The Great Migration
1815-1850
LIfe's not so good in Britain.
Coffin ships
You get on a ship to reach Canada. Most of the time, there were hundreds of other families on the ship. Everything is usually fine for a few days after you board. Besides the fact of being squashed in the ship with a hundreds of random people, there was also seasickness and contagious diseases that killed people. One day, someone gets sick and the next thing you know, the whole ship is! Many unfortunate families buried husbands, wives, and children at sea. By the end of the trip, half the people would be dead.
Some ships required you to bring your own food. Popular meals were oatmeal, salt pork and beef, and potatoes.
Oatmeal
A very healthy choice!
Salted beef (corned beef)
We don't know if they had corned beef, but it's the same.
Mashed Potatoes
The simplest form of potato.
Ugh, Cholera!
However, there is a quarantine station at Grosse Île, and if anyone looks sick, they have to stay there until they get better- Whoops! I mean, if they get better.
Lots of the people staying at Grosse Île were Irish, so there were a lot of Irish orphans. Luckily, Canadien families took it as their job to adopt them.
It's not all sunshine and rainbows on the other side.
The grass isn't always green on the other side.
- You need to get a job, and with all those other migrants, I'm not certain you'll find one!
- Right, now that you've got here, where will you live? In a tiny log cabin with 19 other people?
- Your family may or may not have survived.
- Don't forget cholera still exists. You are not safe from cholera!