Emigration
Emigration
The link with emigration to America is commemorated by a sculpture in Curran Park created by Ed Barton depicting a family going to board an emigrant ship. The first recorded emigrant ship to sail from Larne was the 'Friends Goodwill' which left in May of 1717 bound for Boston, this was part of the early and significant migration of mainly Ulster Presbyterians, around the same time ships left from Coleraine and Derry. Emigration continued through the 1700s then in 1972 we find some interesting records relating to Larne.
After many had settled in American near Charleston, a call went out for a minister to come out and be part of the community, this was responded to by a covenanter minister, Reverend William Martin, who took part in organising an emigration aboard five ships. The first two ships sailed from Larne, two from Belfast and one from Newry. The James and the Mary sailed from Larne on August 25th 1772, arriving off Charleston, Carolina on October 16th, smallpox broke out aboard which claimed the lives of five children, the vessels had to go into quarantine off Sullivan’s Island for seven weeks.
The next ship to leave Larne was the Lord Dunluce on October 4th with the Reverend Martin on board arrived on December 20th, again several passengers contracted smallpox including children and quarantine was imposed. These were long voyages for children, over two months at sea, in later years better facilities and care was given to young ones but it would take endless deaths from smallpox, typhoid and cholera to realise it. This emigration occurred during the second and more significant wave of emigration from Ireland, after this emigration dropped until the famine years when it surged again.
In 1873, James Chaine began the first regular trans-atlantic route in partenrship with the State Line Company who provided the Glasgow - Larne - New York, this opened another regular route for emigration, trans-atlantic passengers and cargo trade. The first sailing took place in April 1873 and the service ran until 1890 when the company went into liquidation with the fleet of ships being sold to the Allen Lines. In 1878, one of the State Line ships operating the Glasgow - Larne - New York route, the 'State of Louisiana' ran aground while coming into Larne to pick up emigrants. She hit Hunter's Rock and despite efforts to pull her off became a total loss. She was an iron screw 1,869 ton, barquentine rigged steamship which was built in Glasgow in 1872.