ould have fearful implications for the poor people of Ireland at the time of thefamine (33).One morning in early September 1845, the director of Botanic Gardens in Dublinnoticed the leaves of some potato plants turning black at the edges. The fungal infection, nowknown as Blight, was cause for alarm because most or Ireland was dependant upon the potatocrop for income as well as food (55).This famine, which lasted for six years cuased hundreds of Irish people to die ofstarvation, and hundreds of thousands to immigrate to other countries (119). According toJohn Percival, author of The Great Famine: Ireland’s Potato Famine 1945-1951, each Englishcity had an Irish Quarter, which was always disease and poverty ridden.Many Irish people immigrated to the United States in search of a new and better life(Percival 126). Even though there were laws and regulations regarding the treatment andaccomidations for people aboard ships, they were rarely followed, and the immigrants didn’tcare. They often saved more than a year’s wages to pay for a spot aboard a ship for theirfamily. Sometimes even a year’s wages weren’t enough for the whole family, so memberswould be sent a few at a time, and send money back for the others (127). Immigrants were packed like cattle into small, uncomfortable, unsanitary quarters aboard ships. They wereserved moldy food and foul water (127).On an ironic note, many of the third class, or steerage passengers aboard the “R.M.S.Titanic” were on their way to the United States in search of a new and better life. Even thoughshe was said to be the largest and most luxurious ships of all time, in third class, the cabins ofthe Titanic were still small, and over crowded, usually with four or five people to a cabin(Nichol 1). Even though it was 1912, people were still suffering from the poverty that thegreat famine had caused (1).When the immigrants came to the United States, most of th...
