Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
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Dunbrody
Famine Ship
Permanently moored on a river in the tiny port of New Ross, this ship was built as a re-
creation of similar vessels that sailed to America full of countless hungry Irish emigrants.
The
Dunbrody
is a full-scale reconstruction of a 19th-century three-masted bark built in
Quebec in 1845. It's typical of the trading vessels that originally sailed empty to Amer-
ica to pick up goods; during the famine, ship owners found that they could make a little
money on the westward voyage. On board, extended families camped out for 50 days on
bunk beds no bigger than a king-size mattress. Commonly, boats like this would arrive
in America with only 80 percent of their original human cargo (in worst cases, only 50
percent). Those who succumbed to “famine fever” (often typhus or cholera) were dumped
overboard, and the ships gained their morbid moniker: “coffin ships.”
Cost and Hours:
€8.50, daily April-Sept 9:00-18:00, Oct-March 10:00-17:00,
45-minute tours go 2/hour, last tour starts one hour before closing, upstairs café handy for
lunch with nice views of the ship, tel. 051/425-239,
www.dunbrody.com
.
