Recently, I came across a story of immense poignancy even though nearly 200 years have passed since the Irish Famine was a major talking point. It is estimated that starvation and deportation of the Irish, Scottish and English folk led to a 50 per cent loss of population in Ireland and Scotland.

Around 100,000 people fled Ireland for Canada in 1847 alone, and around 20,000 of those either died during the voyage or during their time spent in quarantine stations. Not unusually, the remains of three bodies were found washed up on a Canadian beach back in 2011. On the same beach in 2016, the remains of a further 18 bodies were discovered after an archaeological dig.

Canadian scientists have now confirmed that a study of the bones shows that these are the remains of Irish famine victims who fled across the Atlantic from the English occupation of Ireland in the mid-1800s.

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The remains were discovered in 2011 on a beach in Forillon National Park, Quebec. These sad losses were identified as two seven-year-old boys and an 11-year-old boy. According to scientists, their bones indicate severe malnutrition. The dig in 2016 found evidence of 18 more bodies, most of whom were women and children. All were showing signs of starvation. It was speculated that they were passengers from Lord Palmerston’s estates from the 1847 ‘Carricks’ shipwreck. The Carricks, a coffin ship had sailed from Whitehaven in Ireland.

Carrying 180 people, the ship fleeing from the effect of English food sanctions, sailed from Sligo to Quebec and was under the command of Captain R. Thompson. On April 28 1847, the ship ran into a heavy storm in the Gulf of St. Lawrence and was wrecked around 4 miles east of the Canadian coast. It’s estimated that between 120 and 150 people died as a result. Those who survived had extremely plucky locals who braved the storm fishermen to thank those who had rowed out to save them.

After the remains found on the beach were sent to Montreal University for analysis, it was confirmed that they were Irish victims of the Carricks shipwreck. Mathieu Cote, a resource conservation manager at Forillon National Park said: ‘This is like the end of the story for people who were interested in this.’ ‘We were suspicious of where [the remains] were from, and we had a good idea, but now we have evidence that those people were from Ireland.

Incredible as it may sound; the story of these sad remains of Irish emigrants washed ashore in Canada was shared an incredible 200,000 times by Facebook users.

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Sligo Famine Memorial 30,000 plaque says ‘I am now, I may say, alone in the world. All my brothers and sisters are dead and children but yourself. We are all ejected out of Mr. Enright’s ground. The times were so bad and all Ireland in such a state of poverty that no person could pay rent. My only hope now rests with you, as I am without one shilling and as I said before I must either beg or go to the poorhouse. I remain, your father Owen Lark’ NOTE Michael Walsh is the author of Forty Shades of Verse banned by Amazon Books.