Scottish Maritime Museum's puffer Spartan and coaster Kyles at the Harbourside Irvine. Winner of the 2014 National Historic Ships Photo Comp - Registered Vessels category.
Spartan:
Built in 1942 by J Hay and Sons, Kirkintilloch, Spartan is one of only two surviving Scottish-built ‘puffers’, a type of steam-powered cargo vessel first built during the 1850s for use on the Clyde and Forth Canal. Now on the Designated List of the National Historic Ships Committee, it was the first vessel in the museum’s collection when it was established in 1983.
The term ‘puffer’ came from the characteristic puffs of steam which would rise from a boat’s funnel - accompanied by a distinctive puffing sound - and the name stuck despite the fact that changes to engine design meant that only the earlier examples of this type of ship actually expelled their steam.
Sea-going puffers were being built by the 1870s, with vessels providing an essential supply link to the maritime communities of Scotland. Carrying all manner of cargoes, they traded mainly in the Firth of Clyde and the Scottish Highlands and islands. Built with flat-bottomed hulls, puffers were able to beach and unload their cargoes at low tide, without having to rely on suitable pier facilities being available.
Spartan has been much altered since construction, but was built as an inland waterways-style puffer with riveted steel plating and part pitch pine deck. At a length of 66ft, the longest a canal lock would allow, her design was based on that of two puffers - Ansac and Lascar - designed by Hay’s but built in 1939 by Scott and Sons of Bowling, West Dunbartonshire.
At the outbreak of WWII, the Ministry of War Transport had required a fleet of small cargo boats to be used for duties including servicing Naval ships and installations on Scotland’s west coast. Rather than designing a brand new type of vessel, it was decided that the 66ft Clyde puffer made an ideal model on which the fleet should be based.
A large number of these ‘Victualling Inshore Craft’ - known as the VIC series - were built, with most of these being constructed south of the border. Spartan, or VIC 18 as she was formerly known, was an exception. Most of the VIC series boats, including VIC 18, were fitted with steam engines due to the availability of coal and of men who could already operate this type of engine.
VIC 18 remained in Naval service until 1946 when she was laid up. She was reacquired by Hay’s in July 1946 and converted to join their fleet of puffers for civilian use, before being re-registered as ‘Spartan’ on September 24, 1946. She was the third vessel of their fleet to bear the name and replaced a previous vessel which had blown up and sunk off the Isle of Lismore on May 31, 1946. Her job was to carry cargoes including coal and bricks around the Firth of Clyde and even to the islands of Mull, Iona and Islay.
Spartan’s steam engine was replaced by a Scania diesel in 1961 by Hay’s at their Kirkintilloch repair slip and she remained in use as a cargo vessel until 1980, when she was laid up at Bowling harbour. She was handed over to the West of Scotland Boat Museum Association - a precursor to the Scottish Maritime Museum - in 1982, and has since been restored to working condition.
Puffer firms battled to survive from the 1960s onwards, with some of the larger companies, including Hay’s, merging to form Glenlight Shipping Ltd in order to improve efficiency. But with growing competition from subsidised road haulage and ferry services, and with the islands using less coal, operators began to go out of business and by the mid-1990s the puffer trade was no more.
MV Kyles:
The oldest Clydebuilt vessel still afloat in the UK, MV Kyles has had more than two dozen owners, retaining her original name throughout the whole of her working life. Launched on March 12, 1872 by John Fullerton and Co. of Paisley, she was built for Glasgow owners at the Merksworth yard and was destined for the coasting trade.
Kyles was a basic steam-engined cargo coaster, typical of those built by the smaller yards of the Clyde. She has an iron and steel hull, much of which is in original condition, and a steel deck. Most of the upper works date from major restorations in 1945 and 1998.
Coastal traders provided an essential service before land transport became dominant and there was no standard design of cargo coaster, with ships often being modified to suit a specific role. Kyles is an excellent example of this - despite having no spectacular history, the changes she has undergone as her many owners have adapted her to the changing demands of the coasting trade make her a truly fascinating vessel.
The original owner of Kyles was Stuart Manford of Glasgow, and she was originally used as a tender for the fishing fleet, collecting the catch from the Clyde fishing boats and transporting the fish to railheads on the coast.
A succession of owners followed, with Kyles carrying heavy and general cargoes on short coastal voyages in Scotland, Newcastle-upon-Tyne and the South Wales area. Her port of registry remained Glasgow until 1900, when she was registered at Hull, and the first major changes in her structure came in 1921 when she was converted to work as a sand dredger in the Bristol Channel.
A familiar sight to many in this area, a letter from a Mr L G Gardiner in Ships Monthly magazine recounted his fond memories of watching Kyles as a child in the 1920s as she pumped her sand cargo in the channel. He recalled that that this was before her bow and stern were built up, adding that “when she was pumping she was low in the water and looked more like a submarine. In fact she became a bit of a joke with the sailors on the other dredgers because they said as long as you could see steam rising from the sand pump engine or an odd beer bottle thrown over the side, the little Kyles was still afloat”.
By the start of WWII, Kyles was out of service and de-registered. She was surveyed in 1942 while laid up on the Glamorganshire canal and found to be in poor condition, and 1944 she was sold on by a salvage contractor to Ivor P Langford, a ship owner and repairer based near Gloucester, who had her repaired and removed her dredging equipment in order to return her to a cargo role. She was re-registered at Gloucester and worked in the Bristol Channel for a number of years before being converted from steam to a diesel engine in 1953. In 1960 she was structurally altered again, this time to enable her to function as a sludge tanker for dumping industrial waste in the Bristol Channel. She was later downgraded to a storage hulk for waste, and continued in this role until 1974.
Despite the owner’s tradition of naming his boats after female members of the family, the name Kyles was kept out of respect for its long and varied history - and as the vessel was a favourite of Mr Langford, his family was keen to see it preserved once working days were over. An offer was accepted from Captain Peter M Herbert of Bude, who had himself a long career in the coasting trade, and Kyles became a much-loved vessel in the Bude area.
When the West of Scotland Boat Museum Association - precursor to the Scottish Maritime Museum - was formed in the early 1980s, Mr Herbert offered to sell Kyles to the group, and in 1984 the Scottish Maritime Museum became 24th registered owner. Kyles was re-registered in Glasgow, 112 years after its name first appeared in the records.
Funding for a full restoration of the vessel became available in 1996, and it was decided that the most suitable appearance to restore her to was to take her back to the 1953 refit when changed from steam to diesel power. Work began in 1997 to strip out the sludge tanks, reinstate the original hatch and hatch cover and replicate the mast and derrick. Her wheelhouse had been removed in the 1970s and this was replicated with help from old photographs of the vessel.
Work was completed in 1999, and after sea trials Kyles made a well-publicised arrival back at its birthplace on the River Clyde, then was put on display at Clydebuilt - the Scottish Maritime Museum at Braehead - before later becoming a floating exhibit at the museum’s Irvine site.
Recognised as one of Britain’s most important historic vessels, Kyles is included in the ‘Designated Vessels’ list of the National Historic Ships Committee.
Courtesy of Alan Kempster(c)
