Home > Clyde puffer
The Clyde puffer is essentially a type of small steamboat which provided a vital supply link around the west coast and Hebrides islands of Scotland, stumpy little cargo ships that have achieved almost mythical status thanks largely to the short stories Neil Munro wrote about the Vital Spark and her captain Para Handy.MV Kyles, a diesel powered "puffer", on the River Clyde at Braehead shoppping centre, Glasgow.
1 Characteristics
Characteristically these boats had bluff bows, crew's quarters with table and cooking stove in the focsle, and a single mast with derrick in front of the large hold, aft of which the funnel and ships wheel stood above the engine room while the captain had a small cabin in the stern. When publication of the Vital Spark stories began in 1905 the ships wheel was still in the open, but later a wheelhouse was added aft of the funnel giving the puffers their distinctive image. Their flat bottom allowed them to beach and unload at low tide, essential to supply remote settlements without suitable piers. Typical cargoes could include coal and furniture, with farm produce and gravel sometimes being brought back.
2 History
The puffers developed from gabbert s, small single masted sailing barges which took most of the coasting trade. The original puffer was the Thomas, an iron canal boat of 1856, less than 66 ft (20 m) long to fit in the Forth and Clyde Canal locks, powered by a simple steam engine without a condenser so that it "puffed" with every stroke. As it drew fresh water from the canal there was no need to economise on water use. By the 1870s similar boats were being adapted for use beyond the canal and fitted with condensers so that they no longer puffed, but the name stuck. A derrick was added to the single mast to lift cargo.
From this basic type of puffer three varieties developed: inside boats continued in use on the Forth and Clyde canal, while shorehead boats extended their range into the Firth of Forth as far as Bute and from there up the length of Loch FyneLoch Fyne is a sea loch on the west coast of Argyll and Bute, Scotland. It extends 65 kilometers (40 miles) inland from the Sound of Bute, making it the longest of the sea lochs. It is connected to the Sound of Jura by the Crinan Canal. Loch Fyne is a pop, their length kept at 66 ft (20 m) to use the canal locks. Both these types had a crew of three. Puffers of a third type, the outside boats, were built for the rougher sea routes to the Hebrides islands with a crew of four and the length increased to 88 ft (27 m) still allowing use of the larger locks on the Crinan CanalThe Crinan canal is a canal in the west of Scotland. It takes its name from the village of Crinan which is located at its westerly end. Nine miles long, it connects Ardrishaig on Loch Fyne with the Sound of Jura, providing a navigable route between the Cl which cuts across the KintyreKintyre is a region of western Scotland located at the south-western tip of the Argyll Peninsula. The region stretches approximately 30 miles from the Mull of Kintyre (immortalised in song by Paul McCartney) in the south to East Loch Tarbert in the north. peninsula. There were more than 20 builders in Scotland, mainly on the Forth and Clyde canal at KirkintillochKirkintilloch is a Scottish burgh which lies on the line of the Roman Antonine Wall in East Dunbartonshire, about 8 miles east of Glasgow. The name is said to derive from the Celtic Caerpentalloch meaning 'Fort at the end of the ridge of hills', which pro and MaryhillMaryhill is a residential locality within the North-West sector of the City of Glasgow. Previously an administratively independent Police Burgh from 1856, Maryhill was incorporated into Glasgow in 1912. Sporting instiutions in the area are Partick Thistle, Glasgow.
During World War IWorld War I (also known as the First World War , the Great War the War of the Nations and the "War to End All Wars") was a world conflict occurring from 1914 to 1918. No previous conflict had mobilized so many soldiers, or involved so many in the field of these handy little ships showed their worth in servicing warships, and were used at Scapa FlowScapa Flow is a body of water in the Orkney Islands, Scotland, United Kingdom. Surrounded by the islands of Mainland, Graemsay, Burray, South Ronaldsay and Hoy, it is best known as the site of the United Kingdom's chief naval base during the First and Sec, and for World War IIWorld War II was the most extensive and costly armed conflict in the history of the world, involving the great majority of the world's nations, being fought simultaneously in several major theatres, and costing tens of millions of lives. The war was fough the Admiralty placed an order in 1939 for steamships on the same design, mostly built in England, with the class name of VIC. After the war a number of VICs came into the coasting trade.
The Innisgara was fitted with an internal combustion engine in 1912, and while puffers generally were steam powered, after World War II new ships began to be diesel engined, and a number of VICs were converted to diesel. The coasting trade to serve the islands was kept up by the Glenlight Shipping Company of Greenock until in 1993 the government withdrew subsidies and, unable to compete with road transport using subsidised ferries, the service ended.
