Irish-American History

Lesson 1: General Introduction to the Period .

Quarantine Stations & Coffin Ships

Entry into the main reception ports were guarded by quarantine stations . Stories abound about Grosse Isle , which guarded the approach to Quebec and was inundated by an influx of diseased emigrants arriving during 1847 , most of whom were part of Land clearances in the west of Ireland.

The quarantine station for St. John in New Brunswick is a ‘scrap of earth and rock’ called Partridge Island which guarded the entrance to the harbour. In 1847 , records for St. John show that 106 vessels sailed for New Brunswick , with over 17000 passengers, of whom 2,400 died.

Up until Ellis Island was opened on January 1892 , Staten Island was the quarantine station for New York where a marine hospital had been set up.

All the ships that travelled on the trans Atlantic run came to be called ‘coffin ships’ , but in fact some owners and ships had an excellent record. A lot can be learned from the study of shipping details in the 100 years from 1750 to 1850.

The name ‘coffin ship’ had been used much earlier than 1847 , because emigrants unused to beds, sleeping on rushes on the floor of their cabins or lean-tos as was the case , saw the bunks knocked up between decks by ships’ carpenters as nothing less than coffins and often refused to sleep in them , preferring to sleep on the deck.

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