The+Trip+to+America

June 22, 1897

10:55 am: I am leaving Ireland today. Part of me is sure going to miss it so much, but the rest of me will never look back. I am 15 years old and I am with my mother and my younger sister, Claire. My dad and older brother need to finish some things at home before they can join us in America. I am so excited and really have to idea what to expect. I do expect life to be better though. We are leaving because we are so poor. My father cannot make enough money to care for us properly and he is working 2 jobs along with a very small farm we own. The other reason is because of the opportunity we will have in America. I hope that I can get a job when we get there, to make some money for myself. Father tells me we will be wealthy and much happier there. I hope so, I sure will miss him. Us three girls have one chest to bring on the boat, I brought three dresses, and so did mother and Claire. We packed absolutely as much as we could in there, but only the necessities, because otherwise we wouldn't have enough room. We are waiting for the boat to arrive and I am quite excited. I must admit I am a bit nervous as well.

7:30 pm: We are now on the boat. It is called the "SS Independence" A nice name for such an awful ship. It is much worse than I could have ever imagined. As soon as we boarded, we were ordered down to the lowest deck and assigned a bunk, for all three of use to share! How awful. It is dirty and smelly and I don't know how I will survive here for the next two weeks or so. The walls are a little moldy, and the bunks don't smell clean. There are a lot of other people on here with us, I would say around 300. We have been on here for about 8 hours now and I am very hungry, I have had some water and a little bread, which wasn't appetizing. Mother said it won't get any better. I will be strong until we get to America though, because I know this is all worth it. Using the bathroom is also gross down here. There are chamber pots, but not many of them, definitely not enough. I don't want to use them because they are so gross; the smell makes me want to vomit, which is also what it smells like down here. I just want to be in America already!

July 9, 1:42pm: We are now just hours away from America and I am so excited, these past 17 days have been a nightmare. I got used to it though, I am sure I have lost some weight, considering I have only consumed bread, oats, and water, but not much of it. There was some sickness on the boat, but thankfully, none of us caught it. We are all quite weak though. I will be very happy to step off this boat and into America. Mother is talking about the process into America after we get off the boat, she seems a little nervous. We have friends that tried to come about three months ago. Mr. and Mrs. Connelly and their son, Patrick. Only Mrs. Connelly and Patrick made it into America, and Mr. Connelly was sent home. He is going to try again soon I think. I hope that we get in with no trouble. I am going to rest now. We should be there in a few hours. I will write back in America!

Sincerely,

Brigid Athol