Glasgow

Cholera: Government poster of 1854

Cholera killed many on the emigrant ships as the article on Grosse Īle, or a search of voyage records here for Australian emigration show. It would certainly have been desirable, as the notice suggests, for passengers to travel in a ship which was not overcrowded but this was not an option for the poorer emigrants to Canada and the United States nor those sent to Australia by the HIES at this time. 1854 was the peak year of post-famine emigration from Ireland.

Even with a 'Medical Man' onboard it is unclear whether he would know what to do to prevent the spread of cholera and the advice about 'warm clothing' in this poster does not inspire confidence. Indeed 1854, when this notice was published, was crucial to the eventual understanding of the disease as it was in this year, and the cholera outbreaks in London of August and September, that John Snow was able to produce the statistical evidence to support his claim published in 1849 that cholera was water-borne. At that time many doctors continued to believe it was due to 'miasma' or 'bad air'.

Even the connection with water was only part of the story. That the disease was the result of a bacterium Vibrio cholerae was still unknown. In a very short time, between one and five days, it produces an enterotoxin which causes severe diarrhoea and leads to dehydration and, in the absence of prompt treatment, death.