In 1803 the British government introduced legislation to protect emigrant passengers, and during the decades that followed this legislation matured and evolved. However, the laws were not always enforceable and unscrupulous shipowners and shipmasters continually found ways of evading them. These infringements paved the way for corrupt maritime businessmen to exploit their passengers and capitalise on their misery. Nevertheless, in the years following the famine conditions improved and passengers experienced a much more comfortable voyage in comparison to the unfortunate people who had fled Ireland in the 1840s. Regulations were put in place to determine the maximum number of passengers that a ship could carry, and to ensure that sufficient food and water was provided for the voyage. However, it was too late for almost one million Irish men, women and children who had fled the country during the famine.
Between 1845 and 1850, some 100,000 Irish people arrived in Boston. They took any work they could find and lived in squalid tenements while struggling to keep their families alive. Life proved very difficult for the Irish in the early years and wasn’t rendered any easier by the bigotry of the locals. Signs declaring ‘No Irish Need Apply’ became ubiquitous in the windows of businesses and boarding houses, and the immigrants struggled to secure employment. But in spite of this many of them later succeeded in reaching the highest offices and positions in their adopted country. It was the descendants of this scorned refugee population who helped create a new, powerful force in America.[1]Nothing deterred this impoverished yet spirited generation who succeeded in transforming themselves from destitute foreigners into successful business people. That they managed to overcome the numerous obstacles placed before them is a testament of their strength and endurance. Many of them became leaders in the fields of politics, arts, sports, religion and business.
In 1849, Patrick Kennedy, progenitor of the Kennedy dynasty, sailed from Wexford to the United States on board The Washington Irving; it was the same year as the brig St. John sailed from Galway. His grandson, John F. Kennedy, went on to become one of the most famous presidents of the United States. John F. Kennedy never forgot his Irish roots and he once said, ‘We are a nation of immigrants … the experience of our ancestors paves the way for our achievements.’ Another famous Irish-American was Henry Ford, founder of the automobile industry. His father left Cork for Quebec in 1847, and eventually made his way to Detroit.[2]
Today, some forty million Americans claim to have Irish ancestry. A large percentage of these people maintain that their ancestors arrived in the United States during the famine. In Boston alone over twenty per cent of the population are Irish-American, giving rise to a flourishing community, with countless Gaelic football teams, Irish gift stores, pubs and radio and television programmes. On Sunday, 28 June 1998, The Irish Famine Memorial Park, at the corner of School and Washington Streets, was dedicated, forever ‘enshrining a timeless tale of tragedy and triumph’.
It has been a long and arduous journey through time and space since Henry David Thoreau wrote these final words on the Cohasset shoreline:
This rocky shore is called Pleasant Cove on some maps; on the map of Cohasset, the name appears to be confined to the particular cove where I saw the wreck of the St. John. The ocean did not look, now, as if any were ever shipwrecked in it; it was not grand and sublime, but beautiful as a lake. Not a vestige of a wreck was visible, nor could I believe that the bones of many a shipwrecked man were buried in that pure sand.[3]
[1]Thoreau, Henry David, Cape Cod (1865), pp. 5, 7, 8.
[2]Ibid., pp. 1, 8.
[3]Diary of Elizabeth Lothrop (11-10-1849, 25-12-1849). Thoreau, Henry David, Cape Cod (1865), pp. 5, 8, 10.