SNIPPET: The March-April 2003 issue of Dublin's "Ireland of the Welcomes" magazine carried a several-page article by Jo KERRIGAN (photographs by Richard T. MILLS) that included the history behind the ship "Dunbrody," a replica of which is moored at New Ross quays and, I believe, open throughout the year. Visitors cross the gangplank with tickets that replicate those issued to the passengers of 150 years ago. History is recreated by individuals in period costume. It has full disabled access. "Not all ships were coffin ships, and not all captains were unscrupulous. There were at least some sturdy, clean, seagoing vessels, reasonably fit for the task they took on, and captains who did their best to see that their piteous human cargo got at least the rations they had paid for with their last resources. Such was the "Dunbrody," out of New Ross, Co. Wexford, which between 1845 and 1869 carried many thousands of emigrants across the Atlantic. A three-masted barque, she was built in Quebec for the GRAVES family of New Ross, by Thomas Hamilton OLIVER, an Irish emigrant from Co. Derry, under the careful supervision of John BALDWIN, who captained her from 1845 to 1848. "Dunbrody" was primarily a cargo vessel and carried timber from Canada, cotton from the southern states of the USA and guano from Peru. Since there was rarely much to transport on the return journeys, and as the demand for passage was rising steadily due to the terrible conditions in Ireland, the ship was fitted out with bunks and facilities for passengers. And so, between April and September each year, she carried passengers on her outward journeys to Canada and the USA. The usual complement was 176, but on one crossing, at the height of the Famine in 1847, she carried 313. In the winter months "Dunbrody" plied between the West Indies and Europe, rounding Cape Horn on at least one occasion. Many of the passengers on "Dunbrody" would have been evicted tenants, at times helped on their way by landlords anxious to be rid of them, while others borrowed the passage money from relatives left at home, on the understanding that funds would be sent back as soon as possible to assist the others out. Such passengers would have travelled steerage, paid between three and four pounds for the journey (the equivalent of two months' income for a tenant farmer), including food, though not its cooking. Those who could afford - usually Protestant gentry - went as cabin passengers, paying between five and eight pounds for rather better accommodation and services. Dunbrody had an excellent record throughout the period it took emigrants to the New World. Many will have heard of Grosse 'Ile, Quebec and its quarantine station. In the spring of 1847, conditions here were dreadful, with more than 1,100 sick and dying people crowded together awaiting assessment. When Captain BALDWIN finally landed his passengers at Grosse 'Ile, after a very long passage, he reported back to his employer, William GRAVES, 'the "Dunbrody" was detained in quarantine for five days because there were too many ships queing in the St. Lawrence River. Doctor DOUGLAS is nearly single-handed everyday ... dozens of corpses are thrown overboard from many ships ... I have heard that some of them have no fresh water left and the passengers and crew have to drink water from the river. God help them!' Although the "Dunbrody was detained at Grosse Isle on a number of occasions, her onboard mortality rate was practically non-existent, thanks to her conscientious and humane captains, John BALDWIN and his successor, John WILLIAMS. Emigrants writing back home to Ireland praised their dedication to their crew and passengers more than once. "Dunbrody" remained in the GRAVES family ownership for 24 years. She was sold in 1869 and became a British registered ship. In 1874, en route from Cardiff to Quebec, her captain chose not to wait for a pilot to assist him in navigating the St. Lawrence and paid for this when he ran aground. Bought by a salvage company, she was repaired and sold on. In 1875, sailing home to Liverpool with a full timber cargo worth 12,500 pounds, a fierce gale blew up and drove her dangerously off her usual route towards the shores of Labrador, "Dunbrody" had sailed her last voyage and was lost." .... More information: www.Dunbrody.com