Dunbrody

Dunbrody at New Ross
History
Name	Dunbrody
Launched	11 February 2001
General characteristics
Displacement	458 tonnes (451 long tons)
Length	53.7 m (176 ft 2 in) o/a 36.6 m (120 ft 1 in) w/l
Beam	8.5 m (27 ft 11 in)
Draft	3.5 m (11 ft 6 in)
Sail plan	Barque, sail area 940 m2 (10,100 sq ft)

The original Dunbrody was a three masted barque built in Quebec in 1845 by Thomas Hamilton Oliver.

History

She was commissioned by the Graves family, merchants from New Ross in Wexford and operated primarily as a cargo vessel. She was fitted with bunks and between April to September from 1845 to 1851, she carried passengers on the outward leg to Canada and the US. These passengers were people desperate to escape the famine conditions in Ireland at the time and conditions for steerage passengers were tough. However, the mortality rate on the Dunbrody was exceptionally low, no doubt due to her captains, John Baldwin and his successor John W. Williams, with passengers writing home often praising their dedication.

Each bunk accommodated between 4 to 10 people, including their few belongings

In 1869, after 24 years with the Graves family, she was sold. In 1874, while travelling from Cardiff to Quebec, she ran aground in the St. Lawrence. She was bought by a salvage company, repaired and sold again but in 1875 she foundered on the Labrador coast and was lost.

The new Dunbrody

The Dunbrody Project oversaw the construction of a full-scale sea-going replica. She was completed in New Ross drydock early in 2001 and since May of that year has been open to visitors at the quayside in New Ross. Visitors can see an interactive exhibition and experience life on board an emigrant ship. There is also a large database, complied in collaboration with the Balch Institute, of emigrants who sailed from England, Ireland, Scotland & Wales in 1800s.

See also

• Jeanie Johnston

External links

• Dunbrody