Coffin Ship: The Wreck of the Brig St. John

by William Henry

The tragic tale of the sinking of the famine ship, the St. John in Massachusetts Bay in 1849. The Great Irish Famine drove huge numbers of Irish men and women to leave the island and pursue their survival in foreign lands. In 1847, some 200,000 people sailed for Boston alone. Of this massive group, 2,000 never made it to their destination, killed by disease and hunger during the voyages, their remains consigned to a watery grave. The sinking of the brig St. John off the coast of Massachusetts in October 1849, was only one of many tragic events to occur during this mass exodus. The ship had sailed from Galway, loaded with passengers so desperate to escape the effects of famine that some had walked from as far afield as Clare to reach the ship. The passengers on the St. John made it to within sight of the New World before their ship went down and they were abandoned by their captain, who denied that there had been any survivors when he and some of his crew made it ashore. For those who died in the seas off Massachusetts, there was nothing to mark their last resting place; no name, no memory of them ever having existed, just another statistic in a terrible tragedy.

Genres: History, Nonfiction

224 pages, Paperback

First published August 1, 2009

About the author

William Henry is a Nashville-based author, investigative mythologist, art historian, and TV presenter. He is an internationally recognized authority on human spiritual potential, transformation and ascension.
He has a unique ability to incorporate historical, religious, spiritual, scientific, archaeological and other forms of such knowledge into factually-based theories and conclusions that provide the layperson with a more in-depth understanding of the profound shift we are actually experiencing in our lifetime.
The spiritual voice and Consulting Producer of the global hit History Channel program, Ancient Aliens, and host of the Gaia TV series The Awakened Soul: The Lost Science of Ascension, and Arcanum, along with his wife, Clare, William Henry is your guide into the transformative sacred science of human ascension.
By bringing to life the ancient stories of ascension through art and gnostic texts, he teaches the secrets of soul transfiguration or metamorphosis and connects people to one another across cultures, time and space.
With over 30 years of research distilled into 18 books and numerous video presentations, William’s work will guide you to next level of human consciousness and our expanding reality.
William’s present work has taken him into the area of transhumanism, which he first began writing about in his 2002 bestseller, Cloak of the Illuminati. His latest book, The Skingularity Is Near: The Next Human, the Perfect Rainbow Light Body and the Technology of Human Transcendence is a primer and a warning for the looming potential transformation of humanity as we speed closer to meshing computer technology with human flesh.
William discusses transhumanism as the fulfillment of an ancient impulse to transcend our human bodies. His work has propelled him into the role of human rights activist and advisor on the biopolitics of human enhancement as he informs audiences of the unparalleled perils and potentials of Artificial Intelligence and Transhumanism.
Along with his wife, Clare, he leads luxury, ascension-themed tours to sacred sites including Egypt, France, Italy and England.

Reviews

[Dem · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 Stars

The Irish Famine drove huge numbers of people to leave Ireland and sail for new lands. In 1847 200,000 people sailed for Boston alone. Of this number around 2000 never made it to their destination, killed by disease and hunger during their voyage, their remains consigned to the sea.
The sinking of the Brig St. John of the coast of Massachusetts in October 1849 was one of the many tragic events to occur during the mass exodus
The Wreck of the Brig St John, written by archaeologist and historian, William Henry with harrowing and vivid illustrations by James O’Mahoney’s of the Great Famine which were taken from a series of drawings commissioned by the Illustrated London News in 1847, many of which are reproduced in this book.

I found this a really interesting and well researched account and while I had heard about this many times in Irish history classes at school I had never come across a book written about the subject. The author describes with great clarity the appalling poverty, disease and starvation the people of Ireland endured at the time of the famine and also the details of the harsh evictions of the landlords brings an understanding to the reader why this mass exodus takes please. We learn the names and fates of some of the passengers on board and this makes the read all the more interesting. The ill-fated vessel carried 143 souls and the conditions and hardships they endured are well documented in this account.

A short and interesting read and a book that many may appreciate who have ancestors from Ireland that may have taken this arduous journey on coffin ships to find a better life for themselves and their decedents.

[Abby · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was a fast and easy read; able to retain historical information. The topic is very tragically sad, but fascinating information about the Irish potato famine and the mass immigration to North America. If you enjoy history, read this for yourself!

[Cecelia Hightower]

This book is another one about conditions in Ireland in the mid 1800's that forced people to flee Ireland for a chance of survival. Even though thousands were dying of starvation the English that ruled the island were exporting food grown in Ireland to England and Europe. The voyage of these ships carrying immigrants was not only long but very perilous. In the year the St. John made it's last and fatal voyage, October 1847, some 100,000 people set sail for North America with approximately 20,000 of them dying en route. The plight of the average person suffering during the "Famine of Ireland" was known world wide and many people tried to help them. Even the people of the Choctaw Nation, the people that the U.S. government forced to march from the South to reservations located further West where 50 percent of the people died and became known as the "Trail of Tears", raised $710 for the starving Irish. In today's money this would be approximately $136,000.

The ship was within a mile of a safe harbor when the captain made the decision to anchor off shore and try to ride the storm out, which turned out to be a bad decision. There were 17 crew members and 126 passengers onboard the ship, as per the manifest for the ship, for a total of 143 people. During the investigation by the Canadian government there could have been as many 164 people. Some of the passengers saved and identification of some of the ones that were killed were not listed on the manifests. It was not uncommon for the captains of these ships to make a stop after officially leaving port to stop at another location and pick up passengers, with the whole fee going into the captain's pocket. Of the survivors, 10 were crew members and with only 17 passengers surviving.

After the investigation it was determined that the St. John was totally unfit for sea voyages due to rot and damage by teredo worms. The conclusion of the Board of Inquiry was the captain was not at fault in this tragedy, but there might have been some under laying reason for this decision by the Board.