FOR 140 YEARS, the "puffer" was the workhorse of Scotland's canal and coastal shipping trade. Celebrated and fictionalised in Neil Munro's tales of Para Handy and the Vital Spark, the puffer has a unique place in the folklore of Scotland, especially in the Highlands and the Western Isles.

The reality behind the myth is equally fascinating. A product of a great surge of technological advance that swept the west of Scotland in the late 1800s, the puffer was a purely Scottish invention, and it provided a vital lifeline to her remotest communities.

This book describes the rise and fall of the puffer from its origins in the 1850s, with tales of its cargoes of seaweed and whisky, and gives an account of its unique operating methods. It traces the fortunes of the operators themselves from the pioneering companies who built the ships through to their descendants who struggled ultimately unsuccessfully to keep the trade afloat into the 1990s.

The book contains many photographs and some beautiful reproductions of paintings by Francis R. Flint of the lighters at work and he even sailed on the ships to absorb their unique atmosphere.

This hard back book is available for £16.99 plus shipping and handling. I f you are interested in ordering you have two options either going through our open book to use a credit card

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