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The Clyde puffer is a type of small coal-fired and single-masted cargo ship, built mainly on the Forth and Clyde Canal, which provided a vital supply link around the west coast and Hebrides of Scotland.
Built between 1856 and 1939, these stumpy little achieved an almost mythical status thanks largely to the short stories Neil Munro wrote about the Vital Spark and her captain Para Handy, which produced three television series.
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 eastwards into the Firth of Forth and westwards as far as the Isle of Bute and from there up the length of Loch Fyne, 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 Canal, which cuts across the Kintyre peninsula. There were more than 20 builders in Scotland, mainly on the Forth and Clyde canal at Kirkintilloch and Maryhill, Glasgow.
During World War I these handy little ships showed their worth in servicing warships, and were used at Scapa Flow, and for World War II the Admiralty placed an order in 1939 for steamships on the same design, mostly built in England, with the class name of VIC, standing for "Victualling Inshore Craft". 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 , and a number of VICs were converted to diesel. The coasting trade serving 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.
VIC 32 is one of the last few surviving coal-fired steam-powered puffers and is based at The Change House, Crinan. She was built by Dunston's of Thorne, Yorkshire in November 1943 – a busy time for the Clyde Ship building yards. As the wartime Admiralty needed 50, (later 100) victualling boats in a hurry, they were built in groups of three by various yards in England. No new designs were needed as the perfect boat existed in a Clyde Puffer.
Steam sailings on VIC 32 have been available to the public from 1979, latterly as cruises on the Clyde, West Coast and Caledonian Canal. From 2004 she underwent extensive refitting at Corpach Boatyard at the west end of the canal near Fort William, funded by donations and lottery funds. After fitting of a new boiler by Pridham's Engineering and Corpach Boatbuilders, she steamed down from Fort William to Crinan, from where cruises have now re-commenced.
VIC 56 was built by Pollock, of Faversham in 1945. She is preserved in working order at Chatham Historic Dockyard, regularly steaming in the Thames and Medway estuaries.
VIC 96 was built by Dunstons of Thorne, South Yorkshire in 1945, and after disposal, was restored at Maryport. The restoration was completed in 2009, retaining its steam engine, boiler and winch. On 8 August 2009, VIC 96 arrived at her new home, Chatham No. 1 Basin, after an epic 1,000 miles voyage from Elizabeth Dock, Maryport, which took five weeks.
VIC 27 was built at Rowhedge Ironworks. She was renamed Auld Reekie, and starred as the Vital Spark in the third BBC TV Para Handy series where she was berthed at Crinan Basin for 14 years, deteriorating. She was purchased (Oct 2006) by the owner of the Inveraray Maritime Museum who carried out some work on her. She has since been resold to a new owner who has already started on her major restoration work. As she is the oldest surviving steam-powered puffer in existence she must be restored and preserved as part of Scotland's heritage afloat.
VIC 72, renamed Eilean Eisdeal, continued in operation as the last of the true working "puffers" into the mid 1990s. In 2006 she was again renamed as Vital Spark of Glasgow after the Inveraray writer Neil Munro's Para Handy stories. She is now accessible to the public, alongside the Arctic Penguin at the Inveraray Maritime Museum, and continues to make sailings.
The Spartan, another diesel-engined "puffer", is on display at the Scottish Maritime Museum at Irvine. Spartan has recently undergone restoration work on her hull, and is still being refitted. The museum also features the diesel-powered motor coaster MV Kyles at Irvine (an early Clyde built coaster, not a puffer).
The Basuto is the oldest remaining Clyde puffer. Built at Port Dundas by William Jacks & Co in 1902, she is currently (2025) awaiting restoration following awarding of a £234k grant from the National Heritage Memorial Fund. She was built for William Jacks' own use on the Forth & Clyde Canal. Sold in 1919 to a Belfast coal-merchant, J. Kelly & Co, then in the 1920s sold again to Cooper & Sons of Widnes and converted to a dumb barge to carry gravel and sand. Later returned to steam with a new engine by Manchester Dry Docks Ltd, in 1981 she was acquired by the National Waterways Museum at Ellesmere Port.
There have also been reproduction puffers built to a smaller size, most recently the MV Mary Hill for tourist traffic on the Forth and Clyde canal.
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