The Coffin Ships

During & After the Irish Famine (1845–1855) The famine-era coffin ships became infamous because conditions collapsed into humanitarian catastrophe. These ships were carrying people fleeing: starvation, eviction, disease, total economic collapse. Many boarded already severely weakened from: malnutrition, typhus, fever, dysentery. Shipowners often packed vessels beyond safe limits to maximize profit. Some ships became floating disease environments with almost no medical care. Mortality rates exploded.