Bill Lindsay

Title: The amazing diaries of William Schaw Lindsay

The diaries of Bill's forefather William Schaw Lindsay MP (1815-1877) are housed in the National Maritime Museum. It took him six years to transcribe them and he wrote his biography as a result.

A shipping magnate in his day, he is largely forgotten now.

William had an amazing life. Born in Ayr, he was orphaned by the age of 10, ran away to sea as a teenager sailing the oceans, and within 9 years became an ocean-going ship's captain.

Retiring from the sea, he started a ship brokers company and by the mid 1850s owned one of the largest shipping companies in Britain with 22 oceangoing vessels and chartering 700 ships a year.

He became an MP and was active in Parliament on shipping concerns. His ships were involved in the Crimean War, in emigration, and in the American Civil War.

This promises to be an extremely interesting subject about an amazing man's life.