Jeanie Johnston (Tall Ship Famine Museum)
Address:
Custom House Quay
Dublin, Ireland
Phone:
01 473 0111 or 066 712 9999
NileGuide Expert tip:
As you walk to the ship from the town centre you will pass the Great Famine Memorial. These haunting figures are a perfect introduction to the story of the Jeanie Johnston.
Description:
Docked at Custom House Quay, a five-minute walk from Dublin's city centre this is an accurate replica of the original Jeanie Johnston emigrant ship which sailed between Tralee in Co. Kerry and North America between 1847 and 1855. In all it made 16 voyages and succeeded in carrying over 2,500 emigrants to the New World without a single lost life even thogh mortality rates of 30% were common on similar ships - not only through hunger and disease, but the everyday nineteenth-century hazards of a 3,000 mile voyage, braving gales and high seas. The excellent guide (tours daily 11am, noon, 2pm, 3pm, 4pm
) will explain how, almost miraculously, the ship managed this feat and the background of the great Potato Famine. It's a fascinating and moving tale that manages to be both enthusiastic and sympathetic to the tragic circumstances of the voyage. the guides' microscopic level of detail is such that you might imagine they too had sailed the very same waters as the emigrants. Highly recommended.
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