The “Clyde Puffer” was a type of small coastal ship, predominately plying its trade in the West of Scotland. The ships had flat bottoms to enable them to beach and unload at low tide at settlements without suitable piers.

The original “puffers” took their nickname from the fact that their simple steam engines made a puffing sound at each stroke.

For over a hundred years since the mid 19th century, the puffer was the truck of its day and carried all of life’s essentials to remote settlements. The last commercial Clyde Puffer service, The Glenlight shipping company, ended at Greenock in 1993.

This oil painting by C.B. O’Reilly is an artists impression of a typical “Clyde Puffer”. It is based on my Clyde Puffer wall plaque model.

For information on my modelmaking work, please see my website at

Longline Studio