Events from the year 1881 in Scotland .
1 March – the Cunard Line 's SS Servia , the first steel transatlantic liner , is launched at J. & G. Thomson 's shipyard at Clydebank .[ 1]
12 March – Andrew Watson of Glasgow 's Queen's Park F.C. (from a mixed Scottish/British Guianese background) captains the Scotland national football team in a 6–1 victory against England , becoming the world's first black international Association football player.
1 July – formation, under the Childers Reforms of the British Army , of the Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders , Cameronians (Scottish Rifles) , Gordon Highlanders , Highland Light Infantry and Seaforth Highlanders .
20/21 July – 58 men, the crews of ten fishing boats (mostly sixareens ) from Yell, Shetland , are drowned in a sudden storm.
25 August – Edinburgh Royal Review of Volunteers ("The Wet Review"): Large numbers of Volunteer Forces from all over Scotland parade before Queen Victoria in Holyrood Park on a day of prolonged heavy rainfall.
14 October – the Eyemouth disaster ("Black Friday"): a severe storm strikes the Berwickshire coast; 189 fishermen die.[ 2]
21 December – the Aberdeen Line 's SS Aberdeen , the first oceangoing ship successfully powered by a triple expansion steam engine, designed by Alexander Carnegie Kirk , is launched at Robert Napier and Sons ' yard at Govan .
The remains of Alexander Lindsay, 25th Earl of Crawford (died 1880), are stolen from the family crypt on the Dunecht estate .[ 3]
Memorial cairn erected at the site of the Battle of Culloden (1746).
Bruichladdich distillery established on the Rinns of Islay .
Clydebank Co-operative Society formed.
Inverness Museum and Art Gallery originally opened.
Fettesian-Lorettonian Club established as a joint sporting club of the two named Edinburgh public schools, primarily for the playing of rugby union .
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