Up to three ships from the Ottoman Empire sailed up the River Boyne to Drogheda to deliver supplies during the famine, according to a local historian.
Both the Drogheda Argus and the Drogheda Conservative newspapers reported on 'foreign ships' that docked at the town of Drogheda from May 10-14, 1847.
According to the Drogheda Independent, two of the ships arrived from the Ottoman Port of Thessalonica, which is now known as Salonika. The third ship arrived from the port of Stettin. The three ships brought wheat and Indian Corn for local merchants in the area.
A local historian, Brendan Matthews, said, “The timeframe matches perfectly, but the fact there is no firm documentary evidence may not be a coincidence”.
“This is the closest I have come to finding documentation, as there are no shipping records for Drogheda Port at that time,”
According to the newspaper, the Ottoman Sultan Abdul Majid Khan sent £1,000 on Wednesday, March 31, 1847, to Dublin Castle. He had wanted to make a larger donation but was advised not to donate more than Queen Victoria, who had sent £2,000.
His generosity to the Irish people was reported in the in the London Times on Saturday, April 17, 1847, as well as in the Nation newspaper in Ireland.
“According to sources within the Turkish Embassy and the oral history of the Turkish people, the Sultan also sent three ships very soon after he had sent the £1,000 and that all three ships, although they may not have left the same port, arrived in Ireland at the same time and docked at the port of Drogheda,” Matthews said.
“If the Sultan had indeed sent such ships after the money aid, these ships would then have reached Irish shores around the first or second week in May of 1847.”
“The sultan of Turkey, Abdul Medjid Khan, may have sent the ships as a "hushed-up" gesture, not wanting to upset Queen Victoria,” Matthews added.
A plaque in Drogheda unveiled in 1995 by Drogheda Mayor Alderman Godfrey and the then Turkish Ambassador to the Republic of Ireland, Taner Baytok reads, “The Great Irish Famine of 1847 -- In remembrance and recognition of the generosity of the People of Turkey towards the People of Ireland.”
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Switch to the desktop site to post a comment.ciaradexy | Jul 12, 2012, 12:49 PM EDT
So the Turks helped the Irish out. And I bet there'll still be yanks on here insulting Turkish people who live in Ireland.
Bythebay | Jun 26, 2012, 09:07 PM EDT
PittsburghKid, if your ancestors starved to death you wouldn't be here, duh! Tayandcrank, old sow yourself.
Bythebay | Jun 26, 2012, 09:04 PM EDT
seanomelbourne, Aussie Brit, you Aussies were right there fighting in the British Army in WWI. You wouldn't know that becuase you never finished secondary school. All you can do is bash others, call yourself an idiot.
Bythebay | Jun 26, 2012, 09:01 PM EDT
WoundedKnee/GeorgeDillon, you're the fool, and racist, ignorant, bigoted garbage. The tens of thousands of Irish in the British Army in WWI are being remembered and will never be forgotten. You're ignorant of that becuase you live in the US and know nothing about Ireland or our history. We will never forget the tens of thousands of heroes who fought for Ireland's freedom in WWI despite the likes of you railing against it. We'll do as we choose.
Bythebay | Jun 26, 2012, 08:53 PM EDT
7 million people survived the Famine, the majority of them stayed in Ireland. Those of you claiming no food was given to the Irish people are just plain wrong. There were also some excellent estate owners who fed their tenants and many of those owners lost their estates because they couldn't continue to afford to do that. Your regurgitating the same old bias shows how limited your knowledge is.
warlocks | Jun 10, 2012, 01:17 AM EDT
LOL What a Crock of BS. Anyone who knows British History aka the Crown, Knows the only people they care about is themself we Irish were always treated as Rubbish and Sub Humans by the Brits.Thank God my Great Grand Parents Came to America.
mamaginnty | Jun 04, 2012, 01:06 PM EDT
Do you lot really think that money and the boatloads of food were given to the starving people, it would have been loaded straight onto the British ships heading back to Britain. It was genocide.. when in a few short years thousands upon thousands of walking skeleton figure's roamed the country roads starving and dropping like flies. Ask yourself why did they take the crops from the Irish as men, women and children lay dying on the roads ? Yet people from the other side of the world tried to help them. As for the Irish joining the British army, months ago the government mentioned about two thousand, now the molehill has become a mountain by some who know frig all about us. AngryPaddy get rid of the Paddy, you are definitely not Irish. GoergefrigginDillon go straighten out your own country where they are killing each other in schools and shopping malls every week, and no terrorists involved. You always sound so sick with jealousy of the Irish people. Tá tu amháin buachaill tinn bulai
RedBranch | Jun 03, 2012, 04:57 PM EDT
Coming soon the tale of the good ship St.Patrick that didn't sail to aid the victims of Armenian genocide.
jacersagain | Jun 03, 2012, 04:15 PM EDT
(…more) The friend’s son went on to tell me that a football club in Turkey called Trabzonspor is a sister club with DUFC and both wear the same colour jerseys (claret and blue) and there is a similarity in Trabzonspor’s logo or badge with DUFC’s – a modern take on or look of a Star and Crescent. So there you have it, according to my football friend: the Star & Crescent of Drogheda has nothing to do with Turkish ships arriving with food relief during An Gorta Mór. Or is it not so? Why would DUFC and Turkish club Trabzonspor have similar connections both alleged to be related to the Famine? I think there’s more to Antoinette’s story above and the friendship between Irish and Turkish people than meets the eye – perhaps more proof of British denials?
jacersagain | Jun 03, 2012, 04:13 PM EDT
Being a soccer fan, a good many years ago I heard that the logo, or badge, of Drogheda United Football Club (DUFC) contained a Star and a Crescent reputedly taken from Drogheda’s alleged association with a delivery of food to Drogheda Port by Ottoman Turkish ships during the Famine years. Some year’s later still, the son of a friend of mine played for DUFC and I asked him about the Star & Crescent logo. He gave me a longwinded answer which basically said “Not so”. It seems the badge is taken from Drogheda Town’s ‘royal’ charter given by some English King many centuries ago. He told me the same logo or badge of a Star and Crescent appears on the jersey of English soccer club, Portsmouth FC (which I never knew). This arises from another English King giving the town of Portsmouth its ‘royal’ charter. Both kings had similar logos apparently. (More…)
Pittsburghkid | Jun 03, 2012, 02:11 PM EDT
Nice try, but my ancesters still starved to death.
TayandCake | Jun 03, 2012, 10:25 AM EDT
Fairplay to them. BYthebay, we hope you get a job soon, all that idleness is making you a bitter old sow
KevinKehoe | Jun 03, 2012, 07:19 AM EDT
With the aid of “Our Gallant Allies in Europe” as was said in those far off days when True Irishmen and women had enough of being Serfs and fought and died for freedom and liberty. Those Gallant Allies were Germany and Turkey. Both nations had shown nothing but good will towards Irish people over the centuries. Looking back now it was absolutely absurd that Irish men would take up arms in 1914 to kill Germans and Turks at the behest of the very nation that enslaved us. Those who did kill Germans and Turks were Serfs of the British Empire.
seanomelb | Jun 03, 2012, 03:42 AM EDT
Go fishing angrypaddy you might catch a cold.
seanomelbourne | Jun 02, 2012, 06:54 PM EDT
I read an article sometime ago about a Turkish ship docking in Ireland to off load genocide relief and the Turkish captain was confused wanting to know why a ship was been loaded with food bound for England.I believe this particular ship may have docked in Waterford.Bythebay is an escaped village idiot.
aloistmartin | Jun 02, 2012, 04:39 PM EDT
So that means Turkey and Ireland are Brothers ( In Arms ) ?
RedBranch | Jun 02, 2012, 03:54 PM EDT
Er ah, wasn't the worst of the famine on the western seaboard. Shouldn't the Sultan have instructed his shipment there? Drogheda sounds like one of those ports Seanmor was talking about doing the exporting
WoundedKnee | Jun 02, 2012, 02:37 PM EDT
Bythebay: "Their sacrifice will never be forgotten." You're a fool. Of course their "sacrifice"--whatever that was--is forgotten. What normal person ever thinks of these people? Are you crazy? But a lot of us haven't forgotten all the Turks they murdered. The Turks didn't come to attack Ireland. But stupid Irish went to Turkey to attack Turkey. You're just racist garbage, Bythebay.
Bythebay | Jun 02, 2012, 02:08 PM EDT
Interesting to see the statement there are no ships records from the Port of Drogheda during the Famine. Another article by Irish Central claimed Drogheda had the most ships depart during the Famine, of course there are no records supporting that.
Bythebay | Jun 02, 2012, 01:57 PM EDT
The Ottoman Empire joined WWI on the side of Germany and the Central Powers. It bombed the Russian Black Sea ports. The Allies declared war on it. Great Britain and Ireland were Allied countries as was the United States. Tens of thousands of Irish men fought bravely in that war and tens of thousands died. Their sacrifice will never be forgotten.
GeorgeDillon | Jun 02, 2012, 01:18 PM EDT
Why would Irish people want to kill Turks? Yet in 1914 thousands of Irishmen volunteered to join an army which a year or two later ordered them to kill young men from Turkey. What stupid fools those Irish were! And even today, a century later, we have Irish stupid fools who try to venerate them as heroes! Idiots!
Murph46 | Jun 02, 2012, 12:45 PM EDT
Famine-Genocide makes no mind when you died of the causes!
McNamara31 | Jun 02, 2012, 11:00 AM EDT
"The Ottoman Sultan Abdul Madjd Khan sent £1,000 on Wednesday, March 31, 1847, to Dublin Castle. He wished to send “more” but was advised that he had to send less than Queen Victoria, who had sent £2,000." So typical of the selfish, heartless, prejudice of the day...let some more poor people starve to death, rather than show up the queen’s pitiful donation.
McNamara31 | Jun 02, 2012, 10:56 AM EDT
it was genocide not a famine. the food we produced was taken to England to feed the new industrial workers.
carrickcourt | Jun 02, 2012, 10:40 AM EDT
I have been reading an interesting book entitled "The Oottoman Centuries: The Rise and Fall of the Turkish Empire" by Lord Kinross. On the first page of chapter 32 of this book is the following concerning Sultan Adbul Mejud; 'If Sultan Adbul Mejid did not inherit the high capacities of hi father Mahmud, he at least showed his own good intentions..... So mild in manner and delicate in frame as to become known as the "gentlest of Sultans",he was nerveless a thoughtful and serious youth.' Sultan Adul Mejid ruled from 1839 till his death in 1861.
Seanmor | Jun 02, 2012, 09:57 AM EDT
Thanks to the Turks for their kindness in delivering food to the starving Irish when all of their country was under British rule. Irish Famine Relief was also provided by another unexpected source; the CHOCTAW tribe of Native Americans. These poor people held a funrdaiser 1847 and collected $170 for the Irish Famine victims. Any mention of the Famine reminds one that all through the late 1840s, many shiploans of grain, cattle, pigs, sheep and poultry sailed out of Iteland while over one million died of starvation.