In
May of 2008, following a search of archival
sources, one became very concerned at the apparent inconsistencies in the historical record about what was the correct name, type
and configuration of the STEAMSHIP DRESDEN, which was
involved in the Irish migration to Argentina departing Queenstown on
Friday the 25th January 1889 for Buenos Aires.
In his book NORDDEUTSCHER LLOYD, a history of the NDL shipping company, published in 1994, the author Edwin Drechsel
comments when one works with thousands of statistics, errors are
inevitable. He rightly states that one cannot believe everything
one sees and he further concludes that through repetition errors
can take on the appearance of truth, meaning that if the issue is repeated often enough, such errors, if not rebutted, will
take on the mantle of being a fact and will eventually distort
the historical record.
After
several months of research it was obvious that different
archival sources were presenting a variety of
conflicting photographs and ship histories for the SS DRESDEN, which
to say the least, has been utterly confusing. Because of a direct
family link to the DRESDEN, it was decided that this
ambiguity in the historical record could not be allowed to continue
without some attempt being
made to establish the facts.
Consequently, a research project was initiated in June
2008, in an effort to positively identify the SS DRESDEN(the
emigrant ship involved
in the Irish migration to Argentina) which arrived in Buenos Aires
on the 15th February 1889 with
members of ones family aboard.
One was
totally unaware until 2006, that over a hundred young Irish
DRESDEN immigrants lost their lives as a result of the harsh
conditions they encountered in the Irish colony at La Vitícola
1889-91, which was located
in the vicinity of Napostá, about 30km North of Bahia Blanca
in Argentina. Despite a plethora of memorials erected throughout
Argentina, no memorial has been dedicated to the memory of our young
children, even the
whereabouts of their graves are still unknown. It would seem
that the experience of our deceased young Irish immigrant friends who
tragically lost their lives in
La Vitícola, has slipped through the historical amnesia
of past generations and been shamefully forgotten. Accordingly,
this website includes a
remembrance page dedicated to the recover their memory.
The promotion inter alia
of a historical understanding of the events and consequences surrounding the
debacle that was the
Argentine Republic Emigration Scheme is essential to preserving
the cultural memory of our Irish Argentine migratory experience. It is apparent that those
who emigrated to the Argentine on board the SS DRESDEN in January
1889,are still the
forgotten immigrants of the Irish diaspora, and it is now left up to us,
their families and descendents, to proactively reclaim our own history for
posterity. Consequently, one would encourage any DRESDEN descendent to
contact Juan Pablo Alvarez Pearce, and relate their
family memoirs for his excellent project
Los Descendientes Del Dresden, otherwise there is a concern that
the history of the largest group of Irish immigrants to enter
Argentina during the last century, will be forgotten and lost forever.
