Montrose Museum
Maritime Collection
About this collection
This collection illustrates the history of Montrose as a town that has thrived because of its life as a seaport on the edge of rich farmland. The town’s motto; Mare Ditat, Rosa Decorat (the sea enriches, the rose adorns) reflects its nature as a trading town and this rich maritime heritage is shown in a large maritime collection, much of which is displayed in the Museum.
The tobacco, timber and textile trades together with the fishing and whaling industries formed the basis of the town’s maritime trade. In the first half of the 18th century Montrose had a thriving tobacco trade with America. Ships would sail to Virginia with linen and sail cloth and return with holds full of tobacco leaves. The tobacco was made into rolls and exported. But the trade sometimes had a darker side - the fortunes of the tobacco merchants also rested on the trade in human beings - slavery.
This trade formed a convenient and lucrative triangular trade route; as well as textiles, a ship would leave home carrying local products such as processed tobacco for European ports. She would then travel to West Africa where African people were taken aboard and carried over the Atlantic to America. Here they were sold as slaves at a profit and the ship’s now empty holds could be loaded with tobacco for the homeward voyage and ready for the process to begin again. At one time over 30 Montrose ships were said to be involved in this method of trade.
By the mid 18th century Montrose was exporting large amounts of sailcloth, canvas and coarse linen. With the erection of large steam-powered mills in early 19th century like Ford’s and the Union Mills the demand for the raw flax to be made into linen became too great for locally grown crops and a strong trade with Western Russia grew encouraging the towns historical links with Baltic ports like Riga and Danzig.
In the nineteenth century Montrose was one of Scotland’s main timber ports. The timber, mostly pine was imported from Scandinavia and Canada. As well as using this to supply a British market much of it was also exported to the America as dressed timber and the vessels often carried an extra cargo of emigrants bound for life in the New World.
Fishing too has formed a large part of the town’s maritime heritage and this is reflected in the collections on display. By the middle-ages the people of the east coast around Montrose were trading in dried and smoked cod and haddock. Montrose salmon were exported to markets as distant as Holland, France and Italy.
What are the highlights of this collection
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How can I find out more
Almost all of this collection is on display, museum staff will be pleased to answer enquiries about the collection.
© Angus Council 1998 - 2008