By law, from 1 January 1824, ships had to be registered in their home ports, with details of where and when they were built, their type and physical structure, their current and subsequent masters and the names of those who owned the 64 shares into which ships were divided for purposes of ownership. Any alteration to the size, shape or capacity of a vessel reqired its re-registration.

The Shipping Registers form part of the Customs and Excise records. Those records which pertain to the ports of Dumfriesshire, Kirkcudbrightshire and Wigtownshire are held in Dumfries Archive Centre, under Charge and Superintendence from the Keeper of the Records of Scotland.

The Shipping Registers of Dumfries (1824 to 1904), Kirkcudbright (1824 to 1841), Stranraer (1824 to 1908) and Wigtown (1836 to 1920) have been indexed by two of the "Friends of the Archives of Dumfries and Galloway", Marshall Laing and Iain Cochrane-Dyet , with the results of their labours being keyed into computer by George Findlay.

Note: The registers for Dumfries cover the port of Annan also.