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The Dunbrody is a full-scale reconstruction of a 19th Century Famine ship, and authentic replica of the Three Masted Barque built in Quebec in 1845 for the Graves family of New Ross. Board the Dunbrody and walk in the footsteps of a group of Irish famine emigrants on their journey of hope across the Atlantic Ocean. Go below deck and enter the confined spaces, which would be home for passengers and crew for the 45-day voyage. Descend into the cargo hold where the exhibition describes the endurance, struggle and triumph over adversity of those 19th Century emigrants as epitomised by the story of the most famous emigrant sons of New Ross, President John F. Kennedy.
These passengers were people desperate to escape the famine conditions in Ireland at the time and conditions for steerage passengers were tough. However, the mortality rate on the Dunbrody was exceptionally low, no doubt due to her captains, John Baldwin and his successor John W. Williams, with passengers writing home often praising their dedication.
A computer database of ship’s passengers records list over two million individual passages while audio visual and interactive displays trace the amazing success stories of the, Kennedy’s, Commodore John Barry, Henry Ford, Eugene O’Neill and many others
The original Dunbrody was a three masted barque built in Quebec in 1845 by Thomas Hamilton Oliver.