Many went directly to the United States via New York or Boston, but up to 100,000 Irish took the cheaper “timber ships” to Canada (3). Immigrants suffered deplorable conditions in almost all routes, but these were the worst. Captains crowded as many people as possible onto their typically small ships, and passengers very had little room or fresh air. Food, water, and other supplies often ran low, compounding the passengers’ problems (6). Diseases like Cholera and Typhus ran rampant, and mortality among immigrants going through Canada could have reached 30-40 percent (3). Irish immigrants who traveled directly to the US fared slightly better, but they still faced many of these same
Many went directly to the United States via New York or Boston, but up to 100,000 Irish took the cheaper “timber ships” to Canada (3). Immigrants suffered deplorable conditions in almost all routes, but these were the worst. Captains crowded as many people as possible onto their typically small ships, and passengers very had little room or fresh air. Food, water, and other supplies often ran low, compounding the passengers’ problems (6). Diseases like Cholera and Typhus ran rampant, and mortality among immigrants going through Canada could have reached 30-40 percent (3). Irish immigrants who traveled directly to the US fared slightly better, but they still faced many of these same