People are drawn to the harbours and boats of Scotland whether they have a seafaring background or not. Why do boats take on different shapes as you follow the complex shorelines of islands and mainland? And why do the sails they carry appear to be so many shapes and sizes? Then there are rowing craft or power-driven vessels which can also be considered ‘classics’, whether they were built for work or leisure.

As he traces the iconic forms of a selection of the boats of Scotland, Ian Stephen outlines the purposes of craft, past and present, to help gain a true understanding of this vital part of our culture. Sea conditions likely to be met and coastal geography are other factors behind the designs of a wide variety of craft.

Stories go with boats. The vessels are not seen as bare artefacts without their own soul but more like living things. 

• Cover
• Title
• Copyright
• Contents
• Map
• 1 The Magnetism of Boats
• 2 The Steam Drifter
• 3 The Moray Firth Scaffie
• 4 The Plumb-Ended Fifie
• 5 The Ultimate Sailing Drifter?
• 6 Versatile Motor Fishing Vessels
• 7 The Herring Fishing – A New Method
• 8 The Deep-Sea Trawler – Coal and Oil
• 9 A Boat to Take a Salmon
• 10 From Working Craft to Yacht Design
• 11 St Ayles Skiff – A Rowing Revival
• 12 The Baldie of Leith
• 13 Craft of the Eyemouth Disaster
• 14 The Gabbert and the Puffer
• 15 Maids of the Lochs
• 16 Yachts of Watson, Mylne and Fife
• 17 Yachts of Robertsons’, McGruers’ and Others
• 18 The Ring Netters of Girvan – Working Boats of Yacht Finish
• 19 The Whammel of the Solway Firth – Fit for Purpose
• 20 The Line-Skiffs and the Drontheim – The North Channel
• 21 The Curach – A Skin on Timber Bones
• 22 The Loch Fyne Skiff – Sailing for Work and for Pleasure
• 23 A Yacht Derived from a Working Boat
• 24 Racing Skiffs – Mull, Oban and Tiree
• 25 Jacobite, Dawn Treader and Other Creel Boats
• 26 The Birlinn – Lost and Maybe Found
• 27 The Role of the Lighthouse-Tender
• 28 Craft by the Stewarts of Grimsay
• 29 Sgoth Niseach – The Seaboat of North Lewis
• 30 The Racing Dinghies of Plockton
• 31 Bàta Gheàrrloch and the Loch Broom Post Boat
• 32 Coigach – An Ideal Inshore Boat?
• 33 Northwest Mainland and the Hard Cost of Fish
• 34 The Yoles of the North Coast and South Isles
• 35 The Westray Skiff and the Fair Isle Yole 288 297 308 311
• 36 From the Ness Yole to the Sixareen
• 37 A Ballad of Boats?
• Further Reading
• Index