h
i s t o r y
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History
of a Clyde Puffer |
History
of a Clyde Puffer.
During
their hey day Clyde Puffers would provide
an important lifeline to the West Coast
of Scotland. They would serve communities
in remote areas which would otherwise
be cut off from the outside world. The
design of the Clyde Puffer was unique
in the ship building world, as the hull
was flat. Clyde Puffers had this feature
to allow them to make the delivery of
essential supplies to the coastal communities
in a most unusual way. They were given
the nickname 'Puffer' due to the characteristic
puffing noise from their engines!
On
arrival at the bay, a Clyde Puffer would
drop anchor, wait until low tide when
it would be beached. Unlike all other
boats, this did not affect the integrity
of the hull.
As
the tide ebbed away all the action would
begin and the task of offloading the
boat would take place in earnest......
Hays
of Kirkintilloch, famous for the Clyde Puffers.
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Inspiration
for Tartan Tuffy |
Tarbert,
Rothesay and an Old Clyde Puffer - OLD
PICTURES
Classic
pictures of the places the Clyde Puffer would
visit.
The
Adventures of Tartan Tuffy have
been inspired by the tales of the Clyde Puffer
and their crew.
'When
a Puffer arrived at village a hive of activity
would then commence.... food, mail, clothing,
building material or even livestock would
have been aboard the Clyde Puffer, all of
which required removal. It was during these
tense moments that the adventures in the
Clyde Puffer world would unfold, as the
boat was beached, efforts to refloat the
Clyde Puffer would relied entirely upon
the tide !! With that in mind, there was
nothing else for it and crew memebers from
these boats could often be found living
the high life within these Rural communities.
The arrival of the Clyde Puffer was both
an important and exciting event, as it could
be months before the next scheduled visit.
This gave everyone the perfect opportunity
to to catch up on all the gossip and news,
therefore the party would often run in to
the wee small hours !!! '
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The Wee Spark
A
replica Clyde Puffer started an historic
canal journey, the first time in 70 years.
The Forth and Clyde was opened in the summer
of 2002. The Wee Spark was built by Jimmy
MacFarlane and Arhcie Rennie in Bowling
and is a third size model of a real Clyde
Puffer.
A replica model of a full scale Clyde Puffer
had to be built as a full size Clyde Puffer
would not be able to negotaite the Canal
due to our modern day static road bridges.
Photographer:
Stephen Mansfield Credit: The
Scotsman
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Read
about Tartan Tuffy on the Forth and Clyde
Canal in Book 6 - Haggis Farm.
The
Wee Spark took part in the opening by the
Queen of the Falkirk wheel, click on the
Falkirk Wheel logo to see the website..
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©
Tartan Tuffy - www.tartantuffy.co.uk
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