Collections & Resources

The Lind Collection

William Lind was a ship enthusiast and he had a personal collection of ship plans and photographs. This collection is uncatalogued and therefore difficult to access for research.  We do have hand-written index cards for some of the collection so if there is a particular vessel you are interested in we can check our cards.  We are working on creating an electronic version of this information.

Dan McDonald was primarily known as a puffer enthusiast who won the respect of captains and crews of the puffer fraternity for his enthusiasm for and knowledge of a craft which he made a lifelong study and captured in photographs. However, he also photographed other types of vessels and places around Scotland and built up a significant collection of images in his lifetime.

William Lind bought Dan’s negative collection in 1996 and it now resides in the Trust’s offices. There is an excel spreadsheet finding aid Dan McDonald Catalogue and an entry on the National Archives Discovery.

More information about the collection, how it was processed, what it contains, as well as a selection of images can be found on our blog or flickr albums.

Established in 1867 by Thomas McLaren, Thomas McLaren & Co. were brokers ‘for the building, purchasing selling and chartering of steamers and sailing ships.’ They operated for just over 100 years, moving to 10 Bothwell St in 1898, with their new letterhead establishing them as: ‘Brokers for the sale, purchase and construction of steamers of all kinds. Naval Architects. Plans and specifications prepared for cargo steamers, passenger and general cargo steamers, paddle steamers, yachts, launches, dredgers, etc. Shipping Valuators.’

Illustrative material and ship plans later came into the possession of William Lind, who noted that material started to be removed from McLaren’s offices at 10 Bothwell Street in 1972, with the office presumed to have closed in 1974.

William Lind donated the McLaren business records to the University of Glasgow where they are held under UGD165. He retained the illustrative material and a catalogue entry is availble for our collection on the National Archives Discovery and a word document finding aid is also available.

Formed in 1890 The British Corporation was a marine classification society which amalgamated with the Lloyd’s Register of Ships in 1949. We had a collection of plans for the British Corporation here at the Ballast Trust that had been transferred in the 1990s from Lloyd’s.

In May 2025  this collection was returned to Lloyd’s Register Foundation along with the survey reports held by the University of Glasgow. As a result, Lloyd’s were pleased to announce that the Complete British Corporation Register Collection Is Now Under One Roof.