Famine and Shipwreck: An Irish Odyssey is a documentary film which premiered on Canadian television in 2011.
The topic of this film is the Irish Famine (1845-1852) and the subsequent massive exodus of Irish people to North America (the US and Canada).
Here is some basic information about this film:
** Director: Brian McKenna
** Producer: Natalie Dubois
** Available on tubi tv
** Language: English
** Subtitles: English
** Run time: 89 minutes
THE PLOT
This film is about an investigation. Who wants to investigate? A small group of Canadians whose ancestors are Irish want to investigate the history of their families in Ireland.
They have two basic questions:
Question # 1
Why did our ancestors emigrate from Ireland?
The answer is the Great Famine 1845-1852.
The Canadians must go to Ireland and they must study the general history of the Great Famine. How and why did this happen? What were the reasons and what were the consequences?
But the Canadians want to know more than the general history of the Great Famine. They want specific details. Where did our ancestors live? What happened to them during the Great Famine?
The Canadians travel to Ireland and try to find answers to their questions.
Question # 2
How did our ancestors cross the Atlantic Ocean? How did they sail from Ireland to Canada?
The answer is they sailed on one of the numerous ships which were known as famine ships and coffin ships.
The Canadians must learn the general history of the ships which were known as famine ships and coffin ships.
Medium-sized cargo ships were converted to transport passengers. The price for one person was relatively cheap and there was an obvious reason for this: the conditions were terrible.
One family of 4 or 6 or 8 were offered a space which was suitable for one or two persons. The facilities below deck were not poor; they did not exist. There was no toilet, no bathroom below deck. The amount of food offered by the crew was limited and the quality was poor.
Many passengers were sick or weak or sick and weak when they boarded the ship. Some passengers died during the crossing. They were buried at sea. Some passengers were dead when the ship reached its destination in North America.
This is why these ships were known as famine ships and coffin ships.
But the Canadians want to know more than the general history of the famine ships and the coffin ships. They want specific details. What was the name of the ship which carried out ancestors across the Atlantic Ocean? When did they leave Ireland? When did they get to Canada?
When they look for answers, they find them:
The name of the ship is the Hannah which was built in Canada in 1826. The ship left Ireland on 3 April 1849 with ca. 180 passengers and a crew of 12. The captain was Curry Shaw who was only 23 years old.
It seems the beginning of the crossing went well. But the Hannah never reached its destination.
On 27 April, when approaching the Canadian coast, the ship entered icy waters with ice flakes.
On 29 April, not long after midnight, the ship hit an ice flake and was severely damaged. It began to sink!
The captain Curry Shaw and two members of his crew thought mostly about themselves. They took the only life boat and sailed away, leaving the passengers to fend for themselves.
It seems the Hannah sank in less than one hour. But before it disappeared below the surface, many passengers managed to leave the ship and seek refuge on a large ice flake.
They were saved. At least for a while. But it was cold and dark. They had no food and no water. And they were not dressed to deal with the cold weather. How long were they going to survive like this?
Not long!
Late in the afternoon on that same day, another famine ship was following the same route.
William Marshall, captain of the Nicaragua, could not believe what he saw in front of his own ship: more than 100 people sitting or standing on an ice flake.
His own ship was full, but he wanted to help them as best he could. Saving the stranded passengers was not easy, but the captain and his crew managed to rescue more than 100 people from the ice flake.
As the Nicaragua came closer to the Canadian coast, some of the extra passengers were transferred to other ships which had more space. On 14 May 1849, the Nicaragua reached Quebec, a Canadian harbour.
The passengers from the Hannah were not safe and sound, but by an incredible miracle they had survived a horrible ordeal.
Now the Canadians know what happened to their ancestors in Ireland. They also know that their ancestors barely made it to Canada.
The Canadians are happy and shocked.
They understand that they literally owe their lives to captain William Marshall. If he had not been there, if he and his crew had not acted so quickly, the ancestors would have died in the North Atlantic Ocean in April 1849.
This film covers the Great Famine in Ireland 1845-1852 as well as the last voyage of the Hannah in April 1849. This is why the title is Famine and Shipwreck.
REVIEWS AND RATINGS
What do reviewers say about this film?
On IMDb it has a rating of 71 percent, which corresponds to 3.6 stars on Amazon.
There is one user review on IMDb. This review offers a rating of 80 percent which is slightly better than the average rating on the website.
On Amazon there are at the moment five global ratings and two global reviews. The average rating is 4.2 stars, which corresponds to a rating of 84 percent.
Both reviews on Amazon offer a rating of five stars. They are both higher than the average rating on the website.
CONCLUSION
What do I think about the film? I think it is well done. I think the director manages to cover a lot of ground in a short time.
Not only the harsh conditions in Ireland during the Great Famine, but also the terrible conditions on the famine ships and the coffin ships which were used to carry thousands of Irish people across the Atlantic Ocean to North America (the US and Canada).
One thing which is very good about this film is the reason for the project: a small group of Canadians whose ancestors are Irish want to investigate the history of their families in Ireland.
When they check the old documents in Ireland, they find the names of their ancestors. When they check the list of survivors from the Hannah, they find the names of their ancestors.
Suddenly, the history of the Great Famine is no longer abstract history; it becomes personal.
Suddenly, the history of the coffin ships which crossed the Atlantic Ocean is no longer abstract history; it becomes personal.
In my opinion, the average rating on IMDb is too low, while the rating on Amazon is more appropriate.
I understand the positive reviews on Amazon and I agree with them.
I want to to go all the way to the top with this product. I think it deserves a rating of five stars (100 percent)
PS. The Irish historian Peter Grey (born 1965)
appears in the film. He is Professor of Modern Irish History at Queen's University, Belfast.
REFERENCES
# 1. Books
** 1847 - Famine Ship Diary: The Journey of an Irish Coffin Ship by Robert Whyte (1994)
** The Irish Famine by Peter Grey (1995)
** The Famine Ships: The Irish Exodus to America by Edward Laxton (1997) (1998)
** Famine, Land and Politics: British Government and Irish Society, 1843-1850 by Peter Grey (1999)
** Atlas of the Great Irish Famine edited by John Crowley and Mike Murphy (2012)
** The Famine Plot: England’s Role in Ireland’s Greatest Tragedy by Tim Pat Coogan (2012) (2013)
** The Graves are Walking: The History of the Great Irish Famine by John Kelly (2012) (2013)
** Children and the Great Hunger in Ireland edited by Christine Kinealy, Jason King and Gerard Moran (Cork University Press, 2018)
# 2. A documentary film
** The Ice Emigrants (BBC) (2011)
# 3. Articles available online
John Kernaghan,
“The Tragedy of the Hannah”
Irish America,
August/September 2008
“Ice immigrants:
From Warrenpoint to Canada 160 years ago”
BBC News, Northern Ireland,
20 February 2011
John Kernaghan
“The Hannah: An Irish Odyssey”
Irish America,
April/May 2011
“Tragic Start to Life in the New World”
The Morrisburg Leader,
25 January 2012
Rupert Taylor,
“The Irish Famine Ship Hannah”
Owlcation,
16 January 2022
# 4. A website
Lurgan Ancestry – three items:
** The Great Famine
** The Coffin Ships
** The Sinking of the Hannah
*****
This drawing shows
the Hannah, an Irish Famine Ship
Built in 1826 - Shipwrecked in 1849
*****
This drawing shows
the interior of an Irish coffin ship
*****
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