The first Jeanie Johnston was built in the year 1847 in Quebec Canada and was purchased in England by John Donovan of Tralee, Co.Kerry, Ireland. The potato famine was raging in Ireland then, driving many of the destitute population to emigrate. Donovans ran a successful business between 1847 and 1855 bringing people from Kerry to North America and returning with timber for Europe.
The ship’s maiden voyage took place on 24th April 1848 when she left from Blennerville near Tralee to Quebec in Canada with 193 passengers on board. During the following seven years the ship made sixteen more voyages to North America transporting in excess of two and a half thousand emigrants. The Jeanie Johnston was one of the the better managed ships – many ships carried passengers in appalling conditions.
In overcrowded conditions below deck, up to 250 frightened strangers found themselves together. The majority of them were never at sea previously and didn’t know what to expect, and the one factor which they all had was their resolve to flee from the the terror of the Irish Famine.
Accommodation on board was austere, made up of bare planks, where people were cramped together, with four adults having to fit into a six foot-square space. Notwithstanding the seven week journey in very cramped and difficult conditions, there were no deaths on board the Jeanie Johnston.
The replica ship was designed by the English architect, Fred Walker.
The construction began in 1993 in a new facility at Blennerville near Tralee and was finalized in 2002. The ship is built with a shell of larch on oak framework, and was constructed with materials and design as close to the original as possible. However safety standards demanded some deviation from the original.
An international workforce of young people, from the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland from both sections of the community, the US, Canada and other countries, built the new ship supervised by experienced shipwrights. This forward thinking project showed how young people from various cultures could collaborate in peace, harmony and mutual respect.
Since the project was completed in 2002, the Jeanie Johnston has sailed to most of the ports in Ireland, including Dublin and Belfast, and has been welcomed with excitement by the many visitors who have toured the ship and experienced what life for the emigrants was like.
In 2003 Jeanie Johnston left the home port of Fenit in County Kerry to start a nine week Atlantic crossing to recreate the voyage of famine times. It arrived in Florida on the fifeteenth of April and continued on a tour of ports along the East Coast of the United States and Canada and then she sailed back to Ireland. During 2004 and 2005 the Jeanie Johnston made many passenger and crew voyages around Ireland, England and the rest of Europe.
The Dublin Port Authority procured the the ship in 2005 and its main function is now a museum and visitor centre. She is now located in Dublin’s docks and is open for visitors with guided tours being conducted daily.
This tour gives a very realistic view of life on board an emigrant ship. The tour is very popular and visitors report that they get a great sense of the reality of life on board during that long trip to North America.
Visitors to Tralee can find Tralee B&B and Hotels in Tralee at Stay in Kerry
Bloggers that are want to get information about the sphere of vacation home, please make sure to go to the web page that is quoted right in this line.