Scottish Clippers
Bill Cumming
Story of the square-rig sailing ships of R&J Craig of Glasgow, Scotland (1875 to 1907) leading to the ‘last of the windjammers’. Their bold decision to build large square-rigged sailing ships, during the ascendancy of steam powered vessels, created an unprecedented demand for 4-masted iron and later 3 & 4 mast steel windjammers. These flourished at the peak of the sailing ship era and continued for 50 years longer than predicted. One of these, the “County of Roxburgh”, was perhaps the fastest merchant wind ship ever created. Remarkably, the dilapidated hull of “County of Roxburgh” still survives.