THE
FAMINE
SHIP
INQUIRY
CONTENTS
œ 4.1 Overview and preparation of role play
œ 4.2 Pupil character and question sheet
œ 4.3 Materials for Immigration Officer and
Clerk.
œ 4.4 Comparing Accounts
MOVING ON
TOPIC FOUR
Role-play: The Famine Ship inquiry
Preparing the materials
Print out one copy of this file
Put the fact and question sheets for each character back to back in plastic
envelopes.
Read this story outline to the class.
The drama is based on the true story of an emigrant ship which sailed from the
west coast of Ireland during the Great Famine. There were long delays and food
and water ran out. People were crammed into the ship, and disease spread
quickly. Many of the passengers were buried at sea, though when the captain
died his body was kept on the deck for 13 days.
The role-play tells the story through a (fictional) inquiry after the ship has landed.
Choose the characters
The Immigration Officer directs the inquiry and is best played by the class
teacher.
Chose eight pupils to play the passengers (Jane McMullan, Amelia Day, Molly
O’Hara, David Curley, Michael Connor and Tom Kelly), the ship’s mate
(Jeremiah Tindle), and the Immigration Officer’s clerk who calls the witnesses.
Prepare the actors
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Give each character his/her own fact and question sheets.
Tell each one to read their fact sheet trying to remember the key details.
Say not to memorise the words but to use your own words.
Get pupils to ask each other the questions. The Immigration Officer will ask
questions like these.
The Immigration Officer’s clerk will call each witness in turn.
The Immigration Officer needs the introduction, question sheets for
each witness and the summing up.
THIS PAGE BLANK
Fact sheet for Jane McMullan (passenger)
You left Ireland with your husband and four children to try
and make a better life for your family in America.
Your potato crop failed and you had no money to pay the
rent.
The landlord paid your passage as he wants tenants off the
farms.
The ship should have left Ireland at the beginning of May but
did not leave until the end of May.
While waiting for the ship to set sail you ate most of the food
you had for the journey.
You were all crammed together on the ship, and disease
spread fast.
You were all weak with hunger. Two of your children died.
They were buried at sea.
Questions to Jane McMullan
What is your name?
Why did you leave Ireland?
When was the ship supposed to sail for America?
When did the ship actually leave?
What problems did this delay cause?
Did all your family survive the journey?
How do you think conditions on ship were to blame for the
death of your two children?
Fact sheet for Tom Kelly (passenger)
You are 15 years old, and the eldest son.
Your family’s farm can’t support all of you, so you hope to
find work in Toronto or maybe go on down to New York.
There were long delays in the journey.
The ship was supposed to leave Killala on the 2nd of May,
1846.
It did not leave until the 26th of May.
When the ship had crossed the Atlantic you were too far
north and had to sail down the coast.
Then the ship ran aground on an island and it took days to
refloat it.
By then many of the passengers were in a dreadful state.
There was very little food or water left.
Questions to Tom Kelly
What is your name?
What age are you?
Why did you leave Ireland?
What do you plan to do here?
Is it true that the ship did not leave Ireland on the advertised
date?
Why do you think there were such delays in the journey?
How did the long journey affect the passengers?
Fact sheet for Molly O’Hara (passenger)
You are 16 years old.
You are leaving Ireland because you can’t get a job at home.
Your brother, who has been out in Toronto for two years, has
sent money for you and your sister to go out to join him.
He has found work for you as servants.
You were told that the ship would take 216 passengers, but
there were 280 crammed on board.
There were only 32 berths and you had to sleep on the floor.
The water was gluey and disgusting, and there was no food.
Questions to Molly O’Hara (passenger)
What is your name?
What age are you?
Why did you leave Ireland?
Have you any relatives in Canada?
What kind of work do you plan to do?
Do you know how many passengers there were supposed to
be on board?
How many were actually on the ship?
Were there enough berths?
Would you say the ship was overcrowded?
What problems did this cause?
Fact sheet for David Curley (passenger)
You are fifteen years old and can not get a job at home.
You are going to join your uncle on his farm in Canada.
You want to buy your own farm when you are 21.
Your uncle has 100 acres that cost 100 dollars to buy. That’s
the same price as a year’s rent for 5 acres back in Ireland.
Fever spread through the ship. A number of passengers
were buried at sea.
The captain also fell ill and died, but the mate kept his body
on deck.
The body stayed there for 13 days in a most disgusting
state, spreading further sickness.
Questions to David Curley (passenger)
What is your name?
What age are you?
Why did you leave Ireland?
What do you hope to do in America?
What size is your uncle’s farm?
Why did so many of the passengers die?
What happened to their bodies?
What happened to the captain of the ship?
Fact sheet for Amelia Day (passenger)
You are eighteen years old.
Your mother is dead and your father has remarried. You do
not get on with your stepmother.
You have been offered a post as a lady’s maid.
The journey was supposed to take six to eight weeks,
but it took more than 10 weeks.
A family kindly took you into its berth.
People were dying every day. They were weak with hunger
and crammed together and the disease spread fast.
You think about thirty people died.
Questions to Amelia Day
What is your name?
How old are you?
Why are you leaving Ireland?
What do you intend to do in Canada?
How long were you told the journey would take?
How long did it in fact take?
Why do you think disease spread so fast?
How many do you think died on the journey?
Did you manage to get a place in a berth?
Fact sheet for Michael Connor (passenger)
In Canada they need people to build railways.
You hear there is good money to be had if you are prepared
to work hard.
Many of the passengers were starving.
Passengers were given a little water each day, but no bread
or oatmeal.
After you had been at sea for about 9 weeks you sighted
another ship, but you had to beg the mate to stop and ask
for fresh water and provisions [food etc].
The mate then sold the food and water to the starving
passengers at a huge profit.
Questions to Michael Connor
What do you plan to do in Canada?
What provisions were you given on board?
Were you able to get more food and water?
How long were you at sea before you got fresh water?
Do you think that the mate did his best to help the
passengers? Why do you think this?
Fact sheet for Jeremiah Tindle (the ship’s mate)
You admit that the ship left more than 3 weeks late but say
that this often happens.
You admit that the ship is meant to carry 216 passengers.
You claim you took on more people as they were so
desperate to get away.
The problem is that people bring disease with them.
You buried the passengers at sea but it didn’t seem right to
dispose of the captain’s body like this.
Eventually you agreed to let the captain be buried at sea.
You weren’t going to stop to get fresh food and water, but
say this was because you were trying to reach port as
quickly as possible.
You claim that you had to pay high prices for the fresh food
and water and that you didn’t overcharge the passengers.
Questions to Jeremiah Tindle (the mate)
What date was your ship meant to leave Killala?
When did it finally leave?
Did you have more passengers on board than you were
supposed to?
Do you accept that the overcrowding made the fever spread
more quickly?
What did you do with the bodies of those who died?
What did you do with the captain’s body?
Why did you not immediately bury him at sea as you did with
all the others?
Unit 4.3: Materials for Immigration Officer and Clerk.
Instructions to the Immigration Officer’s clerk
The Immigration Officer’s clerk sits beside the Immigration Officer
and calls each of the witnesses in turn to give evidence.
‘Call Jane McMullan’
‘Call Tom Kelly’
‘Call Molly O’Hara’
‘Call David Curley’
‘Call Amelia Day’
‘Call Michael Connor’
‘Call Jeremiah Tindle’
Immigration Officer: introduction
Enter from the side with a sheaf of papers which you place on the
desk in front of you giving you an excuse to glance down at this text.
Don’t aim to read this introduction word for word but try to get the key
facts across and to establish your authority.
Quiet please, quiet, Ladies and Gentlemen.
Please find somewhere to sit if you can, or stand quietly.
I appreciate that that many of you are distressed and angry,
but if we are to get to the truth of this matter, we need to be
able to proceed with this inquiry.
The Elizabeth and Sarah landed here on the 6th of August
having taken some 72 days to reach Newfoundland – two to
four weeks longer than the crossing normally takes with
modern ships.
It set out with 280 passengers, and of these more than 30
are now dead.
It is the purpose of this inquiry to establish who bears
responsibility for this grave state of affairs.
Turn to your clerk and say
I should like to question the first [OR the next] witness.
Your clerk calls in turn: Jane McMullan, Tom Kelly, Molly O’Hara,
David Curley, Amelia Day, Michael Connor, and Jeremiah Tindle.
You question each of the witnesses using the suggested questions to
each of them as a guide. You may need to prompt or adjust the
questions to suit what the witnesses actually say.
Questions to Jane McMullan
What is your name?
Why did you leave Ireland?
When was the ship supposed to sail for America?
When did the ship actually leave?
What problems did this delay cause?
Did all your family survive the journey?
How do you think conditions on ship were responsible for the
death of your two children?
Questions to Tom Kelly
What is your name?
What age are you?
Why did you leave Ireland?
What do you plan to do here?
Is it true that the ship did not leave Ireland on the advertised
date?
Why do you think there were such delays in the journey?
How did the long journey affect the passengers?
Questions to Molly O’Hara
What is your name?
What age are you?
Why did you leave Ireland?
Have you any relatives in Canada?
What kind of work do you plan to do?
Do you know how many passengers there were supposed to
be on board?
How many were actually on the ship?
Were there enough berths?
Would you say the ship was overcrowded?
What problems did this cause?
Questions to David Curley
What is your name?
What age are you?
Why did you leave Ireland?
What do you hope to do in America?
What size is your uncle’s farm?
Why did so many of the passengers die?
What happened to their bodies?
What happened to the captain of the ship?
Questions to Amelia Day
What is your name?
How old are you?
Why are you leaving Ireland?
What do you intend to do in Canada?
How long were you told the journey would take?
How long did it in fact take?
Why do you think disease spread so fast?
How many do you think died on the journey?
Did you manage to get a place in a berth?
Questions to Michael Connor
What do you plan to do in Canada?
What provisions were you given on board?
Were you able to get more food and water?
How long had you been at sea before you got fresh water?
Do you think that the mate did his best to help the
passengers? Why do you think this?
Questions to Jeremiah Tindle (the mate)
What date was your ship meant to leave Killala?
When did it finally leave?
Did you have more passengers on board than you were
supposed to?
Do you accept that the overcrowding made the fever spread
more quickly?
What did you do with the bodies of those who died?
What did you do with the captain’s body?
Why did you not immediately bury him at sea as you did with
all the others?
Immigration Officer’s summing up
More than 30 people have died on this ship, and in the
circumstances it is surprising that there were not many more
deaths.
The ship should only have carried 216 passengers, and I am
inclined to think that the captain agreed to take 280
passengers on board, not because of the kindness of his
heart, but because of a desire to make a handsome profit.
The passengers were told, and indeed had a right to expect,
that there would be berths for them. Since the ship only had
32 berths it is clear that there could not have been room for
them all.
Nor had the captain put on board the provisions that
passengers are entitled to expect: at the least a supply of
clean water and some bread or oatmeal each day. The three
and a half week delay before the ship sailed meant that
many of the passengers had consumed most of their
provisions.
The lack of food and water, and the overcrowding, meant
that when fever broke out on the ship, it spread fast.
The conditions were made worse by the slow progress of the
ship. Poor navigation and seamanship meant that a journey
that should have taken 6 to 8 weeks, took 10 weeks.
The captain, who was also the owner of the ship, must bear
responsibility for this. However he has already paid for his
greed and incompetence with his life.
The mate’s action in keeping the captain’s body on deck for
13 days, further spreading sickness and distress, was not
the action of a sensible man. Moreover Mr. Ferguson
abused his position by selling the passengers food and
water at inflated prices and thus profiting from their hunger
and misery.
However, given the death of the owner, there is no
immediate prospect that the mate or his crew will be paid for
their work.
More than 30 people are dead.
Many who survived have had to spend their savings on
buying extra food and water.
We do not want to see people landing on our shores, ill,
starving, and penniless, without the money they need to start
a new life.
I fear that in this case we can not inflict the penalties that
natural justice demands.
Since it has been established that the captain was the sole
owner of the ship, and no one who was on board this ship is
in any doubt that the man is dead, we can not punish a dead
man.
I declare this inquiry closed.
Unit 4.4 Comparing accounts: the Famine Ship source
The newspaper article from The Nation (1846) overleaf is the
source for the Famine Ship Inquiry role-play.
œ What details in the role-play are exactly as in the
newspaper article?
œ What are the key differences between the article and
the role-play?
œ What has been added and why?
(The details of the journey and conditions are the same, but
the characters and their reasons for leaving have been
created to reflect life at the time.)
The Nation
The E____ and S__________ was
advertised to leave Killala on the 2nd
of May 1846. She did not, however,
until the 26th, against which time, the
emigrants who had been kept waiting
had consumed most of their small
means.
It was understood that each berth in
the ship was to be occupied by six
persons, and that the number of
passengers was not to exceed 216
(about twice too many for so small a
craft).
After she had sailed it was found that
they numbered 280, and that instead
of their being 47 berths there were
but 32, which being quite insufficient,
many persons were obliged to sleep
on the floor. Two quarts of water a day
was the most that was allowed to
each passenger – oatmeal or bread
was not served at all.
After having been out 21 days, the
master informed his passengers that
they were on the banks of
Newfoundland; but they did not reach
Newfoundland for twenty-four days
afterwards, and instead of being on
the south they were on the north.
They were obliged to make the circuit
of the island to gain the gulf of St.
Lawrence, but before doing this, the
mate (captain being sick) ran ashore
on the island of St. Peter, thinking it
was St. Paul’s Island.
The emigrants were then in a most
deplorable state, living upon short
allowance, many of them without any.
The pittance of water was gluey and
putrid; disease and pestilence broke
out and carried off their victims.
In this state of things they succeeded
in getting off the reef without much
injury. The captain now breathed his
last, and several of the passengers
also died. Their bodies were
immediately committed to the deep;
but the mate persisted in keeping the
body of the captain on deck, where it
remained for thirteen days in a most
disgusting state, increasing the
sickness to such an extent that by this
time twenty souls had perished.
Shortly after, they fell in with a vessel,
and it was with great difficulty that the
mate was induced to heave to, in the
hope of obtaining a fresh supply of
water and provisions; both of which he
got, and sold the latter to the
passengers at a most exorbitant price.
A few days subsequently another
vessel was passed, but the mate
would not stop, notwithstanding the
most urgent and heart rending
entreaties.
On the seventy-second day from their
departure from Killala, these ill-fated
voyagers dropped anchor at Grosse
Isle (where they were kindly received)
and seven more of them there
expired. It was stated that in
consequence of the death of the
master, the authorities were
prevented from inflicting the penalties
which they otherwise would, as he
was the sole owner of the E______.