sunday, but there is no likelihood of it. I stated our situation to the commandant, who said he could do no more than give me a little straw for them, when he gets it. He has also told me that I will have to victual the passengers, which is a great imposition’ (Henry Deaves, master of the bark, Mary , of Cork, Grosse Island, May 27th, 1834) * An Emigrant Protests Shipping Conditions ‘ We have frequently heard the character of emigrant ships from Ireland declared to be worse than that of those concerned in the slave trade from Africa; the account given by the passengers of the Thomas Gelston from Londonderry, substantiates the opinion. The passengers by this vessel state the number including children to have been somewhere from 450 to 517. They were nine weeks on the passage and suffered much from want of water and provisions. - Besides two tiers of berths on the sides, the vessel was filled with a row of berths down the centre, between which and the side berths there was only a passage of about three feet. The passengers were thus obliged to eat in their berths, each of which contained a great many persons say five and upwards. In one were a man, his wife, his sister, and five