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My family and I came from Co. Kerry. We were really poor.
I was 11 years old and I was very jolly. I had 3 brothers and 1 sister;
I was the eldest child.
Chapter 1.
One day my father gathered the family around the table. He had made a
decision with my mother that he had to go to America to make a better
life for the family. My father turned to me and said,
"Jack you are getting big and strong. I would like you to come with me
and work in America, so that we can earn enough money to send to your
mother, so that they can join us." I looked at my father and asked, "When
are we going?" He said, "We are making an early start in the morning."
I looked across the table and saw my mother in tears. My father turned
to me and said "Jack go and pack your bag. We have a long journey ahead
of us tomorrow". I went to my room quickly. My head was full of thoughts.
I couldn't believe what my father had said. I felt shocked and excited.
I went to bed early that night but I couldn't sleep. The following morning
my father came in to my room and woke me up softly. "Jack get up out of
bed." I got up quietly and got dressed. I ran out to the kitchen to the
smell of freshly baked bread. My mother was up for hours baking bread
and getting our satchels ready. My dad and I had breakfast together at
the table in silence. It was finally time to say goodbye. My mother gathered
my brothers and sisters. They were really sad and so was my dad and I.
Dad said, "Don't be too upset. We will all be together in a few months
time." We started to walk into town. Dad said we would be getting a lift
off a William Mac Carthy. He brought post to the ship every time it went
to America. We arrived at the dock and my father and I had to register
at the timber house. There was a harbour master checking all the tickets
and getting everyone to write their names into a big roll book. We all
had to line up and when the harbour master shouted, "NEXT PLEASE!" we
all had to move forward one by one. It seemed to take ages but finally
it was our turn. I signed my name in big clear writing and my father was
proud of me because some people were very poor and were not able to write
their names. So the harbour master had to write their names for them.
The harbour master said, "You can now board the ship." And we got our
first look at where we were staying for the next three months. I thought
it was small. It was smelly and dirty and the poor class was very crowded
and everyone was squashed together. The captain announced that we were
leaving Ireland now. Everybody got really excited. It was a new beginning
for everyone.
Chapter 2
During the next couple of hours there was a lot of activity going on as
everyone put their satchels under their bunks. I decided to take a rest
and lay down on my bunk, when all of a sudden something hit my head. I
jumped up quickly and saw a head looking down at me. I said, "What was
that?" A boy replied, "Sorry about that. I just dropped my penknife."
I looked into his face and saw a boy that was about my age. He had black
curly hair. He said, "My name is Ben and I hope there is no damage done
by my pen knife." "No it's OK. My name is Jack." After that Ben and I
became friends. Ben was travelling to America with his father and his
brother Sam who was a year younger than I was. They came from a small
village called Ballyhassig. Ben had an uncle that went to America the
year before and he was making a good living. Ben and I got up to little
bits of mischief. One time Ben pretended to have a conversation in front
of a grumpy old man, that slept across from Ben and I. We pretended that
we overheard the captain saying that there was big storm coming and the
ship wasn't going to make it. We could tell that the grumpy old man was
listening. He went and told everybody. People started to panic and they
enquired off the crew what was going on. It all came out eventually and
Ben and I got into big trouble. After a few days our food became scarce.
We knew once our food was gone we would only have the tiny amount which
was divided on the ship. One morning after breakfast Ben and I decided
to explore more of the ship. We knew this was where the rich people stayed,
and we knew we were not supposed to be there. We sneaked along the corridor
and we could get a lovely smell. We looked in through the doors. People
were eating breakfast. We were feeling hungry. Ben spoke, "Their food
looks a lot nicer than ours." We looked around the room and saw a beautiful
girl sitting with a man that seemed to be her father. She didn't look
very happy. She saw us looking through the door and smiled. We tried to
hide because we knew the girl had seen us. We hurried down the corridor
and just as we got to the end a voice called out, "Boys, come back!" We
turned around to see the girl that had seen us standing there. She looked
very cross and we got scared because we thought we would get in trouble.
She beckoned for us to go up to her. When we got near to her she started
to laugh and said, "Don't look so worried I'm not going to tell on you."
She took some bread and meat from her pockets and held it out to us. We
scoffed it off in a minute. We thanked her and asked her her name. She
answered, "My name is Martha." We told Martha our names and we said we
were staying in the lower class. I told her the food was nicer up here.
She said, "It's not that nice, when you have made a lot of trips like
me." She told us that her father makes a lot of trips to America from
Ireland on business. She owned a weaving factory and travelled to America
with rolls of cloth to sell to tailors and dressmakers. After that we
met Martha fairly often and she always gave us nice food to eat. Martha
was great fun to be with and she didn't mind that we were in the poorer
class. When we were on the boat for weeks my father said that we were
very lucky that we were strong enough to stay healthy. Sam picked up a
very bad cough, from some other people that were sick on the ship. One
morning when we woke up we looked across to see the grumpy old man still
asleep. Dad shouted over to him "Wake up pa, we'll have all your breakfast
eaten." He didn't wake up. The poor old man died in his sleep. The sickness
on the boat started on everyone. The doctor was giving Sam some medicine
to help his cough. The doctor seemed to be very busy with the sick people.
Thank God Sam seemed to be improving. The ceremony for the grumpy old
man's funeral was up on top deck. The captain said a few words and Pa
was buried at sea. We were all very sad. Dad said, "The condition down
below is a disgrace. If they were better, Pa would be alive and there
wouldn't be a lot of people sick." After the funeral Ben, Sam, my father
and I took a walk on top deck. We spotted Martha and her father at the
bow of the ship. Martha ran over to us and her father followed her. He
said "Martha, who are these people?" He had a look of concern on his face.
Martha said, "These are my new friends that I was telling you about,"
And I introduced my father to Martha. My father and Martha's father shook
hands and began to talk. We ran over to the port side of the ship. We
saw the cabin where the captain used. We knew he was still busy with his
sailors after the funeral. We decided to take a look. There were a lot
of brass instruments, a large compass on the wall and two clocks. One
had 'USA' on it and the other had 'IRELAND'. They both had different times
on them and they looked very odd. There was a bunk in the corner and he
had a large brass barometer on the wall. It all looked interesting. Sam
said, "I would love to be a captain when I grow up." Martha said, "We
better get out of here before the captain comes back." We went back to
where our fathers were talking. They looked to be getting on very well.
My father said, "Jack, come here, I have great news. Martha's dad has
a business in America and he has promised me a job when we get there and
he said he would give us a house to stay." I said, "That's great Dad,
we would be able to get Mam and the rest of the family over sooner than
we thought." Dad said we only had two weeks left on the boat. We would
try to help the rest of the sick people for the rest of the time.
Chapter 3
We continued to see Martha and her dad everyday and he told my father
more about the job that he would be doing when we got to America. He said
that I would be able to help as well. That way we would be able to save
money more quickly. As we were getting nearer to America my friends and
I were getting really excited. The night before the morning we were due
to dock we hardly slept a wink. We woke up that morning and we new we
would never have to sleep on this filthy ship again. About an hour after
our breakfast we heard the ship's horn and we ran up on deck to get our
first look at America. Everybody gathered their satchels and we were told
to queue up to get off the ship. Ben and Sam and their dad were in front
of my dad and me. I was feeling sad that I would never see my friends
again. When the boat was fully docked we walked off the boat. It was like
a different world. It felt good. It was a new beginning for everyone.
The End by
Darren Gayson.
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