The Great Irish Potato Famine (1845–1849) was a massive catastrophe that led to one million people starving to death and another million fleeing their homelands, mostly to North America.

It’s truly difficult to express in words how horrifying this famine was for so many Irish people, and the suffering must have been tremendous. The psychological scars still impact the Irish psyche.

It almost seems like a fairy tale to hear how a sultan from a distant land, hearing of this tragedy, went out of his way to send ships full of food and medicine to the Irish who were dying of hunger and disease.

When Sultan Abdulmejid learned of the suffering from his Irish dentist, he felt great compassion and sorrow for the plight of the Irish. The Sultan initially wanted to donate 10,000 pounds to the starving population, but British diplomats were stunned to hear this news, as Queen Victoria had only donated 2,000.

The British government refused to accept the large donation, so the Sultan donated only a paltry £1,000, but secretly sent five shiploads of food.

As you can imagine, the British government was not happy with this gesture, and the navy attempted a blockade to prevent the aid from arriving. The ships nevertheless managed to reach Drogheda, Ireland, where they distributed the food.