Cutty Sark
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The Clyde-built Cutty Sark was, in 1869, one of the last sailing clippers to be built. It was preserved in dry dock at Greenwich in London, but was damaged in a fire on May 21st, 2007 while undergoing extensive restoration.
History
The ship is named after the fictional character "Cutty-sark" (Scots: a short chemise or undergarment[1]), an erotic dancing witch in Robert Burns' 1791 comic poem Tom o' Shanter. It was designed by Hercules Linton and built in 1869 at Dumbarton, Scotland, by the firm of Scott & Linton, for Captain Tom "Fred" "White Hat" Wills, and launched November 23 of that year.
Cutty Sark was destined for the tea trade, then an intensely competitive race across the globe from China to London, with immense profits to the ship to arrive with the first tea of the year. However, it did not distinguish itself; in the most famous race, against Thermopylae in 1872, both ships left Shanghai together on June 18, but two weeks later Cutty Sark lost its rudder after passing through the Sunda Strait, and arrived in London on October 18, a week after Thermopylae, a total passage of 122 days. Its legendary reputation is supported by the fact that her captain chose to continue this race with an improvised rudder instead of putting into port for a replacement, yet was only beaten by one week.
In the end, clippers lost out to steamships, which could pass through the recently-opened Suez Canal and deliver goods more reliably, if not quite so quickly, which as it turned out was better for business. Cutty Sark was then used on the Australian wool trade. Under the respected Captain Richard Woodget, it did very well, posting Australia-to-Britain times of as little as 67 days. Her best run, 360 nautical miles (666 km) in 24 hours (an average 15kt, 27.75 km/h), was said to have been the fastest of any ship of its size.
In 1895 Willis sold her to the Portuguese firm Ferreira and it was renamed Ferreira after the firm, although her crews referred to her as Pequena Camisola ("little shirt", a straight translation of the Scots "cutty sark").[2] In 1916 she was dismasted off the Cape of Good Hope, sold, re-rigged in Cape Town as a barquentine, and renamed Maria do Amparo. In 1922 she was bought by Captain Wilfred Dowman, who restored her to her original appearance and used her as a stationary training ship. In 1954 she was dry-docked at Greenwich.
Cutty Sark is also preserved in literature in Hart Crane's long poem "The Bridge" which was published in 1930.
Today
The Cutty Sark is today preserved as a museum ship and popular tourist attraction. She is located near the centre of Greenwich, in south-east London, close aboard the National Maritime Museum, the former Greenwich Hospital, and Greenwich Park. She is also a prominent landmark on the route of the London Marathon. She flies signal flags on her ensign staff reading "JKWS", which is the code representing Cutty Sark in the International Code of Signals, introduced in 1857.
Cutty Sark has inspired the name of a brand of whisky. An image of the ship appears on the label, and the maker has sponsored the Cutty Sark Tall Ships' Race. It also inspired the name of the Saunders Roe Cutty Sark flying boat. The Life and Times of Scrooge McDuck part three-and-a-half: The Cowboy Captain of the Cutty Sark by Don Rosa features the ship itself. In the award winning science fiction novel Blue Mars, by Kim Stanley Robinson the Cutty Sark is portrayed sailing on the oceans of a post global warming earth.
Cutty Sark is a Grade I listed monument and is on the Buildings At Risk Register.
A major project to conserve the Cutty Sark has now begun, and is scheduled for completion early in 2009. The ship is to be raised three metres higher out of her dry dock, to allow the construction of a state of the art museum space beneath. For the first time visitors will be able to admire her sleek shape from below. Access to the ship and its environs is subject to the needs of the restoration.[3]
Saving the Cutty Sark 2006-2009
Cutty Sark is currently closed to the public until early 2009 for conservation work. With her masts removed and her hull covered, visitors can still learn about the ship's story in a new visitor centre until the ship is revealed.
During the conservation works a visitor centre will be open where visitors can learn how and why the ship is being saved. The exhibition features a new film presentation, a re-creation of the masters saloon and interactives about the project. Also live webcam views of the conservation work allow the visitor to remotely see the works taking place on the ship.
Cutty Sark station on the Docklands Light Railway is one minute's walk away, with connections to central London and the London Underground. Greenwich Pier is next to the ship, and is served by scheduled river boats from piers in central London. A tourist information office stands to the east of the ship.
Fire
On 21 May 2007 the Cutty Sark caught fire and was reported by the BBC to be completely ablaze. The extent of any damage is not yet known but there is concern that it may have affected the framework of the ship. The fire was reported to the fire service at 4:46 a.m. British Summer Time by members of the public. A representative of the fire brigade said at 7:09 a.m. that the fire was well under control and that damage was extensive but until the experts can make a full damage assessment survey, it is unknown just how much has been lost. The fire was declared by a journalist on site to have been out at 07:21 a.m., with most of the wooden structure in the centre having been lost.[4]
In an interview with the chief executive of the Cutty Sark Trust it was revealed that at least half of the "fabric" (timbers, etc) of the ship is not on the site as it is being dismantled for the preservation work, and that they are most worried about the iron framework around which the fabric is attached.[4]
Aerial video footage at 7:22 a.m. showed extensive damage but seems to indicate that the ship has not been destroyed in its entirety. A fire officer present at the scene said in a BBC interview that when they arrived, there was "a well developed fire throughout the ship". The bow section looks to be relatively unscathed and the stern also appears to have survived without major damage. The fire seems to have been concentrated in the centre of the ship.[5]
The Chairman of Cutty Sark Enterprises who has inspected the site said at around 8:35 a.m., "The decks are unsalvageable but around 50% of the planking had already been removed; however the damage is not as bad as originally expected." It has already been stated that the ship can be restored, the damage being less than originally thought. Up to half of the original material is currently being stored offsite during restoration. The chief executive of the Cutty Sark Trust did not know how much extra the ship would cost to restore, but estimated it at an extra £5-10 million, bringing the total cost of the ship's restoration to £30-35 million.[citation needed]
It has also been officially stated that once restored the ship will still predominantly be the original Cutty Sark although it is obvious that hardware lost in the blaze will have to be re-created. The bow was predominantly undamaged, the stern appears fairly intact, and the rest whilst damaged should at least in part be repairable. As such the ship will still have a majority of the original parts and will still be the "Cutty Sark".[citation needed]
The cause of the fire is currently unknown but is being treated as "suspicious" by the authorities.
General specifications
- Tonnage: 921 tons (935.8 tonnes)
- Hull length: 212.5 ft (64.8 m)
- Beam: 36 ft (11 m)
- Draft: 21 ft (6.4 m)
Sails:
- Fore
- fore course 21.0 yd (19.2 m)
- lower topsail 16.8 yd (15.4 m)
- upper topsail 14.6 yd (13.4 m)
- topgallant 11.5 yd (10.5 m)
- royal 9.4 yd (8.6 m)
- Main
- main course 21.6 yd (19.8 m)
- lower topsail 18.5 yd (16.9 m)
- upper topsail 16.8 yd (15.4 m)
- topgallant 114.2 yd (13.0 m)
- royal 10.4 yd (9.5 m)
- Mizzen
- mizzen course 17.4 yd (15.9 m)
- lower topsail 14.9 yd (13.6 m)
- upper topsail 13.4 yd (12.3 m)
- topgallant 11.0 yd (10.1 m)
- royal 8.2 yd (7.5 m)
- spanker 14.1 yd (12.9 m)
See also
References
- ^ "cutty(-ie) sark, a short chemise or undergarment", Dictionary of the Scots Language, accessed 21 May 2007
- ^ BYM News, accessed 21 May 2007
- ^ http://www.cuttysark.org.uk/index.cfm?fa=contentGeneric.afbkghkcdkkgoofb
- ^ a b http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/london/6675381.stm BBC News Report on the Fire
- ^ http://news.sky.com/skynews/video/videoplayer/0,,30000-1266673,00.html Sky's Aerial Footage of the blaze site
External links
