As I was well known for my songs dealing with the curse of emigration, my program was called “The Island of Emigrants”. It dealt with the many reasons why the Irish had to leave their country of birth over the years to try to make a better life for themselves on a foreign shore.
The story is set in 1912 and is about a young man tired and frustrated by the poverty and hard times of Ireland at that time. Like millions of people before him, he decides to leave everything behind.
With hopes and dreams of a new life in America, and with his young wife on his arm, he boards the doomed Titanic at Queenstown and sets sail to meet his fate in the frigid waters of the North Atlantic .
Of course, the character of John Williams is fictional and you won't find his name on the ship's manifest, either as a victim or survivor. I wanted it to symbolize the mostly forgotten passengers traveling between decks who suffered the greatest number of casualties.
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