After our ironic meal we were given a tour of the boat inside and out, our guide explaining what life was like during the famine. He told us that many of the tickets to America were financed by the lords that owned the tenant farms they lived on, not for kindness, but because it was cheaper to get rid of them and turn their little patch into grazing land.
For every 6 square feet below decks, 4 passengers were allotted. Sometimes there were more than 300 passengers on a 12 week run across the pond. They had to live in truly horrible conditions, only allowed a half hour on deck a day, and god forbid there was a storm. They would all be locked below in filth and sick and anyone who died until the storm was over. Mortality rates of 50% were not uncommon.
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