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EXPERTS HAVE SAID that bones found on a beach in Canada are most likely to have come from Irish children who were on board a coffin ship fleeing the Great Famine.
Two dozen vertebrae, around twelve long bones, and pieces of a jawbone were found on a beach in Quebec in 2011.
Now, researchers who have examined the remains over the past three years have said the bones belonged to three European children, all under the age of twelve, who were suffering from malnutrition, according to The Globe and Mail. One of the children had rickets, which is caused by a deficiency in vitamin D.
Archaeologists believe the children may have died in 1847 when a ship called The Carricks which was carrying emigrants from Ireland was wrecked off the coast of Canada.
“They are witnesses to a tragic event. You can’t have a more tangible witness to tragedy than human remains,” archaeologist Pierre Cloutier told The Globe and Mail.
Some 100 bodies were washed ashore after the ship sank in a violent storm. They were buried in a mass grave close to the shore.
Around 100 people are believed to have survived the sinking of The Carricks and were taken in by local families.
The coffin ships became notorious both as a way of bringing people away from the Famine but also as carriers of disease which spread rapidly through passengers on the long journeys to the US and other countries. Tens of thousands of would-be migrants are believed to have died on them.
A replica of one famine ship, the Jeanie Johnston, which also contains a museum, has been moored in Dublin city centre for the past nine years. The original ship carried over 2,500 people to North America with no loss of life.
“These ships were packed with people,” Kathryn Miles, who wrote a book about the original Jeanie Johnston, told US radio station NPR last year. “Most families of four would be given a platform that was about 6 feet square. So they were sleeping head-to-toe and there was no sense of quarantine or hygiene”.
“So if someone stepped aboard and was sick, and there were no facilities on board – most ships had maybe two buckets and so there was, of course, a tremendous amount of human waste – that, of course, is a great way to spread disease”.
A Famine Museum is located in Strokestown in Roscommon but there are no plans for a national permanent exhibition because there are not enough artifacts remaining to hold one.
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The famine statues in the above photo have an interesting story attached. The front three are looking up and were supposed to be placed on Ellis island,looking up at lady liberty . The US government decided that if they allowed this, it would open the floodgates to all emigrant nations, who would want to place a memorial there. So they refused,and they remain on the Quay somewhat different from the other three at the back, that are there to represent the downtrodden passenger’s about to board the ship.
Gary very interesting thanks
A truly amazing find and so tragic ! Now bring them home and let them finally rest .
Or maybe bury them in the mass grave where their family members are probably buried
They can avoid the water charges if they stay out there..
Catherine thats proberly the best solution. Their people are most likely in the mass grave. Happy new year to all.
Oh shut up frank
I can never understand why grown ups resort to name calling .. There is no need for it at all .
Apologies _ I shouldn’t be posting on here after taking a few beers.
Happy New Year.
Joan, there are a lot of people who comment in The Journal who are not grown ups. You will notice a reduction in the volume of comments when the schools are back after the holidays.
David that’s true too but some are on here all the time
Joan Murphy_ they are the ones that are on the hop.
Frank haven’t heard that phrase in years , that made me laugh ! Happy new year !
Happy new year to you too Joan
Wrong thread, Frank.
Happy New Year, Frank!
More Victims of British policy in Ireland still being dug up-
Yawn….
Sorry if Irish victims bore you-
No. It’s the constant “everything is Britain’s fault” and the mistaken assumption that the Irish are the most oppressed people in the World that bores me.
The irish famine led to the biggest calamity and migration of people of that awful century anywhere,
Part of a “supposed Empire”
But that was times past
The penalty for the Irish people is to always look upon famine and try and do the best one can
For the british there is only eternal shame…
How many Swedish, German, Italian and others emigrated after suffering traumatic events at home? How many English/British died from the plague? What makes you so special in the World’s awful history of human misery? Just get over it if you can?
Because it was a foreign country that brought that misery to the Irish nation-
Well said Michael. The problems that exacerbated the famine were in place long before Ireland formerly joined the UK in 1800. It’s overly simplistic to blame the UK – of which Ireland was an integral part – for what happened. There were famines and land clearances in Scotland too.
@chris, as per usual showing a limited knowledge of Irish history. Go learn some, before posting stupid and ignorant comments.
God Bernard, you just got dumbest comment of the year. Again go learn a bit of Irish history. Dumbass.
How so Seamus? Perhaps try reading a few history books instead of lyrics to folk songs and writing silly retorts. But that would involve taking off the green coloured glasses and realising European history doesn’t revolve around Britain’s relationship with Ireland.
Yawn.
The voices of the starving children call out to us for recognition, lest we forget. Still happening -so many refugees in the world today.
In the Palestine article above why are the comments closed? If the words Z1on or Z1onist offends so much why publish an article which will for sure these words will come up in the comments section??
I’ve noticed that Keike. Strange that they have closed off the comments section fairly quickly, for the Palestine article.
Why bother putting up the article at all – if they wont allow people to comment.
I think the main point of publishing an article is that people may want to read it.
You can reply to comments. At least on the iPhone. So not really closed.
- The emigration of over one million irish people from potato blight in ireland was the greatest mass movement of people in the 19th century mostly across the atlantic in coffin ships.
-The deaths of over one million people and that migration could have been easily avoided by government action. That british government its forces with the Anglo Irish Landlords conducting mass evictions, continuing to export other crops and closing partially effective soup kitchens (after 6 months).
-The policies those british governments pursued was GENOCIDE no different in spirit to the GENOCIDE of Jews in Europe a century later.
-Its sadly true that no action today can redress that tragedy apart from recognising it as such and feeling their pain. The Irish people always respond in CHARITY to any famine anywhere in the world usually donating more than any other country per head etc.
No exhibition or record to An Gorta Mor in the National Museum of Ireland a National scandal. The story must be told by the NMI it is their duty and obligation to the Irish people home and abroad. Ireland is an open museum regarding Famine artefacts.
Why do we insist on using the word famine.the British exported millions of tons of food from Ireland during the worst 4 years.the British bureacrat lord something or other in charge of relief had open disdain for the starving Irish he was supposed to be helping.the refusal to accept larger turkish aid as it made Victorias look woeful etc etc etc.
“The British”. Actually it was private landlords who grew grain crops that exported to their largest market – Britain. More people actually died from associated diseases such as Cholera than starvation.
What a guess.
All the bright sparks out tonight. Give us all a rest. Happy new year……
The famines caused by the Red Coats with their scythes and their torches were actually much worse.
have your say