Irish-American History

Lesson 7: What did happen?

Grosse Isle

By now , escape to North America was the only route left to most of the refugees. By this stage , many of them had friends overseas. The huge outpouring from the west of Ireland caught the Canadian authorities unaware. The Montreal Gazette had prophesied that Canada was going ‘to be inundated with an enormous crowd of poor and destitute emigrants,’ and had called for ‘legislative measures’. Doctor Douglas , medical superintendent at Grosse isle asked for funds to build a new hospital as Grosse Isle was being used as a quarantine station for Quebec. He received inadequate funds . The first ship of the season , the Syria, brought almost a hundred passengers sick with a fever , but also the news that thousands more impoverished Irish were on their way .

Nine vessels arrived carrying Lord Palmerston’s tenants, most of whom were in desperate conditions. Official complaints were made and even though Lord Palmerston was a senior member of the British Government , he was forced to make a statement in the House of Commons. He blamed the situation on his land agent. Vessels arrived at Grosse isle on every tide , most of them carrying diseased passengers. At one time , 40 ships lay at anchor , waiting to pass through quarantine. On the ships , many who had been well , succumbed to disease. Some who landed on the island , contracted disease from those already there. Those who could walk and left , were ferried to Quebec and Montreal to make room for the next wave. These carried disease with them to the various towns of British North America and southwards as many walked to America. Doctor Douglas submitted his report on the activity on Grosse Isle on December 27th 1847 . At the beginning of the season (after the St. Lawrence’s ice had thawed) , there was room on the island for two hundred people. By the beginning of November when the station closed , he was able to receive 2,300. He had inspected 442 vessels and taken 8,691 emigrants into the hospital , sheds or tents. According to his report , 3,238 people had died on the island .

The other main point of entry into Canada was St. John in New Brunswick . The quarantine station there was Partridge Rock . Again, the facilities there were inadequate for the amount of traffic which prevailed during 1847. In the report given by Moses Perley , Chief Emigration Officer , 106 vessels came through the station ; seven out of Liverpool , the rest from Irish ports. A total of 17,074 passengers arrived of whom 2,400 died .

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