Westernland was built for the Red Star Line by Laird Bros., of
Birkenhead. She was Red Star's first steel-hulled ship, the line's
first ship with two funnels and the first Red Star steamer with three
classes of passenger accommodations. She was built in drydock due to a
shortage of building berths at Laird's, and was "launched" by being
floated out of the drydock in August 1883. She made her maiden voyage on
3 November of the same year, from Antwerp to Philadelphia.
She remained on that route through March 1901, when she was placed on
the American Line's Liverpool-Philadelphia service. (International
Navigation Co. owned both the American and Red Star Lines, and ships of
one line were often used on the other's routes.) She returned to Red
Star's Antwerp-New York service from March 1906 through January 1907,
and made her last Liverpool-Philadelphia trip for American in September
1908.
Westernland was broken up in 1912.
Sources: Flayhart's The American Line; Bonsor's North Atlantic Seaway.
