The Ocean Plague

The Ocean Plague, first published in 1848, is an account of a voyage from Dublin to Quebec on an Irish emigrant ship. In it we read of the horrific symptoms of disease that so many of the passengers and members of the crew succumbed to. We hear of the decimation of families, the orphaning of children, the practicalities of disposing of the dead, and the callous indifference of many to the suffering of others. And, soberingly, the conditions aboard the vessel in question were without doubt better than those that many Irish emigrants had to endure in other ships. For here, at least, was a captain and his wife who showed genuine concern for those in their care and did what little they could to alleviate the distress of the sick and bereaved. The author was evidently a man of reasonable means and good education. He had his own berth and dined with the ship's captain and his wife. However, although Robert Whyte did not have to suffer the same deprivation and misery as his compatriots in the hold, his view of the many dreadful events that befell them is seen through a lens of religious compassion and social conscience, and his diary is nevertheless invaluable eyewitness testimony to the hardship and tragedy experienced on board an Irish 'famine ship' in the mid-Nineteenth Century.

Hardcover reprint of the original 1848 edition - beautifully bound in brown cloth covers featuring titles stamped in gold, 8vo - 6x9". No adjustments have been made to the original text, giving readers the full antiquarian experience. For quality purposes, all text and images are printed as black and white. This item is printed on demand. Book Information: Whyte, Robert. The Ocean Plague: Or, A Voyage To Quebec In An Irish Emigrant Vessel: Embracing A Quarantine At Grosse Isle In 1847: With Notes Illustrative Of The Ship-Pestilence Of That Fatal Year. Indiana: Repressed Publishing LLC, 2012. Original Publishing: Whyte, Robert. The Ocean Plague: Or, A Voyage To Quebec In An Irish Emigrant Vessel: Embracing A Quarantine At Grosse Isle In 1847: With Notes Illustrative Of The Ship-Pestilence Of That Fatal Year, . Coolidge And Wiley, 1848. Subject: Ocean travel

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This work has been selected by scholars as being culturally important and is part of the knowledge base of civilization as we know it. This work is in the public domain in the United States of America, and possibly other nations. Within the United States, you may freely copy and distribute this work, as no entity (individual or corporate) has a copyright on the body of the work. Scholars believe, and we concur, that this work is important enough to be preserved, reproduced, and made generally available to the public. To ensure a quality reading experience, this work has been proofread and republished using a format that seamlessly blends the original graphical elements with text in an easy-to-read typeface. We appreciate your support of the preservation process, and thank you for being an important part of keeping this knowledge alive and relevant.

Excerpt from The Ocean Plague: Or, a Voyage to Quebec in an Irish Emigrant Vessel: Embracing Quarantine at Grosse Isle in 1847, With Notes Illustrative of the Ship-Pestilence of That Fatal Year Men judge by the complexion of the sky, The state and inclination of the day: So may you by my dull and heavy eye, My tongue hath but a heavier tale to say. I play the torturer by small and small To lengthen out the worst that may be spoken. Shakspeare. Emigration has for a long time been considered by British political economists the most effective means of alleviating the grievous ills under which the Irish peasantry labor. It is not our province to inquire into its expediency; but viewing the subject with the single eye of common-sense, it is difficult to see the necessity of expatriating the superfluous population of a country wherein hundreds of thousands of acres of land susceptible of the highest culture, lie waste, - whose mines teeming with wealth remain - unworked, and which is bordered by more than two thousand miles of sea coast, whose banks swarm with ling, cod, mackerel, &c, while salt-fish is largely imported from Scotland. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.

This is a reproduction of the original artefact. Generally these books are created from careful scans of the original. This allows us to preserve the book accurately and present it in the way the author intended. Since the original versions are generally quite old, there may occasionally be certain imperfections within these reproductions. We're happy to make these classics available again for future generations to enjoy!

This work has been selected by scholars as being culturally important and is part of the knowledge base of civilization as we know it. This work is in the public domain in the United States of America, and possibly other nations. Within the United States, you may freely copy and distribute this work, as no entity (individual or corporate) has a copyright on the body of the work. Scholars believe, and we concur, that this work is important enough to be preserved, reproduced, and made generally available to the public. To ensure a quality reading experience, this work has been proofread and republished using a format that seamlessly blends the original graphical elements with text in an easy-to-read typeface. We appreciate your support of the preservation process, and thank you for being an important part of keeping this knowledge alive and relevant.