"Kirkcudbrightshire" in Dundee Harbour - Ref: WC0844
The "Kirkcudbrightshire" was a three masted full-rigged sailing ship, built by Russell and Co., Greenock, in 1884 for T. Law and Co, Glasgow. She had a gross tonnage of 1582 and measured 250 feet in length.
She is recorded as having visited Dundee on only one occasion, arriving on 6th April 1889 after a voyage from Calcutta lasting 102 days. This Alexander Wilson photograph also shows painting stages and pontoons, where sea damage is being made good.
Thomas Low had a fleet of 27 sailing ships in 1889. The "Kirkcudbrightshire" brought 11, 543 bales of jute to Dundee, where it would be processed with whale oil and woven into various hard-wearing fabrics.
Alexander Wilson who took this photograph, was a supervisor in a Dundee jute mill for over 20 years. He bequeathed much of his collection and £50, to cover the costs involved, to the Free Library Committee of Dundee in 1923.