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.
APPENDIX
LIST OF FAMINE SHIPS THAT ADVERTISED IN AND SERVICED GALWAY 1845–1850
Abbotsford
Albion
Alice
Amphetrite
Argimou
Barbara
Bethel
Cambyses
Caractacus
Caroline
Carolina
Cashmere
Celeste
C. H. Appelton
Charlotte
Clarence
Clytha
Coldstream
Commence
Corrib
Cremona
Cushlamachree
Daniel
David
Delphin
Doctor Kneises
Downes
Eliza Ann
Elizapeth Hughes
Emma Prescott
Emmeline
Fanny
Francis-Watts
GEM
G. W. Brinkerhoff
G. W. Laurence
Haidee
Helen
Helena
Henderson
H. Mellon
IHN John
Irvine
Islam
John Begg
John Clifford
Josephine
Joshua Carroll
Kate
Laing
Lelia
Linden
Lively
Lord Fitzgerald
Lord Fitzroy
Lyna
Malvina
Manchester
Margaret Milne
Maria
Marine Plant
Martha
Messenger
M. Howes
Minerva
Nancy
Napoleon
Ohio
Orwell Lass
Pacific
Pageant
Plant
Preciosa
Rebecca
Redwing
Regina
Robert Alexander Parke
Russia E. D.
Sarah Milledge
Seabird
St. George
St. John
Tassie
Thalia
The Arab
The Asia
The Lucullus
The Medora
Thetis
Thomas Baker
Valhalla
Viceroy
Victoria
Wakefield
Walkella
W. H. Spear
William Kerry
XL
Young Queen
REFERENCES
The Articles, Letters, Magazines and Newspaper records contained in the references, some of which are undated, are mainly from the John Bhaba Jaick Ó Congaola collection.
Miscellaneous Articles
Bob Cuble, ‘Irish, Past and Present, Found Tragedy and Hope’.
‘Catholics to Honour Irish Immigrants Lost in Cohasset Shipwreck of 1849,’ 1949.
Cormac Ó Gráda, ‘Ireland’s Great Famine’.
‘Cross is Monument to Irish’.
‘Immigrants – Memorial at Cohasset Being Erected – Brig St. John Wrecked in 1849 on Minot’s Ledge – Victims of the Disaster Numbered 99’ (Newspaper article).
Ken Crotty, ‘Sinking of Irish Boat Described’ (3-10-1949).
M. Kennedy, ‘The Winter Voyages of the Famine Ships, Cushlamachree and Londonderry’.
Martin P. Harney, SJ, ‘A Tragic Episode of the Irish Famine Immigration’.
Martin P. Harney, SJ, ‘The Storm of October 1849’.
Martin P. Harney, SJ, ‘The Wreck of the Brig St. John’.
Notes copied from Newcomb Bates (Jr), the Town Clerk of (Cohasset) (7-10-1849).
The League of the Sacred Heart (Loyla Chapel B.C. High School); ‘Brig St. John of Galway, Ireland Lost October 7, 1849, at Cohasset’.
‘The Wreck of the Emigrant Brig “St. John” on October 7, 1849,’ statement of lifeboat crew.
‘To Their Memory’.
‘Wreck of the Brig St. John’ (1949).
Private Letters
Ancient Order of Hibernians in America (undated).
Ancient Order of Hibernians in America (undated).
Ancient Order of Hibernians in America (5-12-1941).
Ancient Order of Hibernians in America (30-11-1961).
Ancient Order of Hibernians in America (21-5-1962).
The Archbishop of Boston (10-3-1999).
Article by Robert N. Fraser, the Curator of the Cohasset Maritime Museum (1-1-1979).
Boston College High School, Press Release, ‘Midnight Memorial Mass for Irish Victims of Brig “Saint John” off Cohasset’, Fr Walter Martin (October, 1989).
‘Brig St. John’, John Bhaba Jaick Ó Congaola.
The Curator of the Cohasset Historical Society (23-7-1978).
The Curator of the Cohasset Historical Society (29-11-1989).
The Curator of the Cohasset Historical Society, ‘Information Relating to the “St. John” Wreck’, David Wadsworth (8-3-1984). John Bhaba Jaick Ó Congaola collection.
The Curator of the Cohasset Maritime Museum (17-12-1978).
The President of Cohasset Central Cemetery Corporation (26-5-1914).
‘The Wreck of the Brig St. John’, John Bhaba Jaick Ó Congaola (1999).
Cohasset Town Records, Book II, 1844-1865.
Diary of Elizabeth Lothrop: 11-10-1849, 25-12-1849.
Internet Articles
http://www.moytura.com/sligo1.htm
http://www.islayinfo.com/Exmouth-islay-tragedy.html
http://www.clarelibrary.ie/eolas/coclare/history/shipwreck_st_jo
http://www.clarelibrary.ie/eolas/coclare/history/stjohn_burials
http://www.clarelibrary.ie/eolas/coclare/history/awful shipwreck.htm
John Bhaba Jaick Ó Congaola, 18-7-2008.
Lecture
‘The Brig St. John Disaster 1849’, John Bhaba Jaick Ó Congaola, 29-1-2007.
Lloyd’s Register and Supplement
1845, 1846, 1847, 1850.
Historical Maritime Information: Merchant Shipping Losses and Shipwrecks.
Magazines
Brig St. John of Galway was Cohasset’s Worst Shipwreck, Cohasset Historical Society. John Bhaba Jaick Ó Congaola collection.
Brig St. John Memorial Mass, Ancient Order of Hibernians. Father John Murphy, Division 9, Plymouth, 4-10-1997.
Centenary Commemoration, 21-8-1949.
Cohasset Vignettes, Robert Fraser, 1981.
Ennistymon Parish Magazine, ‘The Wreck of the Irish Emigrant Ship’, ‘The Shipwreck of the
St. John’. Articles compiled from material supplied by Brud Slattery, John Flanagan (both Lahinch), and Frank Flanagan (USA), 1996.
Glór na nOileán, ‘An Brig St. John’, Pádraig Ó Maoilchiaráin.
Marine Disasters, ‘II – The Wreck of the St. John’, Willard De Lue.
The Mariner, ‘The History of Central Cemetery’, David Wadsworth. John Bhaba Jaick Ó Congaola collection.
Newspapers
Boston Daily Herald:
‘Brig St. John of Galway, Ireland, Lost October 7, 1849 at Cohasset’.
‘List of Survivors and Drowned’.
‘Tell it to Joe – Monument to Shipwrecked Irish’, Joe McLaughlin (8-7-1976).
‘The Burial of the Victims of the St. John – Melancholy Sight’ (12-10-1849).
‘Triumph Out of Tragedy – Commemorating the 150 Anniversary of the Great Hunger’ (26-6-1998).
Boston Irish Reporter:
‘Cohasset Monument Honors Famine Victims’ (October, 1996).
Boston Sunday Herald:
‘Cohasset Ceremony Recalls Shipwreck’ (10-10-1999).
Cohasset Mariner:
‘Meeting the Governor’ (2-7-1998).
Dublin Evening Post:
A report (9-9-1845).
Galway Advertiser:
‘The Workhouse’ (3-3-1994).
‘When Galway Starved’ (27-6-1996).
Galway Mercury and Weekly Connaught Advertiser:
A report dated 5-6-1847.
‘A Famine Report’ (13-3-1847).
‘Emigration’ (1-5-1847).
‘Irish Sufferings – Whig and Tory Sympathy’ (3-7-1847).
‘More Deaths by Starvation’ (22-1-1848).
‘Passage Across the Atlantic’ (19-6-1847).
‘Song of the Famine’ (5-9-1846).
‘Starvation – Inquest’ (13-3-1847).
‘The Devon Commission’ (26-6-1847).
‘The Song of the Famine’ (10-7-1847).
‘Wreck of an Emigrant Ship’ (27-10-1849).
‘Wreck of the St. John’ (3-11-1849).
Galway Vindicator:
‘Awful Shipwreck at Minot’s Ledge – Loss of St. John of Galway. About One Hundred Drowned – Men, Women and Children’ (3-11-1849).
Illustrated London News:
A report dated 8-5-1847.
‘Famine and Starvation in the County of Cork’ (16-1-1847).
‘Mortality in Skibbereen’ (30-1-1846).
‘Sketches in the West of Ireland’, Mr James Mahony (13/20-2-1847).
‘The Galway Starvation Riots’ (25-6-1842).
‘The Late Food Riots in Ireland’ (7-11-1846).
‘The Potato Disease’ (18-10-1845).
The Boston Irish Echo:
‘More on the Ill-Fated Brig, St. John – Remembers the St. John,’ Paddy Mulkerrins (14-4-1984).
‘More on the Ill-Fated Brig, St. John,’ Bill Loughran (14-4-1984).
‘Survivors Found’, Paddy Mulkerrins (letter to editor).
‘The Ill-Fated Brig St. John,’ Bill Loughran (14-1-1984).
The Boston Mail:
‘Wreck of the St. John’ (11-10-1849).
The Boston Post:
‘Brig St. John Memorial’ (12-10-1849).
‘Brig St. John of Galway – List of Survivors and Drowned’ (12-10-1849).
‘The Burial of the Victims of the St. John – Melancholy Sight’ (12-10-1849).
The Boston Sunday Globe:
‘150 Years Later: Honouring the Irish who Died at Sea off Cohasset Coast’ (3-10-1999).
‘Remembering the St. John Disaster of 1849’ (3-10-1999).
‘Those Known to Have Perished’ (3-10-1999).
The Connacht Tribune:
‘The Great Famine, Tribune Extra’ (24-3-1995).
The Freeman’s Journal:
‘The Burial of the Victims’ (26-10-1849).
‘The Wreck of the Irish Emigrant Ship St. John’ (26-10-1849).
‘Wreck of the Irish Emigrant Ship Lamentable Loss of Life’ (24-10-1849).
The Galway City Tribune; Tribune Extra:
‘Galway Victims of a Major Tragedy’ (27-11-1998).
The Irish Emigrant:
‘Brig Saint John Anniversary’ (13-12-1999).
‘Ninety-Nine Irish Lives Lost in Brig St. John Shipwreck’ (September, 1999).
The Irish World and American Industrial Liberator and Gaelic American:
‘Death of a Famine Ship’, Frank Durkan (6-10-1984).
The Jesuit or Catholic Sentinel:
‘Memorial to Irish’ (4-1-1934).
The Patriot Ledger:
‘Brig Wreck Killed 143 off Cohasset’, Edward Rowe Snow (6-10-1959).
‘Celtic Cross: Cohasset’s Memorial to a Shipwreck’, Laura Doherty.
‘Ceremonies to Honor Irish Shipwreck Victims’ (6-10-1999).
‘Cross Monument to Irish’, Edward Rowe Snow (6-10-1959).
‘Doomsday at Little Harbor’, Bob Cubie (6-10-1999).
‘Shipwreck Revisited: 99 Irish Immigrants Perished in 1849 Storm’, Molly Hochkeppel (9-10-1989).
‘To Mark Anniversary of Old Brig’s Sinking’, Edward Rowe Snow.
The Pilot:
‘Wreck of Brig St. John’, George E. Ryan (October, 1979).
Tribune Extra:
‘Galway Victims of a Major Tragedy’ (27-11-1998).
Video
Brig St. John. Telegael.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Comber, H., The Book of Thomas J. Comber and Eliza Comerford (n.d.).
Cunningham, J., ‘A Town Tormented by the Sea’: Galway 1790–1914 (Geography Publications, Dublin, 2004).
Gallagher, T., Paddy’s Lament, Ireland 1846-1847: Prelude to Hatred (Poolbeg Press Ltd, Swords, 1985).
Garvey, Fr G., Bushypark Celebrates 1837-1987 (Fr Gerard Garvey, 1988).
Henry, W., Role of Honour, Mayors of Galway City 1485-2001 (Galway City Council, 2001).
Henry, W., St Clerans: The Tale of a Manor House (Merv Griffin, 1999).
Laxton, E., The Famine Ships; The Irish Exodus to America 1846-51 (Bloomsbury, London, 1996).
Litton, Helen, The Irish Famine: An Illustrated History (Wolfhound Press, Dublin, 1994).
McBride, D., When Hunger Stalked the North (Adare Press, Banbridge, 1994).
Murray, J.P., Galway: A Medico-Social History (Kenny’s Bookshop and Art Gallery, Galway, 1994).
Ó Cathaoir, Brendan, Famine Diary (Irish Academic Press, Dublin, 1999).
O’Dowd, Peadar, Down by the Claddagh (Kenny’s Bookshop and Art Galleries Ltd, 1993).
O’Dowd, Peadar, Galway City (Galway Corporation, 1998).
O’Dowd, Peadar, The Great Famine and the West 1845-1850 (Galway Corporation, 1995).
Ó hÉideáin, E., The Dominicans in Galway 1241-1991 (The Dominican Priory, Galway, 1991).
Porteir, Cathal (ed.), The Great Irish Famine (Mercier Press, 1995).
Thoreau, Henry David, Cape Cod (WW Norton and Company, New York, 1865).
Villiers-Tuthill, K., Beyond the Twelve Bens: A History of Clifden and District 1860-1923 (Kathleen Villiers-Tuthill, 1990).
White, R., 1847 Famine Ship Diary (Mercier Press, Cork, 1994).
Woodham-Smith, C., The Great Hunger (Harper and Row, United States, 1989).
Also by William Henry
The Shimmering Waste: The Life and Times of Robert O’Hara Burke
St Clerans: The Tale of a Manor House
The Lynch Family of Galway
Role of Honour: The Mayors of Galway City 1485-2001
Mervue 1955-2003
The Galway Arms Golfing Society
Fields of Slaughter: The Battle of Knockdoe 1504
Supreme Sacrifice: The Story of Eamonn Ceannt 1881-1916
Galway and the Great War
Forgotten Heroes: Galway Soldiers of the Great War
Galway’s Great War Memorial Book 1914-1918
Tir na nÓg: A New Adventure
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