Box 1: Agreements for William Erskine Gulland to be apprenticed to Writers to His Majesty's Signet, 1814. Certificates of discharge and Board of Trade certificates of William Andrew Gulland, 1869-1873. Thank you letter to Gulland, master of the GLENARTNEY, from the English passengers of the wrecked vessel MEIKONG sent from Aden, 20 June 1877. Certificate of membership of Canongate Kilwinning Edinburgh Lodge No.2, 1879 (inside leather wallet). Folio diary covering voyages made by Gulland as master of the Glen Line vessels GLENCOE and GLENOGLE in 1882.
Box 2: Three letterbooks relating to The China Mutual Steam Navigation Co Ltd and private affairs, 1891-1902. Including correspondence with Alfred Holt & Co of Liverpool and George Sutherland Esq in Shanghai ('Letters to G.S. Shanghai. No.2').
Box 3 (all unfit for production): Three letterbooks relating to The China Mutual Steam Navigation Co Ltd and private affairs, 1895-1904. Including correspondence with George Sutherland in Shanghai ('Letters to G.S. Shanghai. No.1').

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Administrative / biographical background
Gulland was born at Torryburn in Scotland. He qualified as master (certificate number 87658) at Glasgow in 1871. During the period 1873-1884 he was master of steam vessels in the China trade under the ownership of McGregor, Gow & Co (the Glen Line) of Glasgow, including the GLENGYLE, GLENARTNEY, GLENCOE and GLENOGLE. He later became managing director of The China Mutual Steam Navigation Co Ltd (formerly The China Shippers' Mutual Steam Navigation Co Ltd). This company was formed in 1882 with the intention of acquiring and operating a fleet of steamships to trade between Britain and ports in China, Japan and the Straits Settlements. It applied the mutual or co-operative principle to the trade, whereby the contributors of freight were shareholders of the company and thus participated in the pro rata profits. The rival Liverpool shipowners, the Blue Funnel Line (Alfred Holt & Co), gained the majority of shares and control of the company in 1902. Gulland died at Broadstairs in Kent in 1908.