Photographer Engineer Captured Life at a Working Harbour
Early 20th-century images go on show at Aberdeen Art Gallery ahead of the Tall Ships
There’s a stoic intimacy in the photographs Robert Gordon Nicol took of Aberdeen Harbour. His lens didn’t only frame docks and vessels; it also captured the people who moved through them- divers, deckhands and harbour workers, mid-task or pausing in the everyday rhythm of a working port.
From 8 June, a selection of Nicol’s glass plate negatives will be on show at Aberdeen Art Gallery. The exhibition, From the Archive: Aberdeen Harbour Board, runs until 11 January 2026. With the Tall Ships Races arriving soon, it’s a chance to look back on the harbour’s longer story, shaped by trade, labour and the life around the quayside.
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Open Road presents a screening of Meet the Buchanans, an off-beat documentary about the first Clan Buchanan Chief in over 300 years. With missing historical records, much of the inauguration ceremony is improvised, offering a fresh take on the role of Clans today.
Join director Barbara Orton and Professor Alison Lumsden for a post-screening Q&A. Catch it at Fittie Community Hall on Friday 6 June at 7pm, doors open at 6.30pm. Tickets are £5, pay by card or cash.
The engineer with a camera
Born in 1858, Nicol worked as an engineer for the Harbour Board and took photographs alongside his official duties. Many images were taken in Aberdeen, but others document coastal communities including Peterhead, Stonehaven and Lerwick. These came from his role as an advising engineer to the Scottish Fishery Board.
His photographs record a wide range of subjects. One image, dated around 1910, shows two divers at Mearns Quay with a support crew on a small boat, one man holding the air line. Elsewhere, tugs, dredgers and small fishing vessels share the harbour with larger ships carrying cargo such as coal and timber. The exports included granite, woollen goods, beef and salted herring.
A wider collection of records
The exhibition draws from a broader archive held by Aberdeen City and Aberdeenshire Archives. The collection was transferred from Aberdeen Harbour Board in 2019 and includes shipping ledgers, building plans, correspondence and logbooks, spanning 1800 to 1960.
Nicol’s images are part of a much larger photographic record, including thousands of glass negatives. He also took his camera on family holidays, adding another layer of personal history to the professional archive.
A harbour shaped by people
Bob Sanguinetti, CEO of Port of Aberdeen, said, “Robert Nicol’s photographs of the port provide a fascinating insight into Aberdeen’s rich maritime heritage. Fishing, shipbuilding, textiles and global transportation of stone from the city’s famous quarries all relied on our essential gateway to the North Sea."
With the return of the Tall Ships bringing fresh attention to the city’s harbour, this exhibition offers something quieter. It captures the working lives that built Aberdeen’s reputation as a port city. Nicol’s photographs are more than records. They’re memories, held still in glass.
From the Archive: Aberdeen Harbour Board is open at Aberdeen Art Gallery until 11 January 2026.
