Setting Sail

Privacy

Steerage was the most basic accommodation – rows of bare bunks. The space was small, filthy and a breeding ground for disease. There was no privacy. Toilets and cooking facilities were on the deck.

The British Passenger Acts said how much space each passenger could have below deck – it was very little.
On the same vessels there were other classes of accommodation: first (saloon), second and intermediate.

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Irish

Emigration greatly affected the social structure in Ireland – young people fled and families were torn apart. Most had little choice – they had been evicted from (thrown off) their homes or were without work, so the alternative was starvation. Conditions were so poor that people were forced to emigrate during the winter months, enduring freezing, rough seas.

A few landowners were so desperate to reduce the number of starving people on their land that they actually helped some of their tenants migrate. However, at the height of the potato famine in 1847 there was little state-assisted emigration to Australia, so it was not an option for most people.

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Space

Air entered steerage through the access hatches in the deck. However, these could only be opened in calm weather, so in rough seas the air was hot, stale and smelly. Even with the hatches open air did not flow into the space easily, so canvas tubes were constructed and hung from the rigging to encourage air into the hole.

Light mainly came from oil lamps, made from heavy metal and glass. These were smelly and dangerous during rough weather.

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Meal

From 1842 ships provided their passengers with food – bread, biscuits, flour, oatmeal, salted meat, water, pickled fish etc. This was often poor quality, and songs have even been sung about how bad it tasted. Before 1842 passengers had to take and cook their own food.

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