Guide to the Shipping records of Aitken, Lilburn & Co. Ltd. (as filmed by the AJCP)
M2679-M2682
National Library of Australia View Catalogue Record
Created: 2019
Collection Summary
- Creator
- Aitken, Lilburn and Co. Ltd.
- Title
- Shipping records of Aitken, Lilburn & Co. Ltd. (as filmed by the AJCP)
- Date Range
- January 1867 - 31 December 1950
- Collection Number
- M2679-M2682
- Extent
- 17 items
- Language of Materials
- English
- Repository
- Australian Joint Copying Project
- Sponsor
- The Australian Joint Copying Project (AJCP) online portal was created with the assistance of the Australian Public Service Modernisation Fund, 2017-2020. The National Library of Australia gratefully acknowledges the contribution of the other foundation AJCP partners, the State Library of New South Wales and The National Archives of the UK, and all other organisations which supported the work of the AJCP, the world's most extensive collaborative copying project, operating from 1948 to 1997.
Introduction
Scope and Contents
The records comprise a ledger, register book of ships, voyage books, sailing books and log books.
Conditions Governing Access
Available for Access.
Conditions Governing Use
Many of the records digitised as part of the AJCP are still in copyright. Readers wishing to publish or reproduce documents should seek permission, in the first instance, from the owner of the original material.
Preferred Citation
Acknowledgement of use of this material should refer to the location of the original material and to the Australian Joint Copying Project.
Items from this collection should include references to the location of the original material and to the AJCP nla.obj number, which serves as the online identifier for the digital copy.
Example: M Series: Journal of Capt. James Cook, 18 February 1770, British Library Add. MS 27885 (AJCP ref: http://nla.gov.au/nla.obj-1234)
Archival History
Filmed at the Strathclyde Regional Archives, Glasgow, as part of the Australian Joint Copying Project, 1992 (AJCP Reel: M2679-2682). Original microfilm digitised as part of the NLA AJCP Online Delivery Project, 2017-2020.
The Glasgow City Archive was known as the Strathclyde Regional Archives from 1975 to 1996 when the Archives transferred to the new Department of Libraries and Archives of Glasgow City Council, and reverted to its original title of Glasgow City Archives.
Existence and Location of Originals
Glasgow City Archive, Mitchell Library, North Street, Glasgow, Scotland.
Collection reference: TD 768/4. For more information see Aitken, Lilburn and Co. Ltd. at the Glasgow City Archive. [https://www.glasgowlife.org.uk/libraries/city-archives]
Existence and Location of Copies
The original AJCP microfilm of the records filmed from this collection is available at the National Library of Australia [https://nla.gov.au/nla.cat-vn109614] as well as other institutions holding AJCP microfilm.
Related Materials
Thomas Dunlop & Sons and Miscellaneous Collections from Strathclyde Regional Archive (M2983-M2994) [https://nla.gov.au/nla.cat-vn197555] have been listed and filmed separately.
Administrative History
The Loch Line of Glasgow was established by James Aitken (d. 1900) and James Lilburn (1839-1914) in 1867. They initially charted three ships, the Clan Ranald (later renamed Loch Rannoch), Ben Nevis and Loch Awe, and in the next thirty years added about 25 ships to the fleet. They were named after Scottish lochs. The clippers usually took on board passengers and freight at Glasgow and sailed to Adelaide and then on to Melbourne and Sydney. On the return journey, they carried wool or grain, generally for London. The vessels usually managed one round trip per year. Variations were occasionally made to the homeward voyage, with visits to San Francisco, Cape Town and New Caledonia, but they were unsuccessful.
The vessels were comfortable and well-maintained, but the Loch Line had a reputation for ill-fortune, with 14 ships being wrecked or lost without trace. They included the Loch Ard which was wrecked on the Victorian coast near Cape Otway in 1878. Only two of the 54 people on board the ship survived. Other vessels lost in Australian waters were the Loch Leven (1870) and the Loch Vennachar (1905).
Aitken and Lilburn never changed to steamships and after 1900 the Loch Line ran consistently at a loss. The service closed in 1911, at which time only five of the ships were still operating. Aitken, Lilburn & Company continued to carry out agency and chartering business in Glasgow for another sixty years.
Reference: James H. Barr. Distant destiny: the story of Aitken, Lilburn & Co. and the Loch Line of Glasgow, 1867-1912, Terang, Victoria, 2015.
Finding-aid Notes
This finding aid is a revised online version of the original finding aid prepared by the Australian Joint Copying Project (AJCP), published by the National Library of Australia in 2019. The original AJCP finding aids were unpublished typescripts or photocopies available from libraries that held copies of the original microfilm.
Dates used in this finding aid refer to the date range of the records selected for filming rather than to the date range of the Series or Files.
Pieces that were not filmed by the Australian Joint Copying Project have not been included in this Finding Aid.
Subjects
Aitken, Lilburn & Co Ltd; Araby Maid; Australia; Mercurius; Otago; Shipping; Shipping lines
Bibliography
Originally cited in Australian Joint Copying Project Handbook. Part 8: Miscellaneous (M) Series. Third Edition, published 1998. Entry 5, p2.
Item Descriptions
Series TD 768.. Mr Dixon of Roxburgh, Henderson and Co. Deposit, January 1867 - 31 December 1950
17 itemsRecords of a number of Glasgow-based shipping and ship-brokering firms.
Archival History
Originally filmed on AJCP Reels M2679-M2682.
Subseries 4. Aitken, Lilburn and Co. Ltd, January 1867 - 31 December 1950
17 items
Ledger, January 1867 - September 1869 (File 1)
Accounts for charters of ships, insurance, purchase of goods etc.
Includes: Details of charter of Araby Maid for Sydney and other ships for Australia; account with Caird, Paterson and Co. Sydney; consignment of beer for Mercurius to Sydney; shipment of pig iron on Otago for Adelaide; accounts with Robert Towns and Co., Melbourne, P.N. Russell and Co., Sydney, Philip Levi and Co., Adelaide and Alexander Macfarlan and Co., Melbourne.
Indexed at back and front (658p., some blank pages, 49p. of indexes).
Register book of ships (158p.), 6 January 1881 - 31 December 1950 (File 5)
Gives date of dispatch, ship's name, registered tonnage, depth of hold, freeboard, scale, actual freeboard at Glasgow, draft at Glasgow, draft at Greenock, quantity of powder, total weight of cargo, meast hatches. Gives annual summaries of ships dispatched, tonnages and dead weight carried from 1888; from 1919 dead weight and weigh meast at Brisbane, from 1927 also at Fremantle.
General Shipping Co. (Aitken, Lilburn's Loch Line). Voyages book, 1872 - 1895 (File 6)
Voyages book for Loch Laggan (Liverpool/Melbourne), Loch Ard (London/Melbourne), Loch Fyne (London/Sydney, Adelaide/Melbourne), Loch Sunart (Liverpool/Melbourne), Loch Ryan (Liverpool/Melbourne), Loch Etive (Sydney/Melbourne), Loch Long (Glasgow/Melbourne), Loch Moidart (Glasgow/Melbourne/Sydney), Loch Broom (Glasgow/Sydney), Loch Torridon (Glasgow/Melbourne/Sydney), and Loch Carron (Sydney/Melbourne/Liverpool).
Index at beginning.
Gives name of Captain, summary of each voyage, with intermediate calls and of receipts from freight and passengers and disbursements arranged under headings, 1872-1895. (115p.)
Glasgow Shipping Company (also Loch Line). Voyages book, 1882 - 1895 (File 7)
Voyages book for Loch Sloy (Melbourne), Loch Tay (Melbourne/Adelaide), Loch Rannoch (Melbourne/Adelaide), Loch Shiel (Melbourne), Loch Katrine (Melbourne/Adelaide), Loch Ness (Melbourne/Adelaide), Loch Lomond (Melbourne/Adelaide); Loch Garry (Melbourne), Loch Vennachur (Melbourne/Adelaide).
Gives name of Captain, summary of each voyage, with intermediate calls and of receipts from freight and passengers and disbursements arranged under headings, 1882-1895. (116p.)
Aitken, Lilburn and Co. Voyages book (61p.), 1902 - 1911 (File 8)
Voyages book for Loch Katrine (Adelaide/Melbourne), Loch Ness (Adelaide/Melbourne), Loch Tay (Adelaide/Melbourne), Loch Lomond (Adelaide/Melbourne), Loch Rannock (Adelaide/Melbourne), Loch Vennachur (Adelaide/Melbourne), Loch Garry (Adelaide/Melbourne), Loch Torridan (Adelaide/Sydney/Melbourne), Loch Ryan (Adelaide/Sydney,Sydney/Melbourne), Loch Etive (Adelaide/Melbourne), Loch Broom (Melbourne/Adelaide) and Loch Carron (Sydney/Melbourne).
Gives name of Captain, summary of each voyage, with intermediate calls and of receipts from freight and passengers and disbursements arranged under headings, 1902-1911. (61p.)
Sailings book (14p.), September 1911 - January 1924 (File 9)
Brief table of sailings and arrivals at each port - gives names of ship and Captain (Adelaide, Melbourne, Sydney, Brisbane).
General average, for Loch Laggan, D.B. Inglis Master, Liverpool/Melbourne, 1875 (File 10)
After grounding on 7 July 1875 off Tuskar. Details of cargo and survey. (167p.)
General average for Loch Garry, James Horne Master, Glasgow/Melbourne, June 1889 - August 1889 (File 12)
Storm damage in the Atlantic (351p.) Details of: Voyage, damage done by gales, cargo damaged and jettisoned.
Loch Lomond Log book (362p.), 15 January 1906 - 26 June 1907 (File 13)
Ship's log book for Loch Lomond, James Donaldson Master, from Melbourne/Hull, Hull/the Clyde, Glasgow/Adelaide, Adelaide/Melbourne, Melbourne/London.
Details of: Course, weather, winds, remarks - duties on board, taking on cargo, gale damage, sails set, desertions at Adelaide.
Loch Tay Log book (242p.), 26 September 1905 - 3 August 1906 (File 14)
Ship's log book for Loch Tay, Thomas Martin Master, Glasgow/Adelaide, Adelaide/Melbourne, Melbourne/London, London/Glasgow.
Details of: Course, weather, winds, remarks - duties of crew on board, loading cargo, sails set, gales.
Loch Torridon Log book (225p.), 10 August 1906 - 15 July 1907 (File 15)
Ship's log book for Loch Torridon, R. Pattman Master, kept by John Frederick Turner Mate, London/Adelaide, Adelaide/Melbourne, Melbourne/London.
Details of: Course, weather, winds, remarks - loading cargo, duties of crew on board, sails set.
Loch Etive Log book 2 vols. (32p. + 32p.), 1907-09-08 - 1907-10-09; 1907-10-10 - 1907-11-26 (File 16)
Chief Officer's log book for Loch Etive, A.T. Fishwick Master, kept by George L. Napier, Chief Officer, New York/Melbourne.
Details of: Course, weather, winds, remarks - duties of crew on board, sails set, Napier ill, log kept by Master; gale damage, discharging cargo.
Loch Etive Log book (252p.), 21 October 1908 - 14 August 1909 (File 17)
Ship's log book for Loch Etive, A.T. Fishwick Master, Glasgow/Adelaide, Melbourne/Hull, Hull/Glasgow. Lists of passengers and ship's company at front of volume.
Details of: Course, weather, winds, remarks - duties of crew on board, sails set, islands sighted, discharging and loading cargo.
Loch Carron Log book (180p.), 13 March 1909 - 10 December 1909 (File 18)
Ship's log book for Loch Carron, S. Clarke Master, from Melbourne/London, London/Adelaide, Adelaide/Melbourne.
Details of: Course, weather, winds, remarks - duties of crew on board, sickness, loading scrap iron in London, other ships sighted, death of Carpenter Peter McKendrick, discharging cargo, loading tallow and wool at Melbourne.
Loch Katrine Log book (148p.), 10 December 1909 - 10 May 1910 (File 19)
Ship's log book for barque Loch Katrine, Thomas Martin Master, kept by George Smith, Glasgow/Melbourne, Melbourne/Sydney.
Details of: Course, weather, winds, remarks - duties of crew on board, accident to Henry Shields, signalling other ships, sails set, crew members absent without leave at Melbourne, discharging cargo, gale damage on voyage to Sydney, lifeboat launched, taken in tow off Cape Jervis.
Loch Carron Log book (112p.), 13 December 1909 - 20 April 1910 (File 20)
Ship's log book for barque Loch Carron, S. Clarke Master, kept by John Davies Mate, Melbourne/London.
Details of: Course, weather, winds, remarks - loading of cargo, duties of crew on board, sails set, gale damage, crew injured.
Loch Carron Log book (184p.), 22 June 1910 - 10 March 1911 (File 21)
Ship's log book for barque Loch Carron, S. Clarke Master, kept by H.J. Bland, London/Adelaide, Adelaide/Melbourne, Melbourne/London.
Details of: Course, weather, wind, remarks - duties of crew on board, sails set, towed to powder grounds at Port Adelaide to discharge cargo of powder; discharging cargo at Melbourne, loading cargo - tallow, scrap iron, wool, grain, wine.