When the ship shown on this page was laid down at Harland & Wolff,
Belfast, she was named Belgica, and was intended for the
Hamburg-American Line. During construction, though, she was sold to the
American Transport Line; she was launched for ATL in October 1899 named
Michigan. She was immediately chartered to the National Line,
and made her maiden voyage, Belfast-London-New York, on 14 December
1899. Michigan remained on National's London-New York service until
September 1900.
The ship was then transferred to the Dominion Line in 1904, and renamed
Irishman, a name that stayed with her even after she was transferred to
the Leyland Line in 1921. Irishman was broken up in 1924.
N.B. Although I believe it is correct, I am less certain of this
history than I am of the others which appear on these pages. Bonsor and
Haws contain confusing and internally inconsistent histories of this
ship in their Dominion, ATL, Leyland and National chapters. The
confusion is compounded by the fact that Dominion's first Irishman was
transferred to ATL and renamed Michigan (IV) at about the same time as
this ship, then called Michigan (III), went in the other direction to
become Dominion's second Irishman (II). In addition, both ships were
single-funnel vessels with four masts, although the other ship had less
of a superstructure. (MAB)
Sources: Bonsor's North Atlantic Seaway; Haws' Merchant Fleets in
Profile; Moss and Hume's Shipbuilders to the World.
