Ulster Steamship Company / Head Line / Lord Line (After 1917) / Head-Donaldson Line

Registered in Dublin in 1877, the Ulster Steamship Company ran services to the east coast of Canada, the Far East, Europe and Baltic ports. New Orleans voyages started in 1896 and the company commenced carrying a limited number of passengers at about the same time.

In 1917 the Irish Shipowners Company, Limited, (Thomas Dixon & Sons, Belfast) known as the Lord Line, was taken over. They had run sailings between Belfast / Dublin / Cardiff and Baltimore, Rotterdam to Galveston and Cardiff to Montreal and Quebec. These services continued to be known as the Lord Line.

Agreement was reached in 1919 between Ulster Steamship Company, Palgrave, Murphy & Company, Dublin and Hudig & Veder NV, Rotterdam, to form a working partnership and to pool vessels. There were limited inter-fleet sales of vessels between the three partners. Following changes of ownership and the creation of the Republic of Ireland, the company was re-registered in Belfast in 1924.

On the opening of the Great Lakes to foreign deep sea vessels, a new service to this area was established. With the advent of containerisation and increased air passenger services, Ulster Steamship Company acquired the shares of Donaldson Line in 1967 and the company traded under the name of Head-Donaldson Line. In 1979 their last ship was sold and the Head-Donaldson services were absorbed into the Canadian Pacific operations.

Funnel:
Black funnel with white shield containing red hand.

Fleet:

Vessel	Built	Years in Service	Tons
Ballygally Head (1)	1919	1924 sold to West Hartlepool SN Co., renamed Kepwickhall.	5,179
Ballygally Head (2)	1954	1968 sold to Italy, renamed Ilias.	959
Bengore Head (1)	1881	1881 sold while fitting out to Hamburg America Line, renamed Bohemia.	2,216
Bengore Head (2)	1883	1883 sold while fitting out to Hamburg America Line, renamed Moravia.	3,739
Bengore Head (3)	1884	1917 torpedoed and sunk.	2,584
Bengore Head (4)	1922	1941 torpedoed and sunk.	2,609
Bengore Head (5)	1944	ex- Empire Garrison, 1945 purchased from Ministry of Transport and renamed Bengore Head, 1967 sold to Greece, renamed Aghios Nectarios.	1,925
Bickley	1877	1884 stranded off Coll and broke up; loss of 5 lives.	631
Black Head (1)	1881	1912 stranded Denmark and broke up.	1,191
Black Head (2)	1912	1917 torpedoed and sunk.	1,898
Bray Head	1893	ex- Indralema, 1900 purchased from T.B. Royden, Liverpool, and renamed Bray Head, 1917 torpedoed and sunk; loss of 21 lives.	3,150
Carrigan Head (1)	1901	1934 scrapped.	4,201
Carrigan Head (2)	1958	1972 sold to Cyprus, renamed Chrysanthi.	8,271
Cast Beaver		see Inishowen Head (3)
Dunaff Head	1918	1941 torpedoed and sunk; loss of 5 lives.	5,877
Dunmore Head (1)	1889	1917 torpedoed and sunk.	2,230
Dunmore Head (2)	1922	1922 sold to H. Hogarth while building, completed as Baron Vernon.	2,603
Dunmore Head (3)	1898	ex- Reval, 1924 purchased from Wm. Thomson & Co., Leith, and renamed Dunmore Head, 1939 requisitioned by Admiralty as ammunition hulk, 1951 scrapped.	1,628
Dunmore Head (4)	1943	ex- Clement T., 1949 purchased from Ministry of Transport and renamed Dunmore Head, 1953 sold to Norway, renamed Bjogna.	1,793
Fair Head (1)	1879	1934 sold to Saorstat & Continental SS Co., Dublin, renamed City of Waterford.	1,175
Fair Head (2)	1906	ex- Zealand, 1935 purchased from Leith, Hull & Hamburg SP Co. and renamed Fair Head, 1941 damaged by air attack and scrapped.	1,718
Fair Head (3)	1936	ex- Arklow, 1947 purchased from Clyde Shipping Co., Glasgow, and renamed Fair Head, 1954 sold to Palgrave, Murphy Ltd., Dublin, renamed City of Hamburg.	1,113
Fair Head (4)	1957	1964 rebuilt to 1,948 tons, 1974 sold to Maldive Islands, renamed Maldive Sea.	1,573
Fanad Head (1)	1917	1939 torpedoed and sunk.	5,200
Fanad Head (2)	1940	1961 sold to Panama, renamed Bogota.	5,038
Garron Head	1913	1917 torpedoed and sunk; loss of 28 lives.	1,933
Glen Head (1)	1883	ex- Nant Gwynant, 1895 purchased from Nant Gwynant SS Co., Liverpool, and renamed Glen Head, 1934 stranded Denmark and broke up.	1,600
Glen Head (2)	1909	ex- Penthames, 1937 purchased from Pentirion SS Co., Cardiff, and renamed Glen Head, 1941 bombed and sunk.	2,011
Glenarm Head	1897	1918 torpedoed and sunk; loss of 2 lives.	3,908
Hornhead	1884	1893 went missing at sea; loss of 30 lives.	2,496
Howth Head	1906	1917 torpedoed and sunk; loss of 2 lives.	4,440
Inishowen Head (1)	1886	1917 torpedoed and sunk off Wales; loss of 1 life.	3,050
Inishowen Head (2)	1941	ex- Empire Glade, 1945 purchased from Ministry of War Transport and renamed Inishowen Head, 1962 sold to Greece, renamed Maria N.	5,294
Inishowen Head (3)	1965	1973 renamed Cast Beaver, 1977 reverted to Inishowen Head, 1979 sold to Boreal Nav.Inc, Canada, renamed Sunhermine.	8,621
Kenbane Head	1919	1940 sunk by German surface raider Admiral Scheer off Greenland.	5,225
Kinsale Head	1943	ex- Laban Howes, 1949 purchased from Ministry of Transport and renamed Kinsale Head, 1953 sold to Honduras, renamed Tela.	1,793
Lord Antrim	1902	1917 taken over with Lord Line. 1934 scrapped.	4,269
Lord Downshire	1899	1917 taken over with Lord Line, 1929 scrapped.	4,893
Lord Glentoran	1930	ex- Daldorch, 1945 purchased from P. Henderson & Co., Glasgow, and renamed Lord Glentoran, 1950 sold to Yugoslavia, renamed Kosmaj.	5,571
Lord Londonderry	1901	ex- Schonfels, (Hansa Line), war reparations, 1920 purchased and renamed Lord Londonderry, 1934 scrapped.	5,796
Lord O'Neill	1930	ex- Dalhanna, 1945 purchased from P. Henderson & Co., Glasgow, and renamed Lord O'Neill, 1950 sold to Germany, renamed Johann Schulte.	5,688
Malin Head (1)	1892	ex- A.J. Balfour, 1896 purchased from S. Lawther & Sons, Belfast, renamed Malin Head. 1910 stranded in Pentland Firth, total loss.	3,467
Malin Head (2)	1943	ex- William Howland, 1949 purchased from Ministry of Transport and renamed Malin Head, 1951 sold to Norway, renamed Ocean Swell.	1,793
Melmore Head	1918	1942 torpedoed and sunk.	5,319
Olive	1963	1982 purchased from J. Fisher & Sons, Newry, placed under Cayman Islands registry, 1983 sold to Panama, renamed Omega Lady.	791
Orlock Head (1)	1913	1916 shelled and sunk by submarine.	1,945
Orlock Head (2)	1921	1940 bombed and sunk.	1,563
Ramore Head (1)	1891	1924 sold and scrapped.	4,444
Ramore Head (2)	1948	1968 sold to Sheen Co., Ltd., Bermuda, renamed Xerxes II.	6,195
Rathlin Head (1)	1899	1929 scrapped.	6,754
Rathlin Head (2)	1953	1970 sold to Cyprus, renamed George.	7,378
Roonagh Head	1952	1971 scrapped.	6,153
Teelin Head (1)	1883	1918 torpedoed and sunk; loss of 13 lives.	1,715
Teelin Head (2)	1897	ex- Audierne, 1924 purchased from T.C. Stevens & Co., Edinburgh, and renamed Teelin Head, 1934 sold to Saorstat & Continental SS Co., Dublin, renamed City of Bremen.	903
Torr Head (1)	1894	1917 torpedoed and sunk.	5,911
Torr Head (2)	1923	1933 sold to Chile, renamed Angol.	5,221
Torr Head (3)	1937	1961 sold to Panama, renamed Balboa.	5,021
Torr Head (4)	1961	1972 sold to Somalia, renamed Sheng Li.	8,196
White Head	1880	1917 torpedoed and sunk; loss of 23 lives.	1,192
Wicklow Head (1)	1879	ex- City of Munich, 1919 purchased from Palgrave, Murphy & Co., Dublin, and renamed Wicklow Head, 1934 sold to Saorstat & Continental SS Co., Dublin, renamed City of Ghent.	1,453
Wicklow Head (2)	1941	ex- Empire Wolfe, 1945 purchased from Ministry of War Transport and renamed Wicklow Head, 1947 stranded Nova Scotia and broke up.	2,873

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