I'm coming in late on this, so don't know who "he" is or what the context. Eighteenth-century Dublin newspapers, of which there were a great many, often short-lived, carried shipping news less regularly than the American papers did and also published paid advertisements for passengers for ships sailing to various ports. Nearly all the surviving newspapers were microfilmed years ago and can be consulted in large reference libraries - a tedious and not always rewarding process. Audrey Lockhart, Some Aspects of Emigration from Ireland to the North American Colonies Between 1660 and 1775 (NY, 1976) has lists of ships (in an appendix, pp. 175-208) based largely on Dublin newspapers and serving as a kind of index to the originals. Since these are nearly all vessels sailing from Dublin, rather than northern ports, you will not get much help with Ulster emigrants -- and, of course, even a notice that a ship "sailed with passengers for Philadelphia" will tell no more than that, no names. All the best, Richard