A Tale of Two Cities, and More

A remarkable book has arrived in Stoneham, and it’s on sale at the Book Oasis, our Main Street bookstore. It’s the tale of two nations, America and Ireland; two cities, Boston and Cork, and two heroic men, a priest and a sea captain.

Voyage of Mercy by Stephen Puleo tells the story of America’s first humanitarian mission, the sending of more than a hundred ships loaded with food to the starving people of Ireland.

The first ship left the Navy wharf in Charlestown on March 28, 1847, loaded with 8,000 barrels of corn, bread, beans, beef, pork, peas, hams, oatmeal, dried apples, flour, potatoes, rice, rye, wheat and fish— donated from farms and churches, businesses, shop keepers and laborers throughout New England.

The ship was the USS Jamestown, a warship stripped of its guns for its new assignment. The captain was a seasoned mariner in his 40s, Robert Bennet Forbes. Having gone to sea at age 9 as a cabin boy, he had quickly risen through the ranks, assuming command of his first ship at age 20. He had made a fortune in the China trade, then lost it, then made it again, and now had hoped to retire with his family in Boston.

Waiting for the Jamestown to arrive in Cork, Ireland, was the Rev. Theobald Mathew, a beloved priest leading efforts to save victims of the potato famine. Known widely as a leader in the temperance movement, he had become the voice of the poor facing starvation and disease.

In Ireland fully one half of the population depended on the potato for sustenance, and when the potato fields blackened in the late summer of 1846, the people, largely tenant farmers, lost not only their daily food, but the means to pay their rent. Starvation, disease, and dispossession quickly spread. Country roads filled with weakened and ill families, crowding into cities. Hospitals and cemeteries overflowed.

On April 13, as the Jamestown entered the deep harbor of Cork, writes Puleo, “thousands of Irish people lined the hillside and wharves. Men and children cheered wildly . . . and many people wept openly.”

Voyage of Mercy is Stephen Puleo’s seventh book about Boston and American history. No book, however, is broader in its sweep of both local, national and international events. While lifting up the heroic men and women who took part in the humanitarian mission, he also makes clear who and what caused the famine, and who made it worse.

The main theme of this book, however, is the generosity and swift action of the people of America. At the center was the fund-raising efforts in churches and work halls, the support of businessmen and legislators, the courageous actions of the captain and the priest and all those who made the mission possible. The story has a special resonance for those of Irish heritage in Boston and surrounding towns, who know the story in the DNA of their families.

On Sunday, April 26, Stephen Puleo will be at Town Hall for a 2 p.m. performance, sponsored by the Stoneham Historical Society & Museum and co-sponsored by several Stoneham organizations, including St. Patrick Parish and School. There will be Irish music and dance. In the meantime, get the book, Voyage of Mercy. It’s a great read.