All Standing : The True Story of Hunger, Rebellion, and Survival Aboard the Jeanie Johnston

by Miles, Kathryn

• ISBN13: 9781451610130
• ISBN10: 1451610130
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2013-01-08
• Publisher: Free Press

Summary

The dramatic true tale of a boy born at sea during the Irish Potato famine and the "coffin ship" that saved him and thousands of others from one of the world's greatest humanitarian crises.The nineteenth century Irish Potato Famine claimed the lives of more than 1,000,000 people. Many of these were Irish citizens who died on board ships carrying them away from Ireland. Promised jobs and a better life in North America, they emigrated, crowding onto aptly named "coffin ships," whose gruesome conditions rivaled those of slave transports. But on one ship, decency prevailed, and each of the thousands of passengers who went aboard survived. Among these thousands was a baby boy born on the ship's maiden voyage. That boy, NicholasNicholas Richard James Thomas William John Gabriel Carls Michael John Alexander Trabaret Archibald Cornelius Hugh Arthur Edward Johnston Reilly, so named for the captain, doctor, and crew of the Jeanie Johnstonwould go on to make his own remarkable voyage into the heart of America. All Standing chronicles the life of Nicholas, his fellow passengers, and the heroic crew members who conveyed them to safety. Using personal interviews, newspaper accounts, rare archival documents, and her own sailing experience, Miles takes readers back to another time and place that, for all its extremity, seems strangely familiara dire moment in history shaped by home foreclosures and company bailouts, seemingly untreatable pandemics, and the threat of immigrant labor. Against the backdrop of one of history's greatest atrocities, Miles weaves a thrilling, intimate narrative, chronicling the sea-passage and birth of one Irish-American family.

Author Biography

Kathryn Miles is professor of environmental writing at Unity College. She lives in Belfast, Maine.