coffin ship
Floating immigrant deathtrap
A coffin ship was a vessel so overcrowded, poorly provisioned, or unseaworthy that passengers died in large numbers during the voyage.
The term is especially associated with ships carrying Irish emigrants during the Great Famine of the 1840s, when mortality rates on some crossings exceeded twenty percent.
Figuratively, any dangerously neglected transport: That ferry is a coffin ship waiting to happen.
- emigrantPerson resettling in another nation
- passengerTraveler, not operator
- maritimeOf the sea
- famineSevere food shortage
- choleraBacterial disease causing fatal dehydration
overcrowding · diaspora · Old World · mortality · mass grave · refugee · asylum seeker · exploitation · seafaring · starvation · voyage · malnutrition · disease · transatlantic · Atlantic crossing · journey · barque · despair
- slaverychattel slavery, enslaved, slave, enslavement, slave traders
- Irish HeritageTara, Book of Kells, Celtic cross, round tower, dolmen
coffin shipsafe passage
Protected transit through danger
luxury liner · lifeboat · ocean liner · rescue ship · cruise ship
coffin, ship, coffins, coffined, ships, shipped, shipping, shipment, shipments