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00:00:02,900 --> 00:00:04,260
For 140 years,

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Puffers were the workhorses of
the Scottish coastal trade.

3
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'Those days are long gone and now,

4
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'with only three of these historic
boats left in Scottish waters,

5
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'I'm on a voyage into
a steam-driven past...'

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Whoa! The heat!

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'..where the puffers would help

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'fire the industrialisation
of our nation

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'and provided the crucial link
between the mainland

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'and our remotest communities.'

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I thought of these men as heroes,

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coming with these wee boats to
the islands, doing such good work.

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'I'll meet the last surviving men

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'who lived and worked on
these special craft.'

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There's not many of them left now.

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I mean, I'm 86, but
I'm still going strong!

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'The puffers were immortalised

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'by the fictional tales of
Para Handy and the Vital Spark.'

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And the reality behind the myth

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is every bit as rich
as the Para Handy tales.

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A lot of rogues, too -

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but they were nice rogues, you know?

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Let's find out more about
the boat that built Scotland.

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The River Clyde -

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the artery that runs through
the heart of Glasgow -

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will forever be associated
with the magnificent ships

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that were built here during

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the British Empire's age of
industrial and world domination.

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The great ships that
were built on this river

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sailed away from Scotland
to distant lands,

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to make their fortune
and ply their trade.

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But there's another fascinating part
of Scotland's maritime history -

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and it's a story that's
almost been forgotten.

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For more than a century,

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the Clyde puffer was a familiar
sight on Scottish water.

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There were around 400
of these boats built

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and whilst some puffers
were owned by their skipper,

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most were part of
private company fleets.

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They were manned by small crews
of some of the hardiest

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and most able men that have ever
taken to the rough seas of Scotland

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and could deliver over
100 tonnes of bulk cargo,

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with her own gear, in places
others vessels dare not go.

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The most versatile boat
in the water,

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she was just as at home in
the industrial heart of Scotland

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as she was in the remotest
corners of the Hebrides.

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I'm looking at
an old map of Scotland

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and you can see the graphic
nature of our landscape,

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and the Highlands and the Islands -

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and it's craggy, with all
the inlets and the sea lochs

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and these inaccessible,
isolated communities.

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Now, to get any kind
of supplies in there,

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you needed a specially-designed
and built boat to do that job.

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That's where the puffers came in.

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Difficult, difficult job,

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but absolutely vital to the
lifeblood of those communities.

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The Clyde puffer -

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the boat that once played such an
important role in Scottish life

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has all but disappeared...

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Well, almost.

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I'm in Crinan in Argyllshire,
on the west coast of Scotland.

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It's a haven for sailors
from all over the world

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and I'm here to visit a
very important piece of
Scottish maritime history.

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And here she is - the VIC 32.

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This unique boat is the last
surviving steam-driven puffer

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still to be found on
Scottish water.

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She's just like a clumpy lump of iron
sitting in the water, isn't she?

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I'm dying to see inside.

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'The VIC 32 has been kept afloat

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'by the last full-time puffer
skipper in the world - Nick Walker.'

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Nick! Hello, sir.

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Very, very welcome on board the good
ship VIC 32. It's lovely to be here.

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'Nick's agreed to let me
join him on a voyage

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'that will help me find out

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'what life was like on board
a working puffer.'

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Take up the slack as I come back.

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She's quite a beast,
to move around this little loch.

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Yes, she weighs 160 tonnes,

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and there are a lot of very
expensive yachts about the place.

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So, you've got to be quite careful.

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They wouldn't be very happy
if you bumped into them! No.

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I'm coming astern.
This boat will do ballet.

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You can turn the boat round
in a canal basin like this.

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So, that little wheel controls
the engine? It's the throttle.

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It's the main steam valve.

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It just allows more steam or
less steam into the engine.

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You can hold the wheel.
Turn it to the middle.

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That's it, keep turning.

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This is a treat beyond belief!

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'This is the first time that
I've been on a steam puffer,

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'but like a lot of Scots
of a certain vintage,

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'it's a boat that I remember well.'

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As a boy growing up in Glasgow,

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we used to get a ferry across
the river to visit my auntie.

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And you would have dozens
and dozens of ships

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and liners from all over the world.

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In amongst them were these things,
puffing away - puff-puff-puff -

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00:06:05,900 --> 00:06:09,140
plying their trade up
and down the Clyde.

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In the mind of a young boy,
they were magical.

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They were like little toys
- toy ships -

100
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they weren't great big ocean-going
liners or cargo ships,

101
00:06:18,340 --> 00:06:21,660
they were just wee toys
you wanted to have in your bath.

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ARCHIVE VO: Puffers, too, have
their place in dockland,

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00:06:24,380 --> 00:06:27,900
for these dumpy little maids
of all work carry their cargoes

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right up to the shallows,
under the city's bridges.

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The VIC 32 here was built in 1943

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and after her working life,
was headed for the breaker's yard.

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Thankfully, she was
rescued by skipper Nick

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when he spotted her laid up
at a boatyard in Whitby.

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He's kept her afloat by
converting her cargo hold

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and turning her into
a popular holiday cruiser.

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If we hadn't found her
in September of 1975,

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I think she would have been
scrapped,

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because she was going downhill fast.

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The anchor chain had gone,

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the navigation lights had gone,
the wheel had gone.

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Just the core was there.

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And, together with the help
of some steam enthusiasts,

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spent two years doing
all the work you can see

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and we managed to get her going,

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because I knew nothing
about steam engines,

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but we soon worked it out -
that this boat had a heart.

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The VIC 32 is now
the last of her kind,

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but puffers just like her
used to be a regular sight

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all along this
Argyllshire coastline.

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But it was on a different
type of waterway

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that the story of these
boats really began.

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Now, the story of Scotland's
puffers is fundamentally interwoven

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with the history of
Scotland's canals -

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and if you want to find out
about the birth of the puffer,

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you won't find it out at sea -
you have to head inland.

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And it's back to Glasgow,

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on one of Scotland's most historic
waterways, that the story begins.

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In many respects,

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the puffer was the baby of
the Forth and Clyde Canal.

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This is the Forth and Clyde
Canal system

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and you could spend your entire
life in the city of Glasgow

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going about your daily business
and you would never know it's here.

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But in the days of the puffers,

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these waterways were
the veins of the nation,

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carrying Scotland's lifeblood -
trade.

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The canal is 35 miles long

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and cuts right across Scotland
at her narrowest point,

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between Grangemouth in the east
and Bowling in the west.

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When it opened in 1790,

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it was the most important
trade route in Scotland.

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00:08:49,460 --> 00:08:52,500
Steam power in boats
had yet to be perfected

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and cargo was delivered
using a tamer method.

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And it's from these earliest canal
craft the puffer would emerge.

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Over there, hiding
in the long grass,

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is something I find
quite remarkable.

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This is an old canal scow.

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The forerunner, the granddaddy
of the puffers.

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And already, you can see the basic
puffer design begin to take shape.

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She had no engines,
no steering system -

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apart from a hand-operated tiller
you can see at the stern there -

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because these boats were
pulled along the canals by horses

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in the 18th and the first half
of the 19th centuries.

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Now, she's not been cared for
by restoration teams.

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She's just been left here
to rust into memory.

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And that's a shame,

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because she played a vital part
in Scottish maritime history.

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In the 1830s, the canals
would face a serious threat.

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These horse-drawn scows
would be overtaken

164
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by a new, faster,
steam-powered rival.

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00:10:15,540 --> 00:10:17,620
The age of the railway had arrived.

166
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But the key thing was efficiency

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and the railways thought that
they had the upper hand

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and that they could develop
a more efficient system.

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The puffer was the solution
to this.

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This is a really important
part of the canal.

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In 1856, a canal engineer
called James Milne

172
00:10:41,260 --> 00:10:43,300
lived in that white house behind me,

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here in Hamilton Hill,
in the north of Glasgow.

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He decided to try an experiment.

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He installed two steam cylinders

176
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and a newly-invented screw propeller

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into the iron hull of a cargo scow.

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And the Thomas was born -

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the first ever puffer.

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And once that boat
had been converted,

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it was immediately popular.

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00:11:08,740 --> 00:11:11,860
The big advantage the Forth
and Clyde Canal had was the size -

183
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the sheer size of
the Forth and Clyde Canal

184
00:11:14,260 --> 00:11:16,340
meant that boats could be developed

185
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that were big enough to, in effect,
compete against railways.

186
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These locks on the canal
will take a boat 66 feet long,

187
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so that was the dimension that
the puffers were all built to
begin with.

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00:11:30,140 --> 00:11:34,620
The average puffer took
about 100 tonnes of goods.

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00:11:34,620 --> 00:11:37,340
You couldn't put that
on a railway truck.

190
00:11:37,340 --> 00:11:38,900
It minimised, also,

191
00:11:38,900 --> 00:11:42,580
the amount of handling that you
had to do to shift the goods.

192
00:11:43,940 --> 00:11:46,580
These new puffers were
an instant success

193
00:11:46,580 --> 00:11:49,060
and they soon became
a familiar sight,

194
00:11:49,060 --> 00:11:51,900
as they gave the canals
a new, competitive edge.

195
00:11:53,700 --> 00:11:56,780
I'm on board the MV Maryhill,

196
00:11:56,780 --> 00:12:00,300
a miniature replica puffer
run by canal enthusiasts.

197
00:12:01,780 --> 00:12:04,460
It gives us a wonderful
glimpse into the past,

198
00:12:04,460 --> 00:12:06,220
as the journey along here

199
00:12:06,220 --> 00:12:09,140
is the same route taken
by those first puffers.

200
00:12:11,860 --> 00:12:14,900
There's the steeple of
Glasgow University.

201
00:12:14,900 --> 00:12:16,860
Then below that,
the Western Infirmary.

202
00:12:16,860 --> 00:12:18,460
I've lived in Glasgow all my life

203
00:12:18,460 --> 00:12:21,260
and I've never seen the city
from this perspective.

204
00:12:21,260 --> 00:12:24,580
It's really, really unusual
and it's lovely.

205
00:12:27,620 --> 00:12:30,300
The early puffers were
really simple boats.

206
00:12:30,300 --> 00:12:32,460
They were essentially
just canal barges

207
00:12:32,460 --> 00:12:34,900
with an engine bolted on
to the back.

208
00:12:34,900 --> 00:12:37,900
It was this rudimentary design
that led to its name.

209
00:12:39,020 --> 00:12:43,460
The first generation of Puffers
did not have condensers,

210
00:12:43,460 --> 00:12:49,700
which meant that they could not
convert the steam back into water,

211
00:12:49,700 --> 00:12:51,900
to go back into the boiler.

212
00:12:51,900 --> 00:12:54,460
They just let it puff
out of the funnel -

213
00:12:54,460 --> 00:12:56,140
puff-puff-puff.

214
00:12:58,620 --> 00:13:00,620
And of course, those early Puffers

215
00:13:00,620 --> 00:13:03,420
with non-condensing engines
on the canal

216
00:13:03,420 --> 00:13:05,860
- puff-puff-puff
through the funnel -

217
00:13:05,860 --> 00:13:07,940
is where the name "puffer"
comes from.

218
00:13:07,940 --> 00:13:09,900
That's how it got the name.

219
00:13:09,900 --> 00:13:11,500
The name stuck -

220
00:13:11,500 --> 00:13:14,220
and although the model adapted,

221
00:13:14,220 --> 00:13:17,140
"puffers" they were,
to their dying day.

222
00:13:25,940 --> 00:13:28,060
When you think of
the heyday of shipbuilding,

223
00:13:28,060 --> 00:13:30,620
it's really almost impossible
not to conjure up

224
00:13:30,620 --> 00:13:33,180
images of the great yards
of the day -

225
00:13:33,180 --> 00:13:36,900
the Fairfields, the Elders,
the Yarrows and the John Browns.

226
00:13:36,900 --> 00:13:39,540
But alongside that,
at the same time,

227
00:13:39,540 --> 00:13:43,300
a new industry of canalside puffer
boatyards was developing -

228
00:13:43,300 --> 00:13:45,100
and developing fast.

229
00:13:49,260 --> 00:13:53,900
Industries sprang up
alongside the canal

230
00:13:53,900 --> 00:14:00,940
and the puffer was part of that
whole new industrial mobility.

231
00:14:04,260 --> 00:14:09,860
I'm watching the only known footage
of a broadside launch of a puffer -

232
00:14:09,860 --> 00:14:13,740
and it's in the heart of the town
of Kirkintilloch - side on.

233
00:14:15,940 --> 00:14:19,340
And it looks amazing, because
the boat, when it's been built,

234
00:14:19,340 --> 00:14:21,580
must have towered right
above the canal bank

235
00:14:21,580 --> 00:14:23,260
in the centre of the town.

236
00:14:23,260 --> 00:14:26,620
Oh! Oh, my!
LAUGHTER

237
00:14:27,900 --> 00:14:32,020
Good Lord, that's really genuinely
quite spectacular.

238
00:14:32,020 --> 00:14:34,340
I mean, when she slides
off into the canal,

239
00:14:34,340 --> 00:14:38,300
she bounces about like a cork,
like a matchbox.

240
00:14:38,300 --> 00:14:40,060
And she crashes into the other bank,

241
00:14:40,060 --> 00:14:42,580
sending a great wave
onto the shore.

242
00:14:42,580 --> 00:14:45,180
That's quite spectacular, that.

243
00:14:45,180 --> 00:14:48,340
There are thousands of people
round there watching.

244
00:14:48,340 --> 00:14:51,460
This is a remarkable piece of
footage and it's very, very rare.

245
00:14:54,580 --> 00:14:56,740
Although the puffers
started out life

246
00:14:56,740 --> 00:14:58,820
on the gentle waters of the canals,

247
00:14:58,820 --> 00:15:00,580
it was out on the open sea,

248
00:15:00,580 --> 00:15:04,420
on the wild west coast of Scotland,
they would make their name.

249
00:15:04,420 --> 00:15:06,060
'And for Professor Donald Meek,

250
00:15:06,060 --> 00:15:09,500
'who grew up on the remote island
of Tiree in the early '50s,

251
00:15:09,500 --> 00:15:12,820
'the importance of the puffer
has left a lasting impact.'

252
00:15:13,980 --> 00:15:15,420
I miss the puffer terribly.

253
00:15:16,500 --> 00:15:18,540
I was so used to puffers

254
00:15:18,540 --> 00:15:21,860
coming and going to Tiree
for all sorts of reasons.

255
00:15:21,860 --> 00:15:23,820
I'm often amazed at this...

256
00:15:24,980 --> 00:15:28,620
..that a little boat
that was developed

257
00:15:28,620 --> 00:15:32,020
to handle bulk cargo on a canal

258
00:15:32,020 --> 00:15:36,140
eventually went out to the Hebrides.

259
00:15:36,140 --> 00:15:39,900
The puffer is how the
Industrial Revolution

260
00:15:39,900 --> 00:15:42,300
spread out to the Hebrides.

261
00:15:42,300 --> 00:15:46,740
Like the spokes of a wheel from
Glasgow on from the lowlands.

262
00:15:46,740 --> 00:15:48,940
And the puffers were the spokes.

263
00:15:50,740 --> 00:15:52,380
There was a fortune to be made

264
00:15:52,380 --> 00:15:56,020
if the puffers could get out to
sea and work the coastal trade.

265
00:15:57,540 --> 00:16:01,140
But before they could reach the
open water beyond the canal locks,

266
00:16:01,140 --> 00:16:04,220
a few design modifications
needed to take place.

267
00:16:09,060 --> 00:16:13,300
And deep in the archives of the
Scottish Maritime museum at Irvine,

268
00:16:13,300 --> 00:16:16,620
we can find the earliest example
of the puffer's evolution.

269
00:16:21,860 --> 00:16:24,660
Now, what makes these
blueprints so special

270
00:16:24,660 --> 00:16:27,140
is the fact that they're so rare.

271
00:16:27,140 --> 00:16:29,860
The puffers built in the first
50 years of the trade

272
00:16:29,860 --> 00:16:31,740
were built by eye.

273
00:16:31,740 --> 00:16:34,180
But then, when they started
to add amendments

274
00:16:34,180 --> 00:16:37,060
and new elements for ocean-going,

275
00:16:37,060 --> 00:16:39,500
that's when these blueprints
first arrived.

276
00:16:41,260 --> 00:16:44,100
So, out at sea, obviously,
they needed a bower -

277
00:16:44,100 --> 00:16:48,460
a rail round the outside of the boat
to stop people falling off.

278
00:16:48,460 --> 00:16:50,900
Common sense.

279
00:16:50,900 --> 00:16:53,740
When they were in the canals,
they had an open cargo hold.

280
00:16:53,740 --> 00:16:56,180
If water got into
an open hold out at sea,

281
00:16:56,180 --> 00:16:58,740
that would lead to
a pretty awful disaster,

282
00:16:58,740 --> 00:17:02,540
so they had to add covers
and hatches all over the boat.

283
00:17:03,700 --> 00:17:07,340
In the canal system, it's very easy
and straightforward to steer.

284
00:17:07,340 --> 00:17:09,580
A simple rudder was
all that was needed,

285
00:17:09,580 --> 00:17:12,100
but once they started going
out into the open sea,

286
00:17:12,100 --> 00:17:14,540
they needed something
far, far more robust.

287
00:17:16,380 --> 00:17:19,100
The key development
would be in engines.

288
00:17:19,100 --> 00:17:22,300
What the canal puffers did was,
they took the water from the canals

289
00:17:22,300 --> 00:17:24,300
and blew it up their chimneys.

290
00:17:24,300 --> 00:17:25,980
They puffed.

291
00:17:25,980 --> 00:17:29,860
But you can't do that out at sea,
because you can't use saltwater.

292
00:17:29,860 --> 00:17:32,020
The engines just wouldn't work.

293
00:17:32,020 --> 00:17:34,180
So, they created a condenser.

294
00:17:36,260 --> 00:17:38,140
So, there was no more puffing.

295
00:17:40,700 --> 00:17:44,780
By the 1890s, with these refinements
and developments in place,

296
00:17:44,780 --> 00:17:47,420
the steam puffer finally
took on the shape

297
00:17:47,420 --> 00:17:50,100
it would retain for
the next 70 years.

298
00:17:54,660 --> 00:17:57,340
With the puffer now ready
for a life at sea,

299
00:17:57,340 --> 00:18:01,020
it would go on to dominate
the Scottish coastal trade.

300
00:18:01,020 --> 00:18:04,820
There are probably only
a handful of men now,

301
00:18:04,820 --> 00:18:07,420
who actually sailed on puffers.

302
00:18:07,420 --> 00:18:12,700
We're just at the point where
we could lose that wonderful link

303
00:18:12,700 --> 00:18:16,620
with a generation of men
who were adept

304
00:18:16,620 --> 00:18:22,300
at handling small steam craft
in difficult waters,

305
00:18:22,300 --> 00:18:24,340
and doing so brilliantly.

306
00:18:26,340 --> 00:18:27,980
One man who knows more than most

307
00:18:27,980 --> 00:18:30,380
about life aboard
these special boats

308
00:18:30,380 --> 00:18:33,260
is retired puffer skipper
Bobby Sinclair.

309
00:18:34,900 --> 00:18:37,780
Bobby, you've done that before!
Many a time!

310
00:18:37,780 --> 00:18:41,540
Good to meet you.
How are you? Welcome.

311
00:18:41,540 --> 00:18:43,780
Bobby, why did you join?

312
00:18:43,780 --> 00:18:46,540
Well, I suppose
I was on the boats with my father.

313
00:18:46,540 --> 00:18:49,420
He was on the boats and I always
used to come out of school

314
00:18:49,420 --> 00:18:51,580
and first thing was go to the boat.

315
00:18:51,580 --> 00:18:54,140
So, your father was a puffer man?
That's correct.

316
00:18:54,140 --> 00:18:56,580
Yeah, he was puffers
for many years as well.

317
00:18:56,580 --> 00:18:58,740
So, when did you start
to work full-time?

318
00:18:58,740 --> 00:19:01,700
I started at 16, on the puffers.

319
00:19:01,700 --> 00:19:04,740
And that was on Alaska
a puffer called Alaska -

320
00:19:04,740 --> 00:19:07,300
a steam puffer with my father
as the skipper.

321
00:19:07,300 --> 00:19:09,820
And I started off as deckhand.

322
00:19:09,820 --> 00:19:13,820
The deckhand on a steam puffer
had to relieve the engineer

323
00:19:13,820 --> 00:19:17,340
and you were down there firing up
the boiler and sometimes,

324
00:19:17,340 --> 00:19:22,460
the skipper would have you steer
and things like that, you know?

325
00:19:22,460 --> 00:19:25,420
You ended up a skipper,
didn't you? Aye, yes.

326
00:19:25,420 --> 00:19:31,740
Got one command and worked up till
about the mid-'70s, the early '70s.

327
00:19:31,740 --> 00:19:34,460
I imagine the conditions
under which you worked -

328
00:19:34,460 --> 00:19:37,180
the conditions of the weather
and all the rest of it -

329
00:19:37,180 --> 00:19:39,900
it must have generated
a great camaraderie

330
00:19:39,900 --> 00:19:43,060
and a sense of community?
Oh, it did. Oh, aye.

331
00:19:43,060 --> 00:19:45,700
I mean, you wouldn't see
anything wrong.

332
00:19:45,700 --> 00:19:48,780
You'd look after one another
as well, you know?

333
00:19:48,780 --> 00:19:50,900
A lot of rogues too -

334
00:19:50,900 --> 00:19:53,740
but they were nice rogues, you know?

335
00:19:53,740 --> 00:19:56,220
Are you proud of being on
the Spartan? Oh, yes.

336
00:19:56,220 --> 00:19:58,780
Very proud of being on
the Spartan. Why?

337
00:19:58,780 --> 00:20:02,460
Oh, she's a fine wee boat
and nice lines -

338
00:20:02,460 --> 00:20:04,860
a fine wee boat to look at.
Nice model.

339
00:20:06,380 --> 00:20:09,340
One of the Puffers that Bobby
was proud to have worked on

340
00:20:09,340 --> 00:20:11,580
during his long career at sea

341
00:20:11,580 --> 00:20:15,220
is now being looked after
by the Scottish Maritime Museum.

342
00:20:23,180 --> 00:20:25,380
This is the Spartan,

343
00:20:25,380 --> 00:20:27,260
berthed here in Irvine Harbour.

344
00:20:32,140 --> 00:20:35,820
It's one of the last of
the puffers still afloat.

345
00:20:45,660 --> 00:20:48,860
Another man who can remember
life working on the Spartan

346
00:20:48,860 --> 00:20:53,060
was her former chief engineer,
Jim McMonigle.

347
00:20:53,060 --> 00:20:56,420
I joined this boat
somewhere about 1962.

348
00:20:57,780 --> 00:21:01,140
The last porthole there was
my cabin.

349
00:21:01,140 --> 00:21:02,780
And there were three of us in there.

350
00:21:02,780 --> 00:21:06,420
On the other side, the skipper,
he had a cabin to himself.

351
00:21:06,420 --> 00:21:08,540
We even had class distinction!

352
00:21:08,540 --> 00:21:09,860
They were a happy enough crowd.

353
00:21:09,860 --> 00:21:12,620
Down at the back end,
down a couple of steps,

354
00:21:12,620 --> 00:21:15,780
there was a mess room with
a stove and a cooker in it.

355
00:21:15,780 --> 00:21:19,180
No refrigeration,
or anything like that.

356
00:21:19,180 --> 00:21:21,940
But we all worked together
and you had to get on.

357
00:21:21,940 --> 00:21:24,940
If you didn't get on,
you were in serious trouble,

358
00:21:24,940 --> 00:21:29,180
because it's too wee a boat
to start fighting.

359
00:21:29,180 --> 00:21:32,140
But we thoroughly enjoyed it.
We had a great time on it.

360
00:21:33,620 --> 00:21:37,940
It was the hardest job I had
in my life, aboard the puffers.

361
00:21:37,940 --> 00:21:40,420
I've never worked so hard
physically in my life,

362
00:21:40,420 --> 00:21:44,620
because if you had 80 tonnes
of coal in that hold,

363
00:21:44,620 --> 00:21:48,260
and if you were in a place
where you didn't have dockers,

364
00:21:48,260 --> 00:21:49,900
you did the loading yourself.

365
00:21:49,900 --> 00:21:52,060
At the end of a shovel,
eight hours a day -

366
00:21:52,060 --> 00:21:55,180
and we had to discharge
80 tonnes of coal in a day.

367
00:21:55,180 --> 00:21:57,820
80 tonnes? 80 tonnes.

368
00:21:57,820 --> 00:22:01,460
'Coal was the key cargo carried by
the puffers in these massive holds.'

369
00:22:03,060 --> 00:22:04,660
And the guys who worked on board

370
00:22:04,660 --> 00:22:07,340
weren't just expected
to be able seamen -

371
00:22:07,340 --> 00:22:12,260
their main job was to load and
unload these huge cargoes by hand.

372
00:22:14,100 --> 00:22:16,900
We always used to start at
seven o'clock in the morning there.

373
00:22:16,900 --> 00:22:19,420
The lorries would be sitting
and waiting on you.

374
00:22:19,420 --> 00:22:21,100
Oh, it was brutal work.

375
00:22:21,100 --> 00:22:24,220
Big number ten shovels into
these tubs.

376
00:22:24,220 --> 00:22:25,780
Big coal in those days,

377
00:22:25,780 --> 00:22:28,300
there was none of these
small cobbles you get now.

378
00:22:28,300 --> 00:22:29,780
Oh, it was bloody work.

379
00:22:31,460 --> 00:22:35,060
Life certainly wasn't easy
on board a puffer.

380
00:22:35,060 --> 00:22:36,660
Hard, physical work.

381
00:22:39,660 --> 00:22:41,860
You can almost sense
the presence of those men,

382
00:22:41,860 --> 00:22:44,660
loading and unloading
this great cargo hold.

383
00:22:46,420 --> 00:22:48,980
And the other key element,
of course, about a puffer

384
00:22:48,980 --> 00:22:52,660
was that she could load and
unload under her own steam.

385
00:22:52,660 --> 00:22:56,020
Hence the mast and derrick that
you see in all the pictures,

386
00:22:56,020 --> 00:22:59,300
so they could do that
at any point along the canal,

387
00:22:59,300 --> 00:23:02,660
or indeed at any point out
in the Western Isles.

388
00:23:02,660 --> 00:23:07,180
I heard one guy lost his leg,
in a rope and a winch.

389
00:23:07,180 --> 00:23:09,860
There was various
other accidents, you know?

390
00:23:09,860 --> 00:23:13,220
Cos health and safety
didn't come into it.

391
00:23:13,220 --> 00:23:15,620
You just got on with the job!

392
00:23:17,460 --> 00:23:21,500
One man went on the derrick,
one went on the winch,

393
00:23:21,500 --> 00:23:23,860
and two went down in the hold -

394
00:23:23,860 --> 00:23:26,180
and you shovelled coal
until you dropped.

395
00:23:27,420 --> 00:23:30,980
We got overtime for that
and I'll always remember,

396
00:23:30,980 --> 00:23:34,300
we got the princely sum
of one and six an hour.

397
00:23:34,300 --> 00:23:36,260
If you can get somebody else

398
00:23:36,260 --> 00:23:39,180
to shovel 150 tonnes
for one and six an hour,

399
00:23:39,180 --> 00:23:41,420
you're off the beam!

400
00:23:41,420 --> 00:23:43,820
The money was never that
great on the boats -

401
00:23:43,820 --> 00:23:46,660
not for the hours
we were putting in, anyway.

402
00:23:46,660 --> 00:23:49,780
I think it was about 84 hours a week
we were working. 84?!

403
00:23:49,780 --> 00:23:52,860
Yeah, that was it.
That was just the way it went.

404
00:23:52,860 --> 00:23:56,660
So, it was very, very hard work,
but we were fit.

405
00:23:56,660 --> 00:24:00,220
I'm 86, and I'm still going strong.

406
00:24:00,220 --> 00:24:02,180
You don't look a day over 60, Jim.

407
00:24:02,180 --> 00:24:04,460
That's what I say, too(!)

408
00:24:04,460 --> 00:24:07,740
Inside, I'm not so good. But
I'm keeping going, no problems.

409
00:24:07,740 --> 00:24:10,260
I think that's largely due to
having worked the puffers,

410
00:24:10,260 --> 00:24:12,300
for it built you in stamina.

411
00:24:12,300 --> 00:24:14,780
It kept you fit and kept you strong.

412
00:24:14,780 --> 00:24:16,620
It kept you going.

413
00:24:16,620 --> 00:24:21,180
I remember nearly wrecking
a Bedford lorry one time.

414
00:24:21,180 --> 00:24:24,260
Discharging sand
and I was mate on a puffer

415
00:24:24,260 --> 00:24:28,780
and we had a grab for sand.

416
00:24:28,780 --> 00:24:31,860
I was loading this lorry up -
I didn't know about lorries then -

417
00:24:31,860 --> 00:24:34,220
and I loaded it right up.

418
00:24:35,340 --> 00:24:38,460
But the lorry fell apart,
because an old Bedford,

419
00:24:38,460 --> 00:24:40,380
it probably held about three tonnes.

420
00:24:40,380 --> 00:24:44,180
I think I put 10 or 12
tonnes of sand on it!
LAUGHTER

421
00:24:54,860 --> 00:24:57,780
I'm heading down into the
beating heart of the puffer -

422
00:24:57,780 --> 00:25:00,700
the life and soul of the ship -

423
00:25:00,700 --> 00:25:02,260
the engine room.

424
00:25:05,340 --> 00:25:09,980
The 72-year-old engine of the
VIC 32 is maintained and stoked

425
00:25:09,980 --> 00:25:13,220
by dedicated young steam
engineer Matt Scurr.

426
00:25:18,380 --> 00:25:21,140
Matt, hi. How are you?
Good to meet you.

427
00:25:21,140 --> 00:25:23,500
Whoa! The heat!

428
00:25:23,500 --> 00:25:25,740
It's warm, isn't it? The noise, man.

429
00:25:25,740 --> 00:25:28,660
In that fire box,
it's about 1,400 degrees.

430
00:25:30,660 --> 00:25:33,540
Gives us a lovely 120P
applied pressure -

431
00:25:33,540 --> 00:25:35,180
the engines like to run at.

432
00:25:37,260 --> 00:25:40,300
It's a beautiful piece
of engineering, Matt.

433
00:25:40,300 --> 00:25:44,300
Two cylinder of compound steam
engine, producing 120 horsepower.

434
00:25:46,060 --> 00:25:48,220
Do you enjoy it?
Do you feel like she's yours?

435
00:25:48,220 --> 00:25:49,780
Absolutely, yeah.

436
00:25:49,780 --> 00:25:51,620
There's something that's alive.

437
00:25:53,540 --> 00:25:55,860
Essentially, you feed them,
you water them,

438
00:25:55,860 --> 00:26:01,380
you boil them, and they've got
their own personality, almost.

439
00:26:01,380 --> 00:26:03,780
How many hours a day
do you spend down here?

440
00:26:03,780 --> 00:26:05,620
Up to an eight hour day, sometimes,

441
00:26:05,620 --> 00:26:07,460
depending on where we need to
get to.

442
00:26:07,460 --> 00:26:10,620
I bet at the end of the day,
you're dying for a beer. Absolutely.

443
00:26:10,620 --> 00:26:12,340
Makes it taste good too!

444
00:26:15,980 --> 00:26:20,740
I love the beauty and the precision
of pieces of engineering like this.

445
00:26:20,740 --> 00:26:24,100
All these interconnected parts,
all working together.

446
00:26:24,100 --> 00:26:26,020
You know, if you look after
engines like this,

447
00:26:26,020 --> 00:26:27,860
keep them maintained and oiled,

448
00:26:27,860 --> 00:26:29,180
they can last forever.

449
00:26:31,300 --> 00:26:35,700
It's a magnificent testimony to
the ingenuity of the human race.

450
00:26:35,700 --> 00:26:38,420
I love them.
They're like works of art.

451
00:26:54,780 --> 00:26:57,820
Now, this feels really good,
steering this puffer.

452
00:26:57,820 --> 00:27:00,020
I'm heading through the Doras Mhor,

453
00:27:00,020 --> 00:27:04,020
which is the "open gate",
or the "gateway", in Gaelic.

454
00:27:04,020 --> 00:27:06,660
And it's seemingly quite tricky.

455
00:27:06,660 --> 00:27:09,980
You've got to watch out for
a wee sailing boat over there,

456
00:27:09,980 --> 00:27:12,660
because we're much bigger
and butcher than they are.

457
00:27:12,660 --> 00:27:16,060
I wouldn't like to be responsible
for anyone's deaths at sea!

458
00:27:18,700 --> 00:27:20,620
All over Scotland,

459
00:27:20,620 --> 00:27:23,740
the puffers are held in great
affection by people everywhere,

460
00:27:23,740 --> 00:27:26,020
no matter where you come from.

461
00:27:26,020 --> 00:27:28,020
And most of that knowledge

462
00:27:28,020 --> 00:27:31,940
comes from the fictional
characterisations of Neil Munro

463
00:27:31,940 --> 00:27:33,780
and his creations -

464
00:27:33,780 --> 00:27:36,420
his wonderful tales of Para Handy

465
00:27:36,420 --> 00:27:39,020
and the most famous
puffer of them all -

466
00:27:39,020 --> 00:27:40,500
The Vital Spark.

467
00:27:42,140 --> 00:27:45,380
It was when the tales of
The Vital Spark first appeared

468
00:27:45,380 --> 00:27:48,060
that the Clyde puffers
sailed into immortality.

469
00:27:49,420 --> 00:27:51,700
They were written
over 100 years ago,

470
00:27:51,700 --> 00:27:53,980
by Glasgow-based journalist
Neil Munro.

471
00:27:56,460 --> 00:27:58,780
Munro walked the banks
of this river

472
00:27:58,780 --> 00:28:02,380
at a time when the Clyde
was teeming with puffers.

473
00:28:02,380 --> 00:28:06,780
And he spotted their potential as
a way to fill a few column inches.

474
00:28:12,300 --> 00:28:17,540
Now, these are copies of the
long gone Glasgow Evening News.

475
00:28:19,260 --> 00:28:23,540
And in here, we should find
the first ever... Yes!

476
00:28:23,540 --> 00:28:25,500
..Para Handy story.

477
00:28:25,500 --> 00:28:31,460
So, on Monday, 16th January 1905,

478
00:28:31,460 --> 00:28:34,660
a new and enduring
fictional character

479
00:28:34,660 --> 00:28:36,980
hit the Scottish literary scene.

480
00:28:38,820 --> 00:28:43,580
"A short, thick-set man with a red
beard and a hard, round felt hat,

481
00:28:43,580 --> 00:28:47,660
"ridiculously out of harmony with
a blue pilot jacket and trousers

482
00:28:47,660 --> 00:28:49,140
"and a seaman's jersey."

483
00:28:51,180 --> 00:28:54,060
Para Handy, master mariner,
had arrived.

484
00:28:56,740 --> 00:28:59,740
These stories were a huge hit
with the Glasgow public

485
00:28:59,740 --> 00:29:01,940
and they became
part of Glasgow life.

486
00:29:01,940 --> 00:29:05,980
They were serialised until 1923 -
that's 18 years, a very long time.

487
00:29:05,980 --> 00:29:08,460
And they were also
published in book form.

488
00:29:08,460 --> 00:29:10,460
And that was over 100 years ago

489
00:29:10,460 --> 00:29:14,100
and since then, these books have
never, ever been out of print

490
00:29:14,100 --> 00:29:16,140
and that is a quite extraordinary,

491
00:29:16,140 --> 00:29:18,940
quite remarkable achievement
for any writer.

492
00:29:20,180 --> 00:29:21,700
ACCORDION MELODY

493
00:29:23,660 --> 00:29:27,300
'Retired BBC man Guthrie Hutton
was part of the team

494
00:29:27,300 --> 00:29:29,980
'who worked on the most famous
adaptation of them all -

495
00:29:29,980 --> 00:29:35,300
'a sitcom starring Roddy McMillan
as roguish skipper Para Handy.'

496
00:29:36,540 --> 00:29:38,900
Oh, you see? That tune as well.

497
00:29:38,900 --> 00:29:40,420
Look at the size of it!

498
00:29:42,100 --> 00:29:45,860
So, we had to put that
white line around her,

499
00:29:45,860 --> 00:29:48,460
because she was the smartest boat
in the trade

500
00:29:48,460 --> 00:29:50,060
and she had that white line

501
00:29:50,060 --> 00:29:53,740
- and the white line, of course,
was just two-inch masking tape.

502
00:29:53,740 --> 00:29:56,620
Originally shot in
black and white in the '60s,

503
00:29:56,620 --> 00:30:00,220
the show starred a host of the
finest Scottish actors of the day

504
00:30:00,220 --> 00:30:03,740
and left us with the most enduring
image of a puffer and her crew.

505
00:30:05,260 --> 00:30:08,660
Well, it's wonderful to see that,
actually. Yes, it's great stuff.

506
00:30:08,660 --> 00:30:10,820
"Designer, Guthrie Hutton".

507
00:30:10,820 --> 00:30:13,460
Oh, God. I remember that -
darning the socks.

508
00:30:17,260 --> 00:30:18,820
"Lady Cynthia Sins Again"!

509
00:30:18,820 --> 00:30:20,340
LAUGHTER

510
00:30:21,580 --> 00:30:23,060
Furtive -

511
00:30:23,060 --> 00:30:25,420
that's the word I'd use - furtive.

512
00:30:25,420 --> 00:30:26,940
"Furtive"!

513
00:30:29,100 --> 00:30:31,620
It's the way he kind of spits it
out. It's wonderful.

514
00:30:31,620 --> 00:30:34,980
Para Handy has been furtive
ever since we left Inveraray.

515
00:30:34,980 --> 00:30:37,580
'The scripts were so good,
they were filmed again,

516
00:30:37,580 --> 00:30:41,140
'almost shot for shot
in colour in the 1970s.'

517
00:30:41,140 --> 00:30:43,500
There's not a damn thing
wrong with the boiler!

518
00:30:43,500 --> 00:30:45,980
If I've told you once,
I've told you 100 times -

519
00:30:45,980 --> 00:30:48,180
the whole engines need
a complete overhaul.

520
00:30:48,180 --> 00:30:50,460
Well, they're not
going in for an overhaul!

521
00:30:50,460 --> 00:30:55,100
They want scrapped, that's what
they want - scrapped! Come here!

522
00:30:55,100 --> 00:30:57,700
You see this thing that's
going round and round? Aye.

523
00:30:57,700 --> 00:30:59,500
It should be going up and down!

524
00:31:01,980 --> 00:31:03,580
What have you got there?

525
00:31:03,580 --> 00:31:07,500
Well, these are some pages
of camera script

526
00:31:07,500 --> 00:31:10,620
from 14th of November 1965.

527
00:31:10,620 --> 00:31:14,380
Episode one, The Quarrel.
"They strike fighting poses.

528
00:31:14,380 --> 00:31:16,820
"Jim heads for the door.
I'm going to get Dougie!

529
00:31:16,820 --> 00:31:19,260
"It'll take more than
Dougie to separate us!"

530
00:31:19,260 --> 00:31:21,500
Separate you?
I want to see the fight!

531
00:31:23,100 --> 00:31:25,780
Yeah? No, no. Oh, no, no.

532
00:31:25,780 --> 00:31:28,380
It's not right for
the master of the vessel

533
00:31:28,380 --> 00:31:31,540
to fight with a common stoker.
Stoker?!

534
00:31:31,540 --> 00:31:33,780
"Stoker?!"

535
00:31:35,180 --> 00:31:37,820
When you were making
the programmes in those days,

536
00:31:37,820 --> 00:31:40,420
did you realise that they
would become so popular?

537
00:31:40,420 --> 00:31:42,820
Yes, we knew it would
be popular, I guess,

538
00:31:42,820 --> 00:31:45,260
because the Para Handy stories...
..Are really funny.

539
00:31:45,260 --> 00:31:48,300
..have been popular since
Neil Munro wrote them.

540
00:32:02,020 --> 00:32:04,980
This is Inveraray,
the hometown of Neil Munro,

541
00:32:04,980 --> 00:32:07,380
the creator of The Vital Spark.

542
00:32:07,380 --> 00:32:09,340
He was born in the mid-19th century,

543
00:32:09,340 --> 00:32:12,700
so he was here during
the heyday of the puffer trade

544
00:32:12,700 --> 00:32:15,100
and he was heavily influenced
by what he saw

545
00:32:15,100 --> 00:32:17,620
and all the wonderful
characters that he met.

546
00:32:26,060 --> 00:32:29,140
This is one of the last
remaining puffers.

547
00:32:29,140 --> 00:32:31,340
She was originally called
the Eilean Eisdeal,

548
00:32:31,340 --> 00:32:33,260
but then she was renamed
the Vital Spark

549
00:32:33,260 --> 00:32:36,020
in tribute to Neil Munro
and his original creation.

550
00:32:36,020 --> 00:32:39,500
She was one of the last working
puffers until the mid-'90s.

551
00:32:41,940 --> 00:32:44,060
I think it's great that
she's berthed here

552
00:32:44,060 --> 00:32:45,900
in Neil Munro's hometown -

553
00:32:45,900 --> 00:32:47,700
the writer of The Vital Spark.

554
00:32:58,860 --> 00:33:00,620
STEAM WHISTLES

555
00:33:10,380 --> 00:33:14,180
Now, we're currently sailing through
the mouth of Loch Melfort.

556
00:33:14,180 --> 00:33:15,660
But if you look way behind me,

557
00:33:15,660 --> 00:33:19,460
you'll see in the distance the Paps
of Jura - those distinctive peaks.

558
00:33:19,460 --> 00:33:20,820
To the left of them

559
00:33:20,820 --> 00:33:23,980
is a little sliver of land,
coming out of the mist.

560
00:33:23,980 --> 00:33:25,380
That's Islay -

561
00:33:25,380 --> 00:33:28,660
and Islay plays an important part
in the story of the puffer.

562
00:33:28,660 --> 00:33:30,300
It was a favourite port

563
00:33:30,300 --> 00:33:33,460
for all those seamen who
worked in the puffer trade,

564
00:33:33,460 --> 00:33:36,060
because you see,
going to Islay meant

565
00:33:36,060 --> 00:33:40,020
they were never very far away
from a drop of the hard stuff.

566
00:33:45,980 --> 00:33:48,660
Islay was the puffers island
par excellence,

567
00:33:48,660 --> 00:33:50,780
with its distilleries and whatnot.

568
00:33:50,780 --> 00:33:54,420
It was the centre of
the puffer kingdom.

569
00:33:54,420 --> 00:33:59,100
I went to a wedding there once - it
was three days before we got sober.

570
00:33:59,100 --> 00:34:01,380
Look at that view -
isn't it paradise?

571
00:34:02,740 --> 00:34:04,820
I've been coming to
this island for years.

572
00:34:04,820 --> 00:34:08,340
I've got lots of friends here.
I think it's a magical place.

573
00:34:08,340 --> 00:34:11,220
And its famous for
Scotland's greatest export.

574
00:34:13,660 --> 00:34:15,340
Whisky.

575
00:34:15,340 --> 00:34:17,540
Islay is only 16 miles long,

576
00:34:17,540 --> 00:34:20,500
but still has eight
working distilleries.

577
00:34:20,500 --> 00:34:22,940
It's a powerhouse of
whisky production,

578
00:34:22,940 --> 00:34:25,340
vital to the local
and national economy.

579
00:34:27,980 --> 00:34:32,700
The whisky all went out with
a puffer, and the coal came in

580
00:34:32,700 --> 00:34:34,860
to fire the boilers
and whatever else.

581
00:34:34,860 --> 00:34:36,980
It was one of the mainstays for
the puffers.

582
00:34:36,980 --> 00:34:40,940
The whisky made here is
famous the world over

583
00:34:40,940 --> 00:34:44,620
and this global trade was once
utterly dependent on puffers.

584
00:34:46,020 --> 00:34:49,420
There were shipments, large
shipments of whisky going out,

585
00:34:49,420 --> 00:34:52,140
so they would take them from here
to Glasgow

586
00:34:52,140 --> 00:34:54,500
and then they would be exported.

587
00:34:54,500 --> 00:34:59,100
Every time I left they were taking
out tens of thousands of pounds.

588
00:34:59,100 --> 00:35:02,100
The puffers were like armoured
carriers taking money out.

589
00:35:02,100 --> 00:35:06,140
It was liquid gold.
It was so, so important.

590
00:35:08,420 --> 00:35:11,260
I have here a wonderful
old ledger.

591
00:35:11,260 --> 00:35:13,820
It's the account of the arrivals
and sailings

592
00:35:13,820 --> 00:35:18,860
of ships to and from Islay.
It's got everything marked.

593
00:35:20,780 --> 00:35:23,020
The Headlight, the Spartan,

594
00:35:23,020 --> 00:35:26,900
you've got the Warlight,
the Dorothy, the Petrol.

595
00:35:26,900 --> 00:35:31,740
Page after page of dozens and dozens
of entries of the arrivals
and departures

596
00:35:31,740 --> 00:35:33,260
of puffers.

597
00:35:33,260 --> 00:35:36,420
I've actually seen three puffers
discharging or charging

598
00:35:36,420 --> 00:35:40,460
at Port Ellen harbour, and another
three waiting to come in.

599
00:35:40,460 --> 00:35:44,140
It was so busy. Employment-wise,
it was just phenomenal.

600
00:35:44,140 --> 00:35:45,580
I was a driver.

601
00:35:45,580 --> 00:35:49,420
We had half a dozen lorries,
and all we did, every day,

602
00:35:49,420 --> 00:35:52,180
was empty puffers.
Coal, barley, malt.

603
00:35:52,180 --> 00:35:57,300
Barrels. Every day was an adventure.

604
00:35:57,300 --> 00:36:01,100
Whisky and puffers, it was a great
match. It was really good

605
00:36:01,100 --> 00:36:03,940
because of the characters involved.

606
00:36:03,940 --> 00:36:07,180
We used to go up to the distillers,
we loved that run.

607
00:36:07,180 --> 00:36:10,260
Because we always got a good dram
of their local whisky

608
00:36:10,260 --> 00:36:13,660
while it was getting brewed.
The white stuff. The white stuff!

609
00:36:13,660 --> 00:36:16,900
Believe me, it was dynamite,
it was absolutely potent!

610
00:36:16,900 --> 00:36:20,300
I got this, we all drank it down.

611
00:36:20,300 --> 00:36:23,940
Well, ten minutes later, I didn't
know which planet I was on,

612
00:36:23,940 --> 00:36:27,140
oh, dear, oh, dear. It wasn't just
ordinary whisky, this was

613
00:36:27,140 --> 00:36:29,220
very, very strong.

614
00:36:29,220 --> 00:36:32,900
It was pure spirits,
about 160% proof!

615
00:36:32,900 --> 00:36:38,620
I slept till the next day, because
that stuff was just far too strong.

616
00:36:38,620 --> 00:36:43,580
We couldn't go it at all, so we
diluted it with about a bottle of
sherry and it was quite nice.

617
00:36:43,580 --> 00:36:48,100
And they were pretty handy
at opening up a barrel or two,
weren't they?

618
00:36:48,100 --> 00:36:50,980
Oh, that's a terrible thing to say,
but, yes, they were!

619
00:36:53,460 --> 00:36:56,820
How did you manage to get the whisky
from the barrels, Jimmy?

620
00:36:56,820 --> 00:37:00,300
That was a very well-kept secret
amongst the puffermen,

621
00:37:00,300 --> 00:37:02,500
but when they were carrying it...

622
00:37:04,300 --> 00:37:07,340
I hope nobody's listening now,
but we used to have a wee drill

623
00:37:07,340 --> 00:37:11,780
and we'd shaped pegs of the same
type of wood as the barrel.

624
00:37:11,780 --> 00:37:15,620
Drill a wee hole in the barrel,
then we used to drain out

625
00:37:15,620 --> 00:37:18,180
maybe a quarter or maybe
half a pint, no more.

626
00:37:18,180 --> 00:37:22,860
Wee plug in and bung them, make it
all dirty again.

627
00:37:22,860 --> 00:37:25,220
Done that with two or three barrels,

628
00:37:25,220 --> 00:37:27,540
we used to get a bottle each of
whisky!

629
00:37:27,540 --> 00:37:30,940
I was sent up to the shop
to get lemonade.

630
00:37:30,940 --> 00:37:34,860
The skipper says, "Get a case,"
so I had this case of lemonade.

631
00:37:34,860 --> 00:37:37,300
"Oh," he says, "Son, do you like
lemonade?

632
00:37:37,300 --> 00:37:39,740
"Well, start drinking," he says.

633
00:37:39,740 --> 00:37:42,460
He wasn't wanting the lemonade,
he was wanting the bottles.

634
00:37:42,460 --> 00:37:46,220
So they could be filled with...
illegal whisky.

635
00:37:46,220 --> 00:37:50,460
But that was illegal.
It was good fun.

636
00:37:50,460 --> 00:37:54,540
That was us for Christmas
and New Year.

637
00:37:59,820 --> 00:38:02,180
Living in an isolated
Scottish island

638
00:38:02,180 --> 00:38:06,540
or an isolated Highland community
has its challenges,

639
00:38:06,540 --> 00:38:09,620
but can you imagine what it was like
100-150 years ago?

640
00:38:09,620 --> 00:38:13,020
So what you couldn't get from
the land or fish from the sea

641
00:38:13,020 --> 00:38:16,100
had to be brought in from outside,
from the mainland,

642
00:38:16,100 --> 00:38:17,860
and the puffers were vital.

643
00:38:19,780 --> 00:38:22,380
Especially if you made produce,

644
00:38:22,380 --> 00:38:24,980
or you were a trader in any way.

645
00:38:24,980 --> 00:38:28,460
The puffers were your connection
to the outside world.

646
00:38:30,540 --> 00:38:36,980
The puffer was a lifeline service,
absolutely essential to island life.

647
00:38:36,980 --> 00:38:42,460
The bigger vessels couldn't get
into places where they've got
no harbour as such.

648
00:38:45,020 --> 00:38:46,740
The puffers were the job for that.

649
00:38:46,740 --> 00:38:48,580
Those years were amazing.

650
00:38:48,580 --> 00:38:52,180
Nothing came into the island unless
it came by puffer.

651
00:38:54,420 --> 00:38:57,620
Now, a boat, if there's a breeze,
the boat doesn't sail.

652
00:38:57,620 --> 00:39:00,740
In those days, they were coming in
in horrendous weather.

653
00:39:00,740 --> 00:39:03,540
Horrendous weather, they sailed.

654
00:39:03,540 --> 00:39:07,100
Hard-working guys, you've got
to give them their dues.

655
00:39:07,100 --> 00:39:09,900
If you looked at them going up
the street towards you,

656
00:39:09,900 --> 00:39:12,060
you'd say, "This is
a rough lot, this."

657
00:39:12,060 --> 00:39:14,900
Salt of the earth, they were.
They really were.

658
00:39:14,900 --> 00:39:17,100
There were some really nice people.

659
00:39:17,100 --> 00:39:20,300
They had this name for being...

660
00:39:20,300 --> 00:39:23,540
hard drinkers, wild men.
They weren't.

661
00:39:23,540 --> 00:39:27,380
They were hard workers.
They spent long hours at sea,

662
00:39:27,380 --> 00:39:32,020
on ships with no navigational aids.

663
00:39:32,020 --> 00:39:34,500
Wind and weather never stopped them.

664
00:39:38,340 --> 00:39:43,340
The puffers had a go-anywhere,
carry-anything ethos.

665
00:39:43,340 --> 00:39:46,980
They would go to parts of Scotland
that other boats couldn't reach,

666
00:39:46,980 --> 00:39:50,980
but they also had one more trick up
their sleeve that made them
absolutely perfect

667
00:39:50,980 --> 00:39:53,620
for the west coast communities
they serviced.

668
00:39:56,500 --> 00:39:59,580
A lot of islands out on
the west coast don't have piers,

669
00:39:59,580 --> 00:40:02,540
so you beached on the beach.

670
00:40:02,540 --> 00:40:07,340
The genius of the puffer meant
that they could deliberately
beach themselves

671
00:40:07,340 --> 00:40:10,820
right in the heart of the communities
they served.

672
00:40:10,820 --> 00:40:12,700
Oh, we did a lot of beach work.

673
00:40:12,700 --> 00:40:15,420
Did you? That must have been
a tricky operation.

674
00:40:15,420 --> 00:40:19,500
You really needed to have an exact
knowledge of the tides. Oh, aye.

675
00:40:19,500 --> 00:40:20,860
Very much so.

676
00:40:20,860 --> 00:40:24,340
The first time you went on the
beach, you had a loaded puffer

677
00:40:24,340 --> 00:40:27,620
so you could ram her far up.
You really come in at full speed.

678
00:40:27,620 --> 00:40:29,180
At high tide. At high tide.

679
00:40:29,180 --> 00:40:31,340
And sit there, tide would go out,
and unload.

680
00:40:34,700 --> 00:40:37,260
The beach work was all tractors
and trailers.

681
00:40:37,260 --> 00:40:39,740
In the old days,
it was horses and carts.

682
00:40:39,740 --> 00:40:43,300
A farmer would go down with a bogey
and a horse.

683
00:40:43,300 --> 00:40:45,620
That was their year's supply
of coal.

684
00:40:45,620 --> 00:40:50,020
That was carted away to the farm
or wherever it was.

685
00:40:50,020 --> 00:40:53,900
And then you would hear
clankety-clankety-clank,

686
00:40:53,900 --> 00:40:58,380
and then when it was
just above the trailer,

687
00:40:58,380 --> 00:41:02,660
the big bucket would be tipped and
you'd hear this colossal

688
00:41:02,660 --> 00:41:06,980
rumble of coal falling onto the wood
of the trailer.

689
00:41:10,740 --> 00:41:13,820
I'll never forget it. Never ever.

690
00:41:13,820 --> 00:41:17,260
And looking back, I thought
of these men as heroes,

691
00:41:17,260 --> 00:41:20,900
coming with these wee boats to the
islands, doing such good work

692
00:41:20,900 --> 00:41:23,340
maintaining the island economy.

693
00:41:23,340 --> 00:41:27,140
It wasn't the best of jobs, beach
work, because you worked at nights,

694
00:41:27,140 --> 00:41:30,580
you had to work tides and you were
down in a hole shovelling coal

695
00:41:30,580 --> 00:41:33,100
at all hours of the morning,
two and three in the morning.

696
00:41:33,100 --> 00:41:39,820
Things like that. Trying to get
a bite of food in-between

697
00:41:39,820 --> 00:41:43,180
and then a sleep, and then you were
back up two or three hours later

698
00:41:43,180 --> 00:41:47,100
for the next tide, so I really
wasn't impressed too much
with the beach work.

699
00:41:49,380 --> 00:41:52,340
Now this seemingly gentle act of
beaching had its dangers,

700
00:41:52,340 --> 00:41:55,580
and you needed years of skill and
experience to pull it off,

701
00:41:55,580 --> 00:42:00,500
because if you hit something like
this, you would be in real trouble.

702
00:42:03,380 --> 00:42:07,700
This lovely little picture is of
a puffer called the Roman,

703
00:42:07,700 --> 00:42:11,300
which is beached at Bute, and if you
look round the ship,

704
00:42:11,300 --> 00:42:14,980
you see all sorts of little rocks on
the beach there, which just shows you

705
00:42:14,980 --> 00:42:18,820
that deliberately beaching, as
the puffer skippers had to do,

706
00:42:18,820 --> 00:42:21,700
was a very dangerous occupation.

707
00:42:21,700 --> 00:42:25,100
So how did they manage that time
after time without damaging
their boat?

708
00:42:25,100 --> 00:42:28,860
The answer lies in this log book.

709
00:42:28,860 --> 00:42:32,940
It's a hand-written beach book
from 1933.

710
00:42:32,940 --> 00:42:36,940
It gives you a window into the past.

711
00:42:36,940 --> 00:42:40,500
These books contain all
the information you need

712
00:42:40,500 --> 00:42:42,820
to work the west coast's
little inlets,

713
00:42:42,820 --> 00:42:47,460
where's best to make shore if you
needed to beach and discharge
your cargo.

714
00:42:47,460 --> 00:42:52,260
And more importantly,
where to avoid if you didn't want
to damage your hull.

715
00:42:52,260 --> 00:42:57,020
"Good beach inside first two islands
on starboard side.

716
00:42:57,020 --> 00:43:00,860
"Spring tides required."

717
00:43:00,860 --> 00:43:04,940
Let's look at this entry here,
it's from Captain McIlwain.

718
00:43:04,940 --> 00:43:07,660
He's describing Loch Feochan.

719
00:43:07,660 --> 00:43:12,220
"Keep your vessels clear, dangerous."

720
00:43:12,220 --> 00:43:13,820
If you think about it,

721
00:43:13,820 --> 00:43:18,660
the information contained in these
little books is absolutely vital.

722
00:43:18,660 --> 00:43:22,340
I bet they were like gold dust.
They were like Bibles.

723
00:43:26,300 --> 00:43:30,940
In these days, there was no
qualification certificates to get.

724
00:43:30,940 --> 00:43:33,980
It was based on local knowledge.

725
00:43:33,980 --> 00:43:37,260
They knew where every rock was and
they knew where there wasn't rocks.

726
00:43:37,260 --> 00:43:39,260
They knew where they could shelter,

727
00:43:39,260 --> 00:43:42,420
and each had their own wee favourite
place they could go.

728
00:43:42,420 --> 00:43:44,660
The other thing I remember
about them

729
00:43:44,660 --> 00:43:47,500
is what marvellous seamen they were.
They really were.

730
00:43:47,500 --> 00:43:52,140
They were first-class boat-handlers.

731
00:43:52,140 --> 00:43:53,700
First class.

732
00:43:53,700 --> 00:43:57,980
Very difficult to steer,
no hydraulic gear,

733
00:43:57,980 --> 00:44:00,140
just an ordinary chain drive,

734
00:44:00,140 --> 00:44:03,580
but it was extremely hard to steer.

735
00:44:03,580 --> 00:44:06,620
If you were a young skipper, how do
I do this and how do I do that?

736
00:44:06,620 --> 00:44:08,420
Experienced men used to tell you.

737
00:44:08,420 --> 00:44:13,580
They were seamen by experience.
They started as I started,

738
00:44:13,580 --> 00:44:16,020
as a deckhand, and they learnt
the ropes.

739
00:44:16,020 --> 00:44:19,780
That's where the experience would
come, learning the ropes.

740
00:44:19,780 --> 00:44:22,860
This intimate knowledge
of the waters they sailed

741
00:44:22,860 --> 00:44:26,540
was absolutely crucial,
because life on the seas

742
00:44:26,540 --> 00:44:30,620
around Scotland
was dangerously unpredictable.

743
00:44:31,940 --> 00:44:34,940
A lot of really frightening times
on them.

744
00:44:34,940 --> 00:44:37,940
Especially, you wouldn't want to go
out in a gale of wind

745
00:44:37,940 --> 00:44:40,380
but you could easily enough get
caught in one

746
00:44:40,380 --> 00:44:42,420
and you had to make the best of it.

747
00:44:42,420 --> 00:44:46,660
There was a load of puffers on what
I would term as a half-tide rock.

748
00:44:46,660 --> 00:44:48,620
You know, a half-tide rock

749
00:44:48,620 --> 00:44:51,980
is when the sea is just
rolling over the top of it.

750
00:44:51,980 --> 00:44:54,900
And that's what a loaded puffer
would resemble.

751
00:44:56,820 --> 00:45:00,300
But, eh, we just went out in
all weathers, you know?

752
00:45:00,300 --> 00:45:03,380
It was...a frightening job,
you know?

753
00:45:03,380 --> 00:45:06,420
It was sturdy weather all the time.

754
00:45:06,420 --> 00:45:09,140
When the boat was rolling,
if you hadn't got your sea legs,

755
00:45:09,140 --> 00:45:12,620
you could quite easily be washed
overboard, because water's heavy

756
00:45:12,620 --> 00:45:16,540
and it would just take you off your
feet and put you over the side.

757
00:45:16,540 --> 00:45:19,180
It was very, very sturdy boats
and they could handle,

758
00:45:19,180 --> 00:45:22,540
as long as the hold was battened
down and no water got in,

759
00:45:22,540 --> 00:45:24,380
they were usually quite safe.

760
00:45:26,220 --> 00:45:29,140
The one that I was on before I came
onto this, that sank,

761
00:45:29,140 --> 00:45:31,500
going over to Liverpool.

762
00:45:31,500 --> 00:45:33,260
The hatch covers moved and it sunk,

763
00:45:33,260 --> 00:45:35,780
and she capsized. And drowned half
the crew.

764
00:45:35,780 --> 00:45:37,580
Really? What was her name?

765
00:45:37,580 --> 00:45:38,900
That was the Druid.

766
00:45:44,300 --> 00:45:48,020
The number of them that sank,
that foundered, sprung a leak,

767
00:45:48,020 --> 00:45:49,820
was remarkable.

768
00:45:49,820 --> 00:45:53,300
There was one that was a VIC,
like this one.

769
00:45:53,300 --> 00:45:56,540
She was sunk in the Irish Sea,
went down with all hands.

770
00:45:56,540 --> 00:45:58,580
It was Hogmanay in 1953.

771
00:46:00,220 --> 00:46:04,300
She left Carnlough at night.
She was never seen again.

772
00:46:04,300 --> 00:46:06,860
Just disappeared? Just disappeared.

773
00:46:08,020 --> 00:46:10,500
Somewhere in the Irish Sea,
probably.

774
00:46:18,220 --> 00:46:21,660
Stories about sinking,
running aground.

775
00:46:23,580 --> 00:46:27,780
The attrition rate on these
boats was enormous.

776
00:46:27,780 --> 00:46:30,060
"Lifeboat out to grounded coaster."

777
00:46:32,300 --> 00:46:34,420
"Divers hunt for coaster's crew."

778
00:46:35,900 --> 00:46:38,620
"All five members of the crew
lost their lives."

779
00:46:38,620 --> 00:46:42,620
"And when they found the ship, there
was no visible signs of damage."

780
00:46:42,620 --> 00:46:44,580
They'd just disappeared.

781
00:46:44,580 --> 00:46:46,940
"If she is undamaged,
then she will sail again,"

782
00:46:46,940 --> 00:46:49,820
said a spokesman
for the Glenlight Shipping Company.

783
00:46:49,820 --> 00:46:52,100
Aye, the ship may sail again.

784
00:46:52,100 --> 00:46:53,780
But the sailors won't.

785
00:46:55,740 --> 00:46:59,580
We never thought it was dangerous.
We just never thought of it.

786
00:46:59,580 --> 00:47:02,380
It was there, we done it
and worked away on it.

787
00:47:06,580 --> 00:47:10,860
The puffer and her crews had proven
themselves to be brave and resilient

788
00:47:10,860 --> 00:47:15,220
and during Britain's greatest hour
of need, this would not go unnoticed.

789
00:47:17,220 --> 00:47:20,580
At the start of World War II,
the Admiralty needed a versatile

790
00:47:20,580 --> 00:47:24,780
supply boat to service its fleets
and the wider war effort.

791
00:47:24,780 --> 00:47:26,380
And they didn't have to
look very far,

792
00:47:26,380 --> 00:47:28,580
because the perfect boat was
the puffer.

793
00:47:28,580 --> 00:47:30,820
With its massive cargo capacity,

794
00:47:30,820 --> 00:47:35,380
these hardy little boats very quickly
became vital to Britain's war effort.

795
00:47:38,340 --> 00:47:42,860
In the war, they were very,
very useful for servicing warships.

796
00:47:42,860 --> 00:47:45,100
We used them to take out water.

797
00:47:45,100 --> 00:47:49,660
We used them to take out food
and stores,

798
00:47:49,660 --> 00:47:52,540
anything that the big boats needed.

799
00:47:52,540 --> 00:47:55,260
The Navy had found the boat
it needed.

800
00:47:55,260 --> 00:47:57,060
They took the latest
Scottish designs

801
00:47:57,060 --> 00:47:59,700
and ordered 100 brand-new puffers.

802
00:48:01,300 --> 00:48:03,700
Only two were built in Scotland,
though.

803
00:48:03,700 --> 00:48:07,180
The rest of the ordered VICs
were made by English yards.

804
00:48:09,580 --> 00:48:12,100
Each of them
were given their own number

805
00:48:12,100 --> 00:48:16,420
and were designated the title
Victualling Inshore Craft - the VICs.

806
00:48:18,780 --> 00:48:23,540
They were to be seen wherever you
had fleets in need of servicing.

807
00:48:26,660 --> 00:48:29,540
There was another reason the Navy
chose the puffer.

808
00:48:29,540 --> 00:48:32,460
The VICs were remarkable for the use
of steam propulsion

809
00:48:32,460 --> 00:48:34,660
at a time
when diesel engines were taking over

810
00:48:34,660 --> 00:48:38,260
and being installed in all crafts
of similar size.

811
00:48:38,260 --> 00:48:39,700
It was quite simple.

812
00:48:39,700 --> 00:48:43,940
Coal, unlike diesel, didn't have
to be imported or processed,

813
00:48:43,940 --> 00:48:46,900
freeing up the supplies of diesel
for the ships of war.

814
00:48:48,660 --> 00:48:52,580
So, the puffer was
pressed into war service.

815
00:48:52,580 --> 00:48:54,700
It was called up, in effect.

816
00:48:54,700 --> 00:48:58,180
And then these puffers came back to
Scotland.

817
00:48:59,620 --> 00:49:02,580
By the end of the war, the Admiralty
had no more need of the VICs.

818
00:49:02,580 --> 00:49:04,380
So they flooded the market with them

819
00:49:04,380 --> 00:49:06,300
and they were snapped
up by many a buyer.

820
00:49:06,300 --> 00:49:08,540
You could buy them for about £2,000.

821
00:49:08,540 --> 00:49:11,100
That was less than half
the price of a new-build.

822
00:49:11,100 --> 00:49:13,420
And they were all less than
eight years old

823
00:49:13,420 --> 00:49:15,420
so they were pretty damn
good bargain.

824
00:49:15,420 --> 00:49:18,660
But, in fact, the purchasing
of this new fleet of steam-engined

825
00:49:18,660 --> 00:49:22,740
puffers was what sowed the seed
for the demise of the puffer trade.

826
00:49:24,780 --> 00:49:28,220
At that time, they should have been
going into diesel

827
00:49:28,220 --> 00:49:30,940
rather than
steam, rather than coal.

828
00:49:30,940 --> 00:49:34,620
Diesel being a much more efficient
fuel. Absolutely.

829
00:49:36,820 --> 00:49:41,620
Each puffer carried a massive
boiler. To feed that boiler,

830
00:49:41,620 --> 00:49:45,660
they carried 12 tonnes of water.
They also carried 12 tonnes of coal.

831
00:49:46,700 --> 00:49:49,740
That means that each puffer
gave up in space

832
00:49:49,740 --> 00:49:52,060
and dead weight a massive amount.

833
00:49:52,060 --> 00:49:54,620
No match for the economies of diesel.

834
00:49:55,860 --> 00:49:57,820
I originally was a steam engineer.

835
00:49:57,820 --> 00:49:59,940
I served my time
as a steam engineer.

836
00:49:59,940 --> 00:50:01,980
But I switched to diesel,
earlier on.

837
00:50:01,980 --> 00:50:06,580
Steam puffers were too warm
and smelly and dirty.

838
00:50:06,580 --> 00:50:12,020
So, in the early 1960s,
these puffers were remodelled,

839
00:50:12,020 --> 00:50:13,740
given diesel engines,

840
00:50:13,740 --> 00:50:15,540
and they changed completely,

841
00:50:15,540 --> 00:50:17,660
compared with the old ones
that I knew.

842
00:50:20,180 --> 00:50:24,260
After 100 glorious years,
the golden age of the steam puffer

843
00:50:24,260 --> 00:50:25,700
had finally come to an end.

844
00:50:28,020 --> 00:50:30,220
If boats like our old friend
the Spartan,

845
00:50:30,220 --> 00:50:33,380
which had been built for the
war, were to have any kind of future

846
00:50:33,380 --> 00:50:35,460
they had to convert to diesel.

847
00:50:37,740 --> 00:50:39,700
The capacity needed for storing coal

848
00:50:39,700 --> 00:50:43,140
and suchlike was put to other use,
then.

849
00:50:43,140 --> 00:50:47,180
Many extended the hold so that they
could carry a wee bit more cargo.

850
00:50:47,180 --> 00:50:49,540
It was very economical,
easy to work with.

851
00:50:51,540 --> 00:50:53,980
Despite the late attempts
at modernisation,

852
00:50:53,980 --> 00:50:56,460
the tide was
turning against the puffer.

853
00:50:59,660 --> 00:51:03,060
Inland improvements to roads
and a subsidised rail network

854
00:51:03,060 --> 00:51:05,740
finally put pay to
the Forth and Clyde Canal

855
00:51:05,740 --> 00:51:07,980
as an economically viable
cargo route.

856
00:51:09,900 --> 00:51:13,740
In January 1963,
the waterway that had been

857
00:51:13,740 --> 00:51:16,980
the birthplace of the puffer
was closed to all traffic.

858
00:51:18,460 --> 00:51:22,300
The demise of the puffer was slow.

859
00:51:22,300 --> 00:51:24,060
But it was sure.

860
00:51:27,380 --> 00:51:29,740
With no inland trade available,

861
00:51:29,740 --> 00:51:33,580
the puffers now became entirely
dependent on work from the islands.

862
00:51:36,060 --> 00:51:40,820
However, the puffer was about to meet
a challenge it could not face.

863
00:51:40,820 --> 00:51:46,780
In the late '60s, a strange new craft
appeared out of the mist.

864
00:51:46,780 --> 00:51:50,820
The trade was about to be destroyed
by a futuristic monster.

865
00:51:51,940 --> 00:51:55,380
The first fleet of Scottish
roll-on-roll-off ferries

866
00:51:55,380 --> 00:51:57,420
had now been launched.

867
00:51:57,420 --> 00:52:00,500
It must have been a fairly
devastating effect that the

868
00:52:00,500 --> 00:52:05,180
roll-on-roll-off ferries had on the
puffer trade. Oh, definitely did.

869
00:52:05,180 --> 00:52:08,300
Especially the whisky,
the distilleries.

870
00:52:08,300 --> 00:52:11,740
They went on to articulated lorries
carrying over their barley

871
00:52:11,740 --> 00:52:14,220
and taking out the whisky.

872
00:52:15,900 --> 00:52:21,500
You could put almost a puffer's
worth inside a big container,

873
00:52:21,500 --> 00:52:23,940
put it on wheels

874
00:52:23,940 --> 00:52:26,220
and tow it on board a ferry.

875
00:52:27,580 --> 00:52:31,340
And the crews on the puffers
couldn't run then.

876
00:52:31,340 --> 00:52:34,900
So they started selling puffers
and amalgamating companies.

877
00:52:34,900 --> 00:52:37,900
But the lorries killed it,
eventually, after that.

878
00:52:37,900 --> 00:52:40,060
They didn't need
the puffers any more.

879
00:52:42,540 --> 00:52:44,500
When the roll-on-roll-off ferries
came in,

880
00:52:44,500 --> 00:52:48,540
especially in Islay, it must have
been a big change.

881
00:52:48,540 --> 00:52:51,340
Oh, the writing was
on the wall. Oh, yeah.

882
00:52:51,340 --> 00:52:53,100
Oh, it definitely was.

883
00:52:54,180 --> 00:52:57,540
A lot of folk say it was the best
thing that happened to the island

884
00:52:57,540 --> 00:53:01,100
was the roll-on, but
not for me, not for a lot of folk.

885
00:53:01,100 --> 00:53:03,740
The changes must have been brutal.
It was just brutal.

886
00:53:03,740 --> 00:53:06,980
I mean, as for the company,
we had probably seven, eight,

887
00:53:06,980 --> 00:53:08,420
nine lorries.

888
00:53:08,420 --> 00:53:10,620
And that just died away in a year.

889
00:53:10,620 --> 00:53:12,780
Did you sense it was
coming to the end of an era?

890
00:53:12,780 --> 00:53:14,740
Yeah,
that's the way that we came off.

891
00:53:14,740 --> 00:53:17,500
I left them in the sort of late
'60s, early '70s.

892
00:53:17,500 --> 00:53:21,740
I said, "Well,
change is on here, you know?"

893
00:53:24,660 --> 00:53:28,380
New roll-on-roll-off ferries
would keep on coming.

894
00:53:28,380 --> 00:53:31,620
And they would prove to be
a disaster for the puffers.

895
00:53:31,620 --> 00:53:34,100
And, just as the puffers
themselves had once killed

896
00:53:34,100 --> 00:53:37,060
the trade in horse-drawn
canal traffic

897
00:53:37,060 --> 00:53:41,500
and cargo-carrying sailing scows,
their days were numbered.

898
00:53:41,500 --> 00:53:44,140
They were about to become obsolete.

899
00:53:44,140 --> 00:53:46,460
A lot of the roads
and a lot of the ferry terminals

900
00:53:46,460 --> 00:53:49,660
and a lot of the boats, even,
were built with public subsidy,

901
00:53:49,660 --> 00:53:54,300
and that meant that these little
coastal boats,

902
00:53:54,300 --> 00:53:58,220
operating as private business,
couldn't compete.

903
00:53:58,220 --> 00:54:02,700
And the competition element
then became unfair.

904
00:54:03,860 --> 00:54:06,340
With only a handful of vessels
remaining,

905
00:54:06,340 --> 00:54:09,180
the puffers limped on
to the early '90s.

906
00:54:09,180 --> 00:54:12,740
But finally a trade which had
been part of a costal tradition

907
00:54:12,740 --> 00:54:16,860
for over 140 years sank completely.

908
00:54:16,860 --> 00:54:18,700
Anyway, I joined the puffers.

909
00:54:18,700 --> 00:54:21,100
That was in 1966.

910
00:54:21,100 --> 00:54:24,260
And I was there right up
to their demise.

911
00:54:24,260 --> 00:54:25,460
That was it.

912
00:54:25,460 --> 00:54:26,660
There you are.

913
00:54:26,660 --> 00:54:28,620
What a shock to the system that was!

914
00:54:50,860 --> 00:54:52,940
Spending a couple of days
on the VIC32

915
00:54:52,940 --> 00:54:55,180
has been a real treat for me.

916
00:54:55,180 --> 00:54:56,540
It's been a joy.

917
00:54:56,540 --> 00:55:00,900
I never thought I would see the day
when I would have that opportunity.

918
00:55:00,900 --> 00:55:03,660
It's been lovely,
because it's a very tangible boat.

919
00:55:03,660 --> 00:55:06,180
It's there, it's real, it's visceral,

920
00:55:06,180 --> 00:55:09,180
it's sweaty, it's oily, it's noisy,
it's mechanical,

921
00:55:09,180 --> 00:55:12,900
it's engineering at its best.
For its day.

922
00:55:12,900 --> 00:55:15,780
Um...it's got a personality.

923
00:55:15,780 --> 00:55:17,700
It's got a very,
very strong personality,

924
00:55:17,700 --> 00:55:19,260
and a lovely one, at that.

925
00:55:19,260 --> 00:55:20,860
It's been like an adventure.

926
00:55:23,900 --> 00:55:27,940
Currently, the VIC32 is the last
of the ocean-going steam puffers

927
00:55:27,940 --> 00:55:29,780
in Scottish waters.

928
00:55:29,780 --> 00:55:34,020
But, very shortly, she might just
have an ally on the water with her.

929
00:55:50,620 --> 00:55:52,220
This is Auld Reekie.

930
00:55:52,220 --> 00:55:55,980
She's currently undergoing a major
rebuilding and renovation programme

931
00:55:55,980 --> 00:55:59,940
which hopefully means the VIC32
will have a sister ship.

932
00:56:03,100 --> 00:56:06,860
You know, we think of puffers
as short, stubby little boats

933
00:56:06,860 --> 00:56:09,020
but when you see them
out of the water like this,

934
00:56:09,020 --> 00:56:12,020
you realise the sheer scale of them.
They're magnificent.

935
00:56:16,180 --> 00:56:19,860
Like the VIC32, Auld Reekie
was built for the Navy

936
00:56:19,860 --> 00:56:24,020
during World War II
and then sold back to Scotland.

937
00:56:24,020 --> 00:56:27,260
After her working life, she was
used as a training vessel

938
00:56:27,260 --> 00:56:31,540
for youth clubs before narrowly
avoiding the scrapyard.

939
00:56:31,540 --> 00:56:34,780
She's now being brought back to
life by a dedicated team

940
00:56:34,780 --> 00:56:36,420
at the Crinan boatyard.

941
00:56:38,220 --> 00:56:43,180
This is the refurbished
engine of Auld Reekie.

942
00:56:43,180 --> 00:56:45,020
They've done a grand job with it.

943
00:56:48,020 --> 00:56:49,420
Almost like new.

944
00:56:51,380 --> 00:56:54,500
I'd love to see her working, but that
won't happen now until next year.

945
00:56:54,500 --> 00:56:56,900
They hope, with a wing and a prayer.

946
00:57:02,060 --> 00:57:03,820
What a wonderful thought,

947
00:57:03,820 --> 00:57:08,020
that another one of these boats could
very soon be back on Scottish waters.

948
00:57:30,340 --> 00:57:33,900
You know, those stubby, chunky little
ships, for over 100 years,

949
00:57:33,900 --> 00:57:36,140
they would carry anything
and go anywhere.

950
00:57:36,140 --> 00:57:38,100
They were a regular
sight on this river.

951
00:57:38,100 --> 00:57:40,340
And I am a Glaswegian and I'm deeply,

952
00:57:40,340 --> 00:57:43,100
deeply proud of our great
shipbuilding heritage.

953
00:57:43,100 --> 00:57:46,500
We built some of the greatest
ships the world has ever seen,

954
00:57:46,500 --> 00:57:49,900
but I bet most of us would say
the one that we hold dearest

955
00:57:49,900 --> 00:57:52,140
to our hearts is the little
Clyde puffer.

956
00:57:54,180 --> 00:57:59,540
The puffer filled
a niche in Scottish life.

957
00:57:59,540 --> 00:58:03,140
But I think it went further than
that. It filled a niche in
Scottish identity.

958
00:58:04,780 --> 00:58:10,660
And it represented a Scottish
solution to a Scottish problem,

959
00:58:10,660 --> 00:58:14,700
and it was built
and manned by Scots.

960
00:58:16,500 --> 00:58:17,780
And, you know,

961
00:58:17,780 --> 00:58:21,580
Scotland is the poorer
for the passing of the puffer.

962
00:58:21,580 --> 00:58:24,300
And the people who were the puffers.

963
00:58:24,300 --> 00:58:26,860
And that was the story about life
on the puffers.

964
00:58:26,860 --> 00:58:29,220
Worked, slept and played hard.

965
00:58:29,220 --> 00:58:32,180
Chased women when we got
the chance.

966
00:58:32,180 --> 00:58:35,700
We used to know everybody
and everybody knew us.

967
00:58:35,700 --> 00:58:40,220
So there you are. Thank you, Jimmy.
Thank you. Pleasure.

968
00:58:40,220 --> 00:58:42,740
You might get a wee story
out of that! Heh-heh!

969
00:58:51,500 --> 00:58:53,660
# I've crossed the broad Atlantic

970
00:58:53,660 --> 00:58:55,780
# I've sailed the China Sea

971
00:58:55,780 --> 00:58:59,740
# I've sighted Honolulu
and the far New Hebrides

972
00:58:59,740 --> 00:59:02,060
# But nothing that I've seen or heard

973
00:59:02,060 --> 00:59:04,140
# Can fill me wi' such pride

974
00:59:04,140 --> 00:59:08,700
# As the black smoke fae my puffer
as she's chuggin' doon the Clyde!

975
00:59:08,700 --> 00:59:10,380
# Oh, we're no' gaun tae blaw

976
00:59:10,380 --> 00:59:12,780
# And we're no gaun tae craw

977
00:59:12,780 --> 00:59:16,660
# We don't want tae
injure your feelings

978
00:59:16,660 --> 00:59:18,940
# But take it fae me

979
00:59:18,940 --> 00:59:21,340
# You'll never, ever see

980
00:59:21,340 --> 00:59:28,580
# Ony braes half sae braw
as the Hielans! #

981
00:59:28,580 --> 00:59:30,540
PUFFER'S STEAM WHISTLE