William Lithgow (shipbuilder) - William Lithgow's Ships

William Lithgow's Ships

Russell & Co.'s best-known ship today, the Falls of Clyde, was one of their earlier vessels, built in 1878 as part of a series named after Scottish waterfalls for the Falls Line. A four-masted "British medium clipper", solidly built with "iron Z-bar frames and double riveted iron plate", it was highly rated by the insurers, Lloyd's of London. Its maiden voyage was to Karachi, and many more of its early voyages were between different parts of the British Empire. The Falls Line also had Russell & Co. build ships named after the waterfalls at Bruar, Afton, Foyers, Earn, Garry, Halladale and, lastly, the Falls of Ettrick which was launched in 1894.

In 1891 the Kingston Yard saw the launch of one of the first five-masted ships in the world, the Maria Rickmers, and in 1901 Lithgow built what was the "largest four-masted vessel afloat" at the time. This was an oil carrier ordered by the Anglo-American Oil Company: the Brilliant.

The city of Dundee has an online collection of photographs of four- and three-masted ships built by Russell & Co. and photographed in Dundee docks in the late 19th century. Looking through these archives and also exploring a database of Clyde-built ships gives a glimpse of the extent of Russell & Co.'s enterprise, and the number of companies who bought their ships.