[2] In July 1684, he was co-owner with his younger brother Baillie James Gibson of the ship Carolina Merchant moored at Gourock bay (see below).
Walter Gibson was the last Lord Provost to be chosen by the Bishop of Glasgow as this practice terminated with the Glorious Revolution of 1688.
Under this new system Gibson did not serve the standard two year term and was replaced by John Anderson III in February 1689.
[3][4] Sadly Gibson fell on troubled times and his bankruptcy of 1691 not only ruined his reputation but resulted in his imprisonment.
It gave its name to the adjacent alley, Gibson's Wynd, which was later widened to create Princes Street.
[7] When she sailed from Gourock Bay in July 1684 she contained 32 to 35 Covenanter prisoners and a woman "kidnapped" or under duress: Elizabeth Linning.
Not all the passengers were prisoners: Henry Erskine, 3rd Lord Cardross and Rev William Dunlop were on board with a group of over 100 emigrants and they established their own settlement called Stuart Town (near the now Beaufort, South Carolina).
Later that year Gibson's rival for government transportation, Robert Malloch, sailed 150 persons "he had been made a gift of" from Leith to the Americas on his ship the Alexander.