Walking Tour: Manhattan: Arrival

As Anne Hughes McCarthy wrote “Anne got on the sailing ship with her own feather bed, a ham, her small purse on a cord around her neck, with the money to get to New Orleans to her aunt, and the brass candlestick.....and landed in New York on August 10, 1847.

Anne left County Mayo and traveled to Galway, Ireland to board the Emma Prescott on June 22, 1847. She landed in New York on August 10; she spent six weeks on the schooner which was one of nearly 5,000 Irish Immigrant Ships bringing Irish to America in the 19th Century. The Emma Prescott was built by Peter Vose in Robbinston, Maine in 1846.  Owned by George Lewis and T. O. Dunstone, she was 88 feet long, 20 feet wide and 10 feet tall. The trip from Ireland to America was one of her first; the majority of her trips were from Ireland to Australia. She sank in 1867, off the coast of Tasmania and remains in the water.

Anne is listed as one of 53 passengers on the Emma Prescott. Most ships carrying immigrants during this time period carried around 400 passengers. While our family story tells us nothing about her ship journey, contemporary accounts suggest the living arrangements were separated by gender and women and girls spent much of the days sewing and talking. Hopefully, one or a few of Anne’s companions took the twelve year old girl into their care.Anne Hoey landed in New York on August 9, 1847.  at South Street Port, today’s Pier 17, approximately two blocks south of where the Brooklyn Bridge now stands. From my research, it appears Anne disembarked and was on her own; Castle Garden (precursor to Ellis Island) was not yet open.

From 1840-1860, South Street Port was the second busiest port in the world (behind London.) The surrounding areas exploded with commerce to include merchants, trading companies, taverns, and boarding houses. 

The area was likely crowded; for example, on one day in 1836, there were 921 vessels on the East River waiting to load or unload onto South Street, while an additional 320 waited on the Hudson.

South Street Seaport is a historic neighborhood and maritime museum in Lower Manhattan, New York City. It's a designated historic district centered where Fulton Street meets the East River. The area is known for its rich maritime history, with ships from around the world once docking at South Street. Today, it's a popular tourist destination offering a blend of historical attractions and modern amenities, including the South Street Seaport Museum and various shops and restaurants. 

Walking Tour: Next Stop- Rufus Davenport place of business....