Coffin ship
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A coffin ship was the name given to the ships that carried Irish immigrants escaping the effects of the potato famine. These ships, crowded and disease ridden, with poor access to food and water, resulted in the deaths of many people as they crossed the Atlantic.
While coffin ships were the cheapest way to cross the Atlantic, often more than half of the passengers died during the voyage.
It was said that sharks could be seen following the ships in packs because so many bodies were thrown overboard.
The National Famine Monument is at the base of Croagh Patrick in Murrisk, County Mayo, Ireland. It depicts a Coffin Ship with skeletons and bones as rigging. Sculpted by John Behan, it is Ireland's largest bronze sculpture. Coffin Ship was unveiled by then President of Ireland Mary Robinson in 1997 to mark the 150th anniversary of the Irish Famine.
The Irish band Primordial recorded a song about this titled "The Coffin Ships" on The Gathering Wilderness - the lyrics taken from the grave stones in Skibbereen, Cork.
Irish poet Eavan Boland mentions the coffin ships in her poem "In a Bad Light" from the collection In a Time of Violence, and in her memoir Object Lessons: The Life of the Woman and the Poet in Our Time.