Collins, Michael

First Mate

SS Eveleen (Belfast), Mercantile Marine

Presumed drowned on Monday 6 May 1918 (aged 61)

No known grave

Commemorated:

Commonwealth War Graves Commission

Tower Hill Memorial, London, England

Journey of Remembering Belfast Book of Honour

BIOGRAPHY

Michael Collins was born in 1856 in the townland of Ballymarter, Quintin, Portaferry and he was a son of Owen and Eliza Collins (nee Johnston).

Owen Collins worked as an agricultural labourer and he and Eliza had at least three children:

Michael (baptised 9 November 1856)

Margaret (baptised 21 August 1859)

Elizabeth (born 1 March 1865 in Craigaroddan, Portaferry; baptised 5 March 1865)

All three were baptised in Portaferry Roman Catholic Church (St Patrick’s Ballyphilip).

Their father, Owen Collins, died of influenza at Quintin, Portaferry on 19 January 1903 (aged 74) and their mother, Eliza Collins, died of influenza at Kintaugh, Portaferry on 15 February 1908 (aged 67).

Michael Collins was a seaman and he and his wife Jane (nee McCann, sometimes McGann) lived at 61 Corporation Street Belfast.

Michael and Jane Collins had at least fifteen children including:

Lizzie (born around 1888/1889)

Mary (born 1 March 1894 at 7 Seaforde Street, Belfast)

Catherine (Kate, born 11 December 1895 at 7 Sheriff Street, Belfast)

Michael (born 25 March 1897 at 7 Sheriff Street, Belfast)

John (born 29 August 1900 at 7 Sheriff Street, Belfast)

Jane (born 13 September 1902 at 7 Sheriff Street, Belfast)

Robert (born 11 April 1905 at 7 Sheriff Street, Belfast)

During the First World War Michael Collins served aboard the SS Eveleen which sailed from Ayr on 6 May 1918 bound for Belfast.  SS Eveleen was a cargo steamer built in 1891 by Workman, Clark & Co Ltd., Belfast and may have been torpedoed by a German U-boat.  There were no survivors when the ship sank and First Mate Michael Collins’s body was never recovered.

First Mate Michael Collins is commemorated in the Belfast Book of Honour (Page 112).