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What were the living conditions on the boats from Europe to the USA during the second and third wave?
 * What did they eat?
 * Where did they sleep?
 * Did a lot of people get sick and die?

**These pieces of information are from http://pbskids.org/bigapplehistory/immigration/index-flash.html** __Irish Immigrants__ After 30 days on the ship in the filthy holds of converted freighters, Irish families emerged onto the New York waterfront. Many were half-dead. Almost all of the passengers had no money. __Ellis Island__ In 1907, its peak year, Ellis Island processed over 1.2 million immigrants. By 1924, over 16 million immigrants had entered the United States here -- 71 percent of all those arriving in total. By 1954, when it closed for good, over 40 million immigrants had passed through its gates. Today, 100 million Americans -- roughly 40 percent of the population -- can trace their roots through ancestors who came through this 27 1/2 acre island!

**__Quick Facts__** Traveling to the USA for the first time took a lot courage, and lots of people did it.//** //**Immigrants had to pay to immigrate on boats from one place to another.**// //**If immigration boats went into New York Harbor then the first sight of the USA would be the Statue of Liberty!**//
 * //On Immigration Boats many passengers got seasick because of storms.

__Irish living conditions in the USA__ time in history: the potato famine in Ireland The unsanitary conditions were breeding grounds for disease, particularly cholera. Sixty percent of the Irish children born in Boston during this period didn't live to see their sixth birthday. Adult Irish lived on average just six years after stepping off the boat onto American soil. This piece of info is from: http://www.historyplace.com/worldhistory/famine/america.htm

This piece of info is from []. The Dunborady immigrant ship was used for immigration from Europe to the USA and Canada. A family of 4 would be expected to live on one of these bunks that was about 6' x 6'. If you were unfortunate enough to be assigned a lower bunk, any bodily fluids from sea sickness or other bodily accidents would drain through the boards on to the lower bunk. Each ship was allowed to carry about 300 people. To compound the sardine effect, a child under the age of 14 was considered a half of an adult. Provisions for each passenger was entitled 3 quarts of water each day and 7 pounds of bread, biscuit flour, oats or rice per week. Part of their provisions was tea. Many of the passengers did not know what this was. Their usual drink would have been buttermilk.

// I would not like to go on an immigation boat. If I got a lower then it would be discusting to get ny bodily fluids draining on you. I would probably be hungry because they only gave you water, tea, and wheat foods. Also there were no fruits or vegtables on the boats. //

** This is what immigrants ate on the boats over to the USA. **
 * Spoiled food and filthy drinking water
 * Water
 * Bread
 * Biscuit flour
 * Oats
 * Rice
 * Tea

This is where immigrants sleep on the boats oveu to the USA.
 * In bunk like things called berths

__Hypotheses about how it felt to be on an immigration boat.__
 * bad getting seasick
 * not enough food
 * strange foods
 * scary
 * discusting
 * sad about leaving family behind in home country
 * sad about family dying
 * can not wait until they get to the USA because they could get better things



This is a picture of an immigration boat.

These pieces of info are from [] The sleeping quarters are large compartments, accommodating as many as 300, or more, persons each. For assignment to these, passengers are divided into three classes; namely, women without male escorts, men traveling alone, and families. Each class is housed in a separate compartment and the compartments are often in different parts of the vessel. It is generally possible to shut off all communication between them, though this is not always done. The berths are in two tiers, with an interval of 2 feet and 6 inches of space above each. They consist of an iron framework containing a mattress, a pillow, or more often a life-preserver as a substitute, and a blanket. The mattress, and the pillow if there is one, is filled with straw or seaweed. On some lines this is renewed every trip. Either colored gingham or coarse white canvas slips cover the mattress and pillow. A piece of iron piping placed at a height where it will separate the mattresses is the " partition " between berths. The blankets differ in weight, size, and material on the different lines. On one line of steamers, where the blanket becomes the property of the Passenger on leaving, it is far from adequate in size and weight, even in the summer. Generally the passenger must retire almost fully dressed to keep warm. 'through the entire voyage, from seven to seventeen days, the berths receive no attention from the stewards. The berth, 6 feet long and 2 feet wide and with 2 1/2 feet of space above it, is all the space to which the steerage passenger can assert a definite right. To this 30 cubic feet of space he must, in a large measure, confine himself. No space is designated for hand baggage. As practically every traveler has some bag or bundle, this must be kept in the berth. It may not even remain on the floor beneath. There are no hooks on which to hang clothing. Almost everyone has some better clothes saved for disembarkation, and some wraps that are not worn all the time, and these must either be hung about the framework of the berth or stowed somewhere in it. At least two large transportation lines furnish the steerage passengers eating utensils and require each one to retain these throughout the voyage. As no repository for them is provided, a corner of the berth must serve that purpose. Towels and other toilet necessities, which each passenger must furnish for himself, claim more space in the already crowded berths. The floors of these large compartments are generally of wood, but floors consisting of large sheets of iron were also found. Sweeping is the only form of cleaning done. Sometimes the process is repeated several times a day. This is particularly true when the litter is the leavings of food sold to the passengers by the steward for his own profit. No sick cans are furnished, and not even large receptacles for waste. The vomit of the seasick are often permitted to remain a long 'tame before being removed. The Boors, when iron, are continually damp and when of wood, they reek with foul odor because they are not washed. The open deck available to the steerage is limited. The cheapest possible materials and construction of both washbasins and lavatories secure the smallest possible degree of convenience and make the maintenance of cleanliness extremely difficult where it is attempted at all. The washbasins are invariably too few in number, and the rooms in which they are placed are so small as to admit only by crowding as many persons as there are basins. The only provision for counteracting. all the dirt of this kind of travel is cold salt water, with sometimes a single faucet of warm water to an entire wash room. And in some cases this faucet of warm water is at the same time the only provision for washing dishes. Soap and towels are not furnished. Floors of both wash rooms and water-closets are damp and often filthy until the last day of the voyage, when they are cleaned in preparation for the inspection at the port of entry.


 * The American Dream is to come to the USA because: **
 * better places to live
 * better food
 * freedom
 * doing the thing you want to do
 * live with your culture
 * no wars
 * earn money

__**Resources**__ [] [] [] [] [] [] h\

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