Barbados ambassador visits historic Cobh exhibition

The Cobh Heritage Centre welcomed the newly appointed Ambassador of Barbados to Ireland, His Excellency Cleviston Haynes, on an official visit to see the centre's exhibitions dealing with the connections between our two islands.

Mr Haynes was accompanied by Kevin Farmer, Deputy Director of the Barbados Museum and Historical Society, who had travelled from Barbados' capital Bridgetown.

The ambassador visited a number of exhibits at the centre, including a display which told the story of a ship called The Abraham.

The ship set sail from Kinsale in 1636, carrying what is considered to be the first recorded group of Irish indentured servants and prison transportees bound for the Americas.

While its initial destination was Virginia, then a British colony on the east coast of the present-day United States, the ship was diverted to Barbados en-route due to bad weather.

Larger transfers of indentured servants took place following the Cromwellian conquest between 1649-58.

The ambassador also took in exhibits based on the writings of Richard Ligon, an English writer who travelled to Barbados in 1647 following the English Civil War. He lived on this island until 1650.

His 1673 account of Barbados provides a contemporary record of life on the island, including observations of both indentured servants, and enslaved Africans.

For over three centuries, the Port of Cork, including Cobh - which was then called Queenstown - served as one of Ireland's principal gateways to the world.

Between the seventeenth and twentieth centuries, approximately 27% of all Irish emigrants departed through the port, making it one of the most significant migration hubs in Irish history.