It's 1847, the worst year of Ireland's Great Famine, and you just paid extra for a ship to New York instead of Canada. Here's what that money bought you, from 18 inches of bunk in steerage to the runners waiting on the Manhattan pier.

Before Ellis Island, before Castle Garden, an Irish emigrant's road to New York ran through an American wake, an open deck to Liverpool, five or six weeks below deck under sail, ship fever, and the Quarantine on Staten Island. This episode follows that whole trip, with real numbers from the passenger laws of the time, and ends where the trouble really started: the pier.

▶ Watch the whole series in order: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLM4yxRfFGeMQ

0:00 Canada or New York?
0:47 Black '47 in Ireland
1:38 Two tickets, two prices
2:44 Your American wake
3:05 The deck to Liverpool
3:38 Steerage: 18 inches each
4:51 What the extra money bought
5:40 Quarantine on Staten Island
6:40 The runners on the pier
7:51 New York fights back
8:54 Go west or stay
9:17 Hold on to your trunk

SOURCES
- Brendan P. O'Malley, "Welcome to New York," Lapham's Quarterly (2018): https://www.laphamsquarterly.org/roundtable/welcome-new-york
- Canada's History, The Great Hunger: https://www.canadashistory.ca/explore/settlement-immigration/the-great-hunger
- The Canadian Encyclopedia, La Grosse Île: https://thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/article/la-grosse-ile
- National Museum of Ireland, Irish Emigration to America: The Journey: https://source.museum.ie/en-IE/Collections-Research/Folklife-Collections/Folklife-Collections-List-(1)/Other/Emigration/Irish-Emigration-to-America-The-Journey
- National Museum of Ireland, An Gorta Mór relief timeline: https://www.museum.ie/getmedia/0c4c5f7e-e179-435b-905e-eb3797edcbb3/AnGortaMor_timeline_relief.pdf
- Mayo County Library, Crossing the Atlantic: https://www.mayo.ie/library/local-history/historical-events/emigration/crossing-the-atlantic
- Passengers Act 1842, text (New Brunswick Royal Gazette, UNB): https://newspapers.lib.unb.ca/sites/default/files/serials/pdf/168/24999/24999-0002.pdf
- US Act of February 22, 1847, 14 superficial feet (Federal Cases): https://law.resource.org/pub/us/case/reporter/F.Cas/0024.f.cas/0024.f.cas.0822.html
- Hatton, "Time on the Crossing" (University of Essex, 2024): https://repository.essex.ac.uk/35902/1/Time%20on%20the%20Crossing%20ReRev.pdf
- Wesley Johnston, The Summer of Black '47: https://mail.wesleyjohnston.com/users/ireland/past/famine/summer_1847.html
- Wesley Johnston, Effects of the Famine: Emigration: https://mail.wesleyjohnston.com/users/ireland/past/famine/emigration.html
- Norway Heritage, Sailing ship provisions: https://norwayheritage.com/provisions.asp
- Jeanie Johnston, Strokestown: https://jeaniejohnston.ie/?p=16378
- New York Irish History Roundtable, James Irwin: https://nyirishhistory.us/?p=6876
- Peter F. Stevens, Deer Island (Boston Irish): https://bostonirish.com/history/many-famine-irish-deer-island-was-their-first-and-last-stop-america
- Irish Heritage Trail, Mary Nelson: https://irishboston.org/?p=546
- American Social History Project (CUNY), Life in Five Points: https://shec.ashp.cuny.edu/exhibits/show/life-in-five-points

IMAGES
Illustrations are AI-generated in a period gouache style. Narration is an AI voice. Archive images:
- Liverpool, steel engraving by C. Reiss, Meyer's Universum vol. 10 (1843), public domain: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Meyers_Universum_Band_10_45.jpg
- William James Bennett, View of the New York Quarantine, Staten Island (1833), National Gallery of Art, CC0: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:William_James_Bennett,_View_of_the_New_York_Quarantine,_Staten_Island,_published_1833,_NGA_66536.jpg
- G. Hayward, Old Brewery, Five Points 1852 (lithograph, 1853), NYPL, public domain: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Old_Brewery_Five_Points_1852_(NYPL_Hades-165407-EM11567).jpg

MUSIC (YouTube Audio Library)
- "Requiem In Cello" by Hanu Dixit
- "Come With Us" by Nat Keefe & Hot Buttered Rum
- "Midnight Trace" by Jimena Contreras
- "Quiet Nights" by Nate Blaze
- "Tiptoe" by Nat Keefe
Sound effect: Wood Creak On Old Ship Series (YouTube Audio Library)

#IrishFamine #IrishHistory #AmericanHistory