The full-rigged Kirkcudbrightshire in home waters

The iron full-rigger Kirkcudbrightshire, 1,482 tons, was one of the last sailing ships to be ordered by the Shire Line and shared, with her identical sister Clackmannanshire, an enviable reputation for speed which few large commercial traders other than the fabled clippers could emulate. Always affectionately known as Kirkshire, she was built by Russell on the Clyde in 1884 and measured 250 feet in length with a 38 foot beam. She excelled under her first master Captain Baxter yet was equally fast in old age under Captain Roberts. Her career was a tale of continual fast passages and, despite several near-mishaps, she proved a lucky ship. In one celebrated voyage to San Francisco in 1904 she ran - according to her master - "like a scalded cat", whilst in 1906, when 70 miles off Valparaiso, she survived the huge turbulence stirred up by the massive earthquake which destroyed the city in one of the century's most notable natural disasters. Sold out of the Shire Line in 1919, her final passage the next year was to Fremantle, Australia where, having sped there in only 100 days, she spent her last years as a harbour hulk.