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. An online catalogue for the collection is available from TNA Discovery and also as an excel spreadsheet Dan McDonald Catalogue.  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 at the Ballast.

Established in 1867 Thomas McLaren & Co. were brokers ‘for the building, purchasing selling and chartering of steamers and sailing ships.’ McLaren had been operating in Glasgow prior to this, even entering into a partnership with George Burrell from 1867-1873 as ‘shipbrokers and commission merchants.’

In 1898-99, as McLaren’s expanded, they moved to new premises at 10 Bothwell St, 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 at the Ballast Trust, who notes 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. The University of Glasgow holds the business records and plans. While the Ballast Trust has retained the illustrative material made up of photographs and news-cuttings that were used to show prospective buyers a likeness of the vessel on offer. Our collection contains c.2000 images spanning the years 1877-1973 and is organised alphabetically by name of ship. A sample of images can be viewed on flickr.

Formed in 1890 The British Corporation was a register of ships, before amalgamating with the Lloyd’s Register of Ships in 1949. Until 2025 we held a collection of plans for the British Corporation here at the Ballast Trust, while the University of Glasgow had a collection containing survey reports (UGD304). This material was been transferred to Lloyd’s Register Foundation Heritage & Education Centre in May 2025 where it joins the wider corporate collection for the British Corporation.

The collection dates from circa 1890 to the 1960’s, and lists the name of the ship, type, who the builder was, alongside the year constructed, yard number and what specification sheets are present for the ship. Our total collection numbers just under 1000 ships, and can be searched via the link below.

• British Corporation Catalogue