Park Canada’s confirmation that human remains discovered in Quebec’s Gaspé region in 2011 and 2016 were those of 21 Irish immigrants who died in the Carricks shipwreck in 1847 after fleeing famine has renewed interest on social media in the ship and its passengers.
A CBC report about Park Canada’s announcement was included in Saturday’s Crème de la crème.
The Carricks sailed from Sligo in March 1847, bound for the Port of Quebec. It was loaded with emgrants from the Irish estates of Lord Palmerston. On April 28, the ship ran into a severe storm in the Gulf of St. Lawrence and was wrecked and sank off the coast of Cap-des-Rosiers before it was able to reach its final destination.
The number of passengers and survivors varies, depending on the source. Most claim between 120 and 150 people died when the ship sank. According to a CTV report, only 48 people survived, and they were taken in by families in the village. Others say only 20 survived.
A couple of years ago, the Lost Children of the Carricks Documentary Facebook group posted what is purported to be a list of the passengers, although the source was not provided.
Parks Canada said the human remains of the 21 passengers will be buried near the Irish Memorial on Cap-des-Rosiers Beach at a ceremony in the summer. The monument, which was a gift from Montreal’s St. Patrick’s Parish, was erected in 1900 in memory of the shipwrecked passengers.
In 1966, the ship’s bell was found far away in Blanc Sablon and enshrined in a small monument next to the original one. A plaque, put in place in 1977 by the Canadian Parks Service, recalls this tragedy. It is located in the north sector of Forillon National Park.
The trailer of the documentary is on YouTube.
More can be read on the Ghost of the Carricks website. IrishCentral also wrote a lengthy report about the human remains discovery.
