On April 12, 1847, USS Jamestown arrives from Boston to Cobb, County Cork, with aid to Irish Famine victims

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The Cobh of Cork from Queenstown, ca 1856

On  April 12, 1847, the USS Jamestown arrived in Queenstown (now Cobh), County Cork, carrying 800 tons of supplies for the victims of the Irish Famine.  The ship had left Charlestown Navy Yard in Boston Harbor 15 days earlier, on March 28, 1847, and had encountered foul weather, with rain, sleet and fog throughout the voyage. 

The humanitarian mission was led by Captain Robert Bennet Forbes, a wealthy sea merchant living in Milton, MA. With Forbes on the journey were 38 crew members who had signed on to help. In February, Forbes had petitioned the US Congress for the loan of a naval ship to bring supplies, and permission to use the USS Jamestown had been granted.

Boston newspapers enthusiastically reported on the voyage, which captured the world's imagination at the time, and ever since. Reverend R.C. Waterson later wrote, "I consider the mission of the Jamestown as one of the grandest events in the history of our country. A ship-of-war changed into an angel of mercy, departing on no errand of death, but with the bread of life to an unfortunate and perishing people."


Photo of USS Jamestown by E.D.Walker, Marine Artist

When the USS Jamestown arrived in Cobb, Cork's provincial rulers greeted the crew with an invitation to a sumptuous dinner of the finest food and beverage.  Forbes and his crew found this banquet most embarrassing, however, since Irish citizens lay dying in the streets nearby.  It was a cruel irony that underscore the contradictions and contrasts of the Irish Famine and how it was presented to the world. 

Forbes was more interested in seeing firsthand the suffering everyone had heard so much about. He was escorted around Cork by Father Teobald Mathew, the famous temperance priest. Forbes later described the event: "It was the valley of death and pestilence itself. I would gladly forget, if I could, the scenes I witnessed."

When Forbes returned to Boston, he immediately set out to equip another ship, the USS Macedonian, to bring further supplies to the people of Ireland. 

Courtesy of the Forbes House Museum

Following Captain Forbes' death in 1891, his estate was kept in the family and in 1964 his ancestor Crosby Forbes opened the property up to the public as a museum.  In 1966 the estate was declared a National Historic Landmark.  Today the Forbes House Museum in Milton welcomes visitors to learn about the Forbes family and the historic voyage of the USS Jamestown. 

The Forbes House Museum is being added to Boston's Irish Heritage Trail, a collection of public landmarks in greater Boston and throughout Massachusetts that accentuates Irish history and heritage.





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