Wilmot Public Library presents a New Hampshire Humanities program based on The Coffin Ship: Life and Death at Sea During the Great Irish Famine by Cian T. McMahon. The discussion will be led by Professor Mary Kelly of Franklin Pierce University. The program will be presented on Saturday, March 11, at 1 PM on Zoom at us02web.zoom.us/j/81647473069 or in person at the Wilmot Public Library.

 Between 1845 and 1855, over two million people fled Ireland to escape the Great Famine. The so-called “coffin ships” they sailed on have since become infamous icons of 19th-century migration. The crews were brutal, the captains were heartless, and the weather was ferocious. The Coffin Ship uses immigrants’ letters and diaries to unpack the dynamic social networks that the Irish built while voyaging overseas. At every stage of the journey – including the treacherous weeks at sea – these migrants created new threads in the worldwide web of the Irish diaspora.

For more information about this event, please call 603 526-6804 or email WllmotLibrary@nullcomcast.net.