By the turn of the 20th century, millions of Irish had emigrated to Britain, its colonies, and the United States. They left behind them a society in which virtually every family had close relatives overseas. Few countries in the world have ever experienced such rapid, intensive and long lasting demographic upheaval.

The White Sails are one of the romantic nicknames for the sailing ships that carried these Irish immigrants across the Atlantic and into the New World. Numerous Irish, Scottish and British emigrated on timber ships and traveled in the steerage berths of cargo ships. The ships were also called coffin ships because of the high numbers of casualties that resulted from the trial of the passage.

Sometimes 30 to 40% of the original passengers on these ships perished due to diseases such as cholera, typhoid, dysentery, and small pox. As a result of the harsh conditions on the overcrowded ships, the majority of the immigrants arrived in the New World diseased, famished, and destitute from the long two month journey across the stormy Atlantic. These immigrants became the backbone of the first settlements in North America.