In Highland Harbors With Para Handy — Neil Munro

ON A CLYDE PUFFER Get ready for charm and whimsy with the sweetness and bite of twenty-year-old single malt Scotch. There's a new cook named Sunny Jim on the steamer The Vital Spark in this collection of droll tales of the Scots characters. This is a ship full of wonderful characters. The Vital Spark is a "Clyde Puffer" carrying goods from Glasgow to the dreamy lochs and misty hills of the Highlands. Captained by Peter Macfarlaine -- nicknamed Para Handy -- "the smertest boat in the tred" is peopled by the likes of pompous engineer Dan Macphail, superstitious Dougie the ship's-mate and The Tar -- and featuring visits by Hurricane Jack and other odd folk.