The Rowallan under full sail off Kronborg Castle, Denmark

The barque Rowallan, 225 tons, was built at Greenock in 1840. Originally owned by Gray & Co. of Greenock, she began her career trading out of the Clyde to Trinidad under her first master Captain D. Nichol who remained in command until she was sold to Patterson's some years later. Her new owners kept her on the West Indies run and even after she was sold to Frazer's of London, she continued to trade on the same route until at least 1855. By 1858 her home port had become Inverkeithing and, under a new master, Captain James Ainslie, she was running out of Leith to the Baltic. Shortly after 1860 she disappears from record, suggesting this portrait was executed not only towards the end of her Ainslie's command but also just prior to Rowallan's own demise.