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Ireland, 1847. Famine grips the Emerald Isle. Death and disease run rampant. Children die of hunger in their mother's arms. Men are reduced to mere skeletons walking, desperate to provide for their families. But for those lucky few who can scrape together the money, a flicker of hope exists: passage to the New World aboard a packet ship. A mere flicker because these cramped, over-crowded and pestilence ridden boats are no better or safer than life on dry land in Ireland. In many ways, they are worse. Trapped on the high seas for six, seven, even twelve weeks in bad weather, the packets often turn from life preservers to death sentences. Hence their ill-fated nickname, cursed by those left behind, and whispered by those aboard: coffin ships.

 

Despite the risks, EAMONN MCCABE (30s) has no choice but wager his family's future on surviving the trip across the Atlantic. A former pirate who terrorized the English along the Irish coast, Eamonn has long since turned his back on the sea to provide for his family on land. Reduced to banditry in the hills near his home, Eamonn runs afoul of the English and finds himself faced with a choice: escort a mysterious YOUNG GIRL (17) to the Americas aboard a coffin ship, or hang for his crimes against the Crown. Eamonn, having just lost his own daughter to the famine resists, but the promise of a noose around his neck brings him around to the Crown's point of view.

 

The girl in question will take the identity of Eamonn's late daughter, SORCHA. Upon arrival in the New World, a chaperone will receive her and send word back to England, rewarding Eamonn and relieving him of his obligation. Eamonn's wife, CATRIONA (30s), bristles at the plan. She loves her home and does not want to leave. Nor does she want to risk losing their younger children, fraternal twins ROWAN and ROISIN (10), on the perilous journey across the Atlantic. But there is no choice. Eamonn's past has caught up with them and they will die by hunger or the rope if they stay.

 

The family sets sail for the New World aboard the Bark Trinity, a rickety three-mast sailboat ten years past its prime. Wedged deep in the hold with the other poor and starving Irish, the McCabes keep a low profile, but not for long. Illness spreads like wildfire belowdecks, and the twins quickly come down with cough and fever. Desperate for help and with few supplies, the McCabes plead with their fellow passengers for help, but this only makes things worse as the healthy turn their backs on the sick. Eamonn barters with the ship's crew for help, offering his services as a sailor, but the English crew look down their nose at the gruff Irish pirate. Worse, going topside brings Eamonn face to face with a man from his past he'd rather not see: SEAMUS KENNEDY (30s), a former rival pirate who bears a grudge against Eamonn along with several scars. Catriona meanwhile searches out help and discovers FATHER PHAIR (30s), an ambitious priest who lords his holy power over his followers, and bestows a righteous fury against all those who deny him his wishes. Worst, Sorcha catches the eye of MICHAEL KEEGAN (20s), a young man who cannot keep his carnal desires to himself. Under the promise of secreted rations for Rowan and Roisin, Keegan lures Sorcha into a small supply room and attempts to have his way with her. Before he succeeds, Eamonn intervenes. He saves Sorcha and throttles Keegan to send a message. His family may already be poor, sick pariahs, but no one will have their way with his daughter. The incident divides the McCabes further from the rest of the passengers in the hold as Father Phair takes young Keegan's side. Cut off from everyone on the ship, Catriona admonishes Eamonn for making them take this journey. It's a trip they'd be lucky to survive with the help of their fellow Irish travelers, and now nearly impossible alone.

 

Little do they know how much worse things are about to become. A mysterious and malignant illness begins to spread among the poor, starving Irish in the hold. It's an illness and blight the likes of which no one has ever seen before, and so virulent and lethal there may be no one left to tell its tale...