[1] Norseman was launched on 27 November 1897 and completed in March 1898 at the Harland & Wolff Ltd. shipyard in Belfast, United Kingdom as Brasilia for the Hamburg America Line.

Harland & Wolff added two more masts to the ship's existing two for her conversion into a cargo liner before selling her to the Dominion Line in February 1900.

[2] Following its military service, Norseman returned to its usual North Atlantic route, carrying cargo and steerage passengers only after Dominion eliminated the 300 second class accommodations.

In 1910 Norseman was chartered to the Aberdeen Line to serve the London, United Kingdom – Cape Town, South-Africa – Sydney route.

The attack left the ship heavily damaged and to save her, she was towed by a torpedo boat, a fishing vessel and two French tugboats to the harbor of Moudros.

She was officially scrapped in situ in 1920, but the large pieces of sheet metal that still lie at the wreck site to this day at a depth of 14 metres (45 ft 11 in), speak of a long and tiresome salvage operation.