Name VIC 32

VIC 32 was built in 1943 at Richard Dunston's Shipyard in Thorne, Yorkshire and her engine was built by Crabtree Ltd of Great Yarmouth. Her design was based on a 1939 Puffer design from the vessels Anzac and Lascar, built by Scott’s of Bowling near Glasgow for J Hay & Sons Ltd, Kirkintilloch. Puffers were boats which operated around the coast of Scotland, mainly on the west coast, supplying the remote areas of the Highlands and islands with everything needed for the sparse populations in these remote areas.  Distilleries were also a large user of puffers, both for supply of raw materials, especially coal, and for shipping full whisky barrels to Glasgow

During the war, VIC 32 is believed to have carried cement for pier building on Barra and is known to have participated in the construction of the Churchill Barriers at Scapa Flow.  VIC 32 also carried ammunition and aviation fuel supplies to the fleet in Loch Eil and Scapa Flow. On transfer to the Admiralty after the war in 1947, she was renamed C702 and is known to have worked at the dockyards at Devonport and Rosyth.

She was sold in December 1963 to shipbrokers Turner & Hickman Ltd of Glasgow, who sold her on to A. Whites & Co Ltd, St David’s, Dalgetty Bay, on the north shore of the Firth of Forth to be scrapped. Fate played and hand, and she was purchased by Keith Schellenberg who, through his marriage to Margaret de Hauteville Hamilton in 1964, had become Laird of the island of Eigg. Intending to use VIC 32 at a supply ship for the island, he purchased her in 1970, steaming her to his shipyard at Whitby in North Yorkshire, where he intended to bring her back to full working order. Nick and Rachel Walker saw her there in October 1975, and after some negotiation, purchased her for £1500. Following a considerable amount of work to reinstate her systems, she was steamed south to St Katharine’s Dock in London over Whitsun 1976. Here, her hold was converted for passenger carrying by building cabins in the lower hold area, and a saloon in the upper hold, made possible by raising the hold hatchboards by 23 inches (58cm) and installing port lights, a galley, and skipper’s accommodation for Nick and his young family. 

She was briefly used for trips on the Thames and a cruise to the French coast of the English Channel in 1977, before being moved back to Scotland in 1978. She sailed north up the east coast of England via Inverness and down the Caledonian Canal to Corpach, before passing south down the Sound of Jura, to Crinan and the Crinan Canal in a series of short cruises. Part of the purpose of this series of cruises was to investigate whether holiday trips could be successfully operated in that area of Scotland, and following this, Nick and Rachel formed Highland Steamboat Holidays Ltd, offering weeklong cruises around the Clyde estuary, the Sound of Jura, and the Caledonian Canal between Corpach and Inverness. Initially, Tarbert was used as a base, but this was later changed to Crinan, where VIC 32 was operated successfully for more than 20 years. In 1989, Nick and Rachel formed an interest group, the “Friends of VIC 32” to assist in seasonal maintenance and to help provide finance for any repairs which might arise. The Friends still exist and number over 500, still offering support and assistance on working parties.

In 2004, her boiler failed its annual inspection, and she ceased operation, but in order to preserve her, Nick and Rachel had donated the vessel to The Puffer Preservation Trust, which they had formed in 2002. The Trust’s initial task was to raise fund for a new boiler, and they applied for and won a grant from the National Lottery Fund, and a new boiler was commissioned from R K Pridham Engineering Ltd of Tavistock. While the original boiler was out of the vessel, the opportunity was taken to address hull plates in that area before the new boiler was installed in mid-2006. After commissioning, she returned to service, once again offering week-long cruises under the auspices of the renamed Puffer Steamboat Holidays Ltd, a wholly owned a subsidiary of the Puffer Preservation Trust.

Under the ownership of the Puffer Preservation Trust, much work has been carried out to maintain the hull in good condition, with a programme of replacement of sections of the steel hull plates each year, upgrading passenger facilities, and improvements to the systems installed to meet modern shipping standards