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Q. My problem is that the US and Irish records I need to find my family were destroyed in fires. I know my great-grandfather died on the ship coming over to the United States. Is there a Web site or other source that lists deaths on ships?
A. What a wonderful idea! Someone should compile a list of all those who have died aboard ships coming to America. Unfortunately, it hasn't been done yet, either in print or online. I checked with two Irish experts, two Internet genealogy gurus, TheShipsList and the Immigrant Ships Transcribers Guild. None of these resources were aware of any such compilation, either.
Passengers who died aboard ship were recorded usually on the last page of the entire manifest, or a notation might have been made on the passenger's entry on the list. In online indexes such as Ancestry.com's or EllisIsland.org's, their names should be indexed along with other passengers.
I find it unusual that all the US and Irish records you need were destroyed in fires, since many people are successfully doing Irish immigrant research.