The Famine Ships: The Irish Exodus to America

by Edward Laxton

Between 1846 and 1851, more than one-million people--the potato famine emigrants--sailed from Ireland to America. Now, 150 years later, The Famine Ships tells of the courage and determination of those who crossed the Atlantic in leaky, overcrowded sailing ships and made new lives for themselves, among them the child Henry Ford and the twenty-six-year-old Patrick Kennedy, great-grandfather of John F. Kennedy. Edward Laxton conducted five years of research in Ireland and interviewed the emigrants' descents in the U.S. Portraits of people, ships, and towns, as well as facsimile passenger lists and tickets, are among the fascinating memorabilia in The Famine Ships.

Genres: History, Nonfiction, Ireland, Historical, Irish Literature, World History, American History

256 pages, Paperback

First published March 28, 1997

Reviews

[Richard Derus · Rating 4 out of 5]

Real Rating: 4.5* of five, I guess, though less for organization than for effectiveness

This is a non-fictional indictment of the heinous politically engineered, prejudice-motivated famine the English inflicted on the Catholic Irish from 1845-1851. Two and a half million people died or emigrated; Ireland was permanently radicalized; and still the goddamned perps haven't apologized, still less made amends...though, now that I've said that, how would that even be possible? Money won't resurrect the dead.

The book. Yes.

Laxton tells the tale via facts and figures, anecdotes drawn from the documents and media of the day. The unusual facet of this book's focus, for a US audience, is that he uses the Irish ships and the Irish crews as well as the Irish emigrants as the sources. It remains underappreciated, at this distance in time, that the Famine wasn't universal in Ireland; there were Irish who ate and lived as normal even at the lowest depth of the crisis. Laxton tells us the story of the downtrodden, but he does so via the lens of the lucky. He even reminds us that Henry Ford, he of the Ford Motor Company and designer of the Model T, was the son of a Famine emigrant. If not for the hideous, vile, evil people who perpetrated the Famine, the world would not look the way it does today for both good and ill.

There are many period illustrations, facsimilies of documents, and two signatures of lovely color plates reproducing paintings of the ships of the title. The jacket is a Rodney Charman painting of an imagined embarkation from Ireland; his work is all marine-themed painting or drawing, and it is lovely. I'd recommend the book for someone wanting to know factually what happened in a compact telling that doesn't stint on sources or on stories.

[Susie · Rating 2 out of 5]

This isn't a book you sit down and get cozy with. It's a sad account of the horrific things that occured during the Irish Famine (or starvation, as the author points out). The things that people are willing to endure in order to escape hardship is almost as appalling as the things people are willing to do to those who are suffering those hardships.

[Susan · Rating 2 out of 5]

I’m grateful that the author chose to relay the experience of Irish emigrants during the starvation, I am a direct descendant of survivors of the coffin ships. I thank the author for his extensive research and sharing the story of the horrors.

If ever a manuscript needed a strong editor this is one of those times. It is disorganized, full of factual errors, goes off on unrelated tangents, and jumps all over the place. The author seemed fascinated with the ships, tonnage, travel times. I imagine him sitting with a pad of paper in dusty rooms sifting through documents. He found much

I had thought there would be more first person accounts. One shared is a self aggrandizing report of an Irish Protestant talking about fellow passengers, the Catholic Irish, in derogatory ways when panic set in during a serious leak in the ship.

So I’m left with more knowledge about what happened to my family members. And for that it is very much worth the read. I skip over many paragraphs where we are told about random things like Yeats poems.

What I wish is that the gift of storytelling is bestowed upon this author from generations of Irish voices who sang across the ocean.. papers in Portland Maine at the time complained of how Irish boats were annoying because everyone was singing loudly as they entered the harbor. A boat full of starving people singing. That story is still waiting to be told.

[Jim Gallen · Rating 3 out of 5]

“The Famine Ships” presents a series of stories about the Irish exodus to America. It tells of the reasons for emigration, persecution of Catholics and famine. Many of the narratives relate sagas of travel on the ships themselves and a horrific transit it was. Immigrants starved and weakened by disease were placed in small, overcrowded ships with poor food and non-existent hygiene to dodge icebergs and rough seas. The text is supplemented by pictures and many ships’ manifests.

As I read, I found myself seeing my ancestors in the tales as my admiration for their fortitude rose. A weakness of this work is the loose association between chapters that seem to be more of a collection than a cohesive narrative that flows from one to another. Overall, I gained enhance appreciation for my relatives’ lives and challenges. That made “The Famine Ships” a worthwhile read.

[Bill38silver · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a well researched fairly one dimensional view of the reaction of many people to the famine between 1846-51 who left their homes and homeland of Ireland to escape starvation, destitution and likely death. The author specifically recounts the trials and tribulations of those who left on ships mainly to America , but a surprise to me, many went to Canada. Many of the journeys were hazardous and the author has many interesting tales to tell of human suffering and also bravery.

It is a pity that the book was (in my view) poorly structured and occasionally prone to loose phrases or unnecessary repetition. However, it has some brilliant, detailed paintings by the marine artist, Rodney Chapman. I enjoyed it.

[Bryan · Rating 3 out of 5]

A fine book. This was my first foray into the history of the Great Famine (or as the book details, Great Starvation; food was pretty plentiful in Ireland during the famine). The lens of this book is the ships, themselves. Thus, it doesn’t delve too deeply into those who remained in Ireland or other aspects of the period; its focus is on the various specific sailings, the ship owners, their passengers, and the journeys they made. This POV serves the book well, especially for new readers of this history. I feel well-informed, overall, while having an enjoyable read from a unique perspective.

[Kessa · Rating 5 out of 5]

The Famine Ships is a fascinating read and a detailed look into the ships and sailings that took place during the Irish Potato Famine. I was a bit concerned that it might be too technical to be readable, but Laxton does a great job of keeping the reader interested. The book is beautifully illustrated with paintings depicting various scenes of the Irish emigration. There are also sketches and manifests that add to the interest of the subject.
This is an excellent read if you're looking to supplement your knowledge of the Irish Famine with more detail on the ships and voyages.

[Celeste Casey · Rating 2 out of 5]

I picked this book up to understand the migrations from Ireland better because I am looking for ancestors that came from there. I did find a few clues of how and where I can look that are not the normal venues for my hard to find family members. This book was interesting although it could be very dry at times. It would start rambling and I would find myself turning pages until I could pick up the next point-

[Les · Rating 3 out of 5]

I've read more scholarly works on the Irish Famine period, but few can have brought the time to life as vividly as Edward Laxton's take on the experiences of the emigrants fleeing their blighted homeland. To read what these voyagers went through makes you realise how bad things must have been at home to make them want to get away. A lively read on a sad subject.

[Sarah · Rating 2 out of 5]

Abandoned on page 66 of 248. Too random, nothing followed on logically. I also objected to being told constantly what an evil the famine was and by implication that as an English person I should feel guilty about it. Two stars as the facts were OK, though it could have done with notes or a bibliography.

[LiamThompson · Rating 4 out of 5]

With almost all of my great grandparents being famine immigrants, I was eager to learn more about the mass migration. The only drawback I felt was that some of the stories were quite similar which became repetitive.

[Patrick Kelly · Rating 3 out of 5]

I enjoyed the shorter chapters, where every time I picked up the book I could read a short story before bed. However, chapters became fairly monotonous towards the end. The later chapters included lots of quoted text towards the end, too.

[nancy schumacher · Rating 5 out of 5]

The Famine Ships

A very comprehensive recording of a turbulent period in Irish history. It was interesting to read and blended well with facts and recorded details. It is amazing how much of American culture overlaps with what the Irish brought over.

[Karen · Rating 3 out of 5]

A little slow, but informative

[Dorothy · Rating 5 out of 5]

A very interesting, tragic account for so many.

[Mindy Greiling · Rating 3 out of 5]

Useful research material that helps me understand the journey from Ireland to America that my great, great grandmother made with her baby, my great grandfather.

[Sam Reither · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fascinating history of Irish immigration. 4/5 for me. Great writing, but I've read more captivating books.

[Kathleen Lindahl · Rating 5 out of 5]

Sad history.

[Emily · Rating 4 out of 5]

Gave me exactly what I was hoping for. Excellent archive of the Great Famine and will be using this extensively in my paper.

[Dasun · Rating 5 out of 5]

An underrated book. Recommend

[Fixie Nice · Rating 4 out of 5]

A pretty interesting glimpse into the ships and travel during the potato famine

[Marty · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesting in some parts, but a bit of a slog in others.

[Richard D. Cotterman · Rating 5 out of 5]

Courageous people .

Good to know this info to appreciate what our ancestors had to do to survive. They had lots of of courage.

[Caroline Sherwin · Rating 4 out of 5]

Why the irish are so tough .. hard read as in not Cozy but def mind blowing — there was most def good bad ugly stories all around

[Thomas · Rating 4 out of 5]

An interesting, if disjointed, account of the famine years and the harsh conditions faced in trying to escape.

[Rachael Carpenter · Rating 5 out of 5]

Humbling accounts of what the journey to America could have looked like for my Irish ancestors.

[Terry · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fascinating and well written account of the Irish Famine diaspora and the sailing ships that transported the disenfranchised Irish to the New World and beyond.

[Cheryl Gatling]

"There were no easy voyages for the Irish. The sea was a stranger to them, the ships were alien and, if America seemed like a dream, the Atlantic passage was all too often a nightmare." That's the short version. The rest of the book details all the things that could, and did, go wrong.

In the peak years of the famine, people were so desperate to escape Ireland that any ship, whether small, old, or designed for cargo, was pressed into service, and ships sailed year round, even in the storms of winter. There were icebergs, there were fires, there was mistreatment by abusive crews, there was disease. During a typhus epidemic in 1847, so many died that as many as half of the passengers on a ship might be buried at sea.

The book is not quite unrelenting misery. The success stories of Henry Ford's and John F. Kennedy's ancestors are described, as well as the story of an Irish priest who moved his whole congregation from Wexford, Ireland to Wexford, Iowa. But this book does shine a light on a somewhat ignored piece of history. Much has been written about the famine in Ireland, and much about the Irish experience in America, but very little about the passage in between.

This book fills that gap vividly, making use of letters, memoirs, and contemporary newspaper accounts, as well as advertisements and passenger lists. Others have pointed out that the book could have used better editing, and I agree. There were a number of confusing typos, and some choppy writing, but the interest of the subject matter made it worth it for me.

[Kthxbai! · Rating 3 out of 5]

A three-star rating seems a bit stingy but anything higher would be from nothing more than sentimentality. Like anyone of Irish ancestry, I found many of the stories of the Famine emigrants truly inspiring -- but ultimately unsatisfying. Several chapters seemed to be nothing more than a rehashing of the same "things were bad in Ireland, the ships were overcrowded, it was a rough crossing" tale. The more harrowing accounts of shipboard fires, iceberg collisions, and heroic rescues were definitely the most stirring passages but even they seemed to lack a real power, an intimacy that would have helped readers connect with these desperate travelers. The writing is strangely detached, TALKING about the abject poverty, the greedy ship captains, and the dockside swindlers, but not really SHOWING the anguish of the families, the misery below deck, or the continuing struggle to earn a living once the voyage was over.

There is so much more to the tales barely begun in this book and I am already looking for more detailed accounts. So I suppose this book fulfilled its purpose as my first step in a journey to trace the route of the Quinns of County Clare. But I'm still holding back on the fourth star.

[Bruce · Rating 5 out of 5]

Written in the narrative rather than scholarly style, this book is a quick read. The first part of the book concentrates on the reasons why so many left Ireland. The exodus from Ireland had started much earlier than the imposed famine. The Irish had become tenants in their own land due to policies of the English. Catholics were forbidden to own land and those Irish that owned land had to divide it amongst all their progeny. In order to survive the Irish grew potatoes on small plots but when the crop failed their was famine. Families ended up in the poor house for which the landlords were charged upkeep. The landlords found it cheaper to pay for their tenants to emigrate than to keep them in the poor house.While the potato crop failed several years in a row, Ireland was exported agricultural goods, e.g. oats, wheat and animals to Mother England. Americans contributed funds to send farm products from the US to Ireland to help with the famine but some of that was way laid to keep the prices of the commodities up.