 Cutty Sark seen from the north-east
| |
| History | |
|---|---|
 United Kingdom | |
| Name | Cutty Sark (1869–1895) |
| Namesake | Cutty-sark |
| Owner | John "Jock" Willis (1869–1895) |
| Ordered | 1 February 1869 |
| Builder | |
| Cost | £16,150[1]: 196 |
| Laid down | 1869 |
| Launched | 22 November 1869 |
| Sponsored by | Mrs. George Moodie |
| In service | 16 February 1870 |
| Homeport | London |
| Identification | UK Official Number: 63557[2] |
| Motto | "When there's a Willis a way" |
| Fate | Sold |
  Portugal | |
| Name | Ferreira |
| Namesake | Joaquim Antunes Ferreira |
| Owner | Joaquim Antunes Ferreira & Co. (1895–1922) |
| Acquired | 22 July 1892 |
| Homeport | Lisbon, Portugal |
| Nickname(s) | Pequena Camisola ("Little shirt") |
| Fate | Sold 1922 |
| Portugal | |
| Name | Maria do Amparo |
| Namesake | Mary, Refuge of Sinners |
| Owner | Companhia Nacional de Navegação |
| Acquired | 1922 |
| Homeport | Lisbon, Portugal |
| Fate | Sold 1922 |
| United Kingdom | |
| Name | Cutty Sark |
| Owner | Wilfred Dowman |
| Acquired | 1922 |
| Homeport | Falmouth, Cornwall |
| Fate | Sold 1938 |
| United Kingdom | |
| Name | Cutty Sark |
| Owner | Thames Nautical Training College |
| Acquired | 1938 |
| Homeport | Greenhithe, Kent |
| Fate | Sold 1953 |
| United Kingdom | |
| Name | Cutty Sark |
| Owner | Cutty Sark Preservation Society |
| Acquired | 1953 |
| Out of service | Became museum December 1954 |
| Status | Museum ship |
| General characteristics | |
| Class and type | Clipper |
| Tonnage | |
| Displacement | 2,100 tons (2,133.7 tonnes) at 20 ft (6.1 m) draught[3] |
| Length | |
| Beam | 36 ft (10.97 m)[4] |
| Depth of hold | 21 ft (6.40 m)[4] |
| Propulsion | 32,000 sq ft (3,000 m2) sail (3,000 hp) |
| Sail plan |
|
| Speed | 17.5 knots (32.4 km/h) maximum achieved[1]: 196 |
| Complement | 28–35 |
Cutty Sark is a British clipper ship. Built on the River Leven, Dumbarton, Scotland in 1869 for the Jock Willis Shipping Line, she was one of the last tea clippers to be built and one of the fastest, at the end of a long period of design development for this type of vessel, which ended as steamships took over their routes. She was named after the short shirt of the fictional witch in Robert Burns' poem Tam o' Shanter, first published in 1791.
After the big improvement in the fuel efficiency of steamships in 1866, the opening of the Suez Canal in 1869 gave them a shorter route to China, so Cutty Sark spent only a few years on the tea trade before turning to the trade in wool from Australia, where she held the record time to Britain for ten years.[5] Continuing improvements in steam technology early in the 1880s meant that steamships also came to dominate the longer sailing route to Australia, and the ship was sold to the Portuguese company Ferreira and Co. in 1895 and renamed Ferreira. She continued as a cargo ship until purchased in 1922 by retired sea captain Wilfred Dowman, who used her as a training ship operating from Falmouth, Cornwall. After his death, Cutty Sark was transferred to the Thames Nautical Training College, Greenhithe, in 1938 where she became an auxiliary cadet training ship alongside HMS Worcester. By 1954, she had ceased to be useful as a cadet ship and was transferred to permanent dry dock at Greenwich, London, for public display.
Cutty Sark is listed by National Historic Ships as part of the National Historic Fleet (the nautical equivalent of a Grade 1 Listed Building). She is one of only three remaining intact composite construction (wooden hull on an iron frame) ships from the nineteenth century, the others being the clipper City of Adelaide, now in Port Adelaide, South Australia and the warship HMS Gannet in Chatham. The beached skeleton of Ambassador, of 1869 lying near Punta Arenas, Chile is the only other significant remnant of this construction method.
The ship has been damaged by fire twice in recent years, first on 21 May 2007 while undergoing conservation. She was restored and was reopened to the public on 25 April 2012.[6] Funders for the Cutty Sark conservation project include: the Heritage Lottery Fund, the House of Commons Digital, Culture, Media and Sport Committee, Sammy Ofer Foundation, Greenwich Council, Greater London Authority, The Stavros Niarchos Foundation, Berry Brothers & Rudd, Michael Edwards and Alisher Usmanov.[7]
On 19 October 2014 she was damaged in a smaller fire.[8]
Cutty Sark whisky derives its name from the ship. An image of the clipper appears on the label, and the maker formerly sponsored the Cutty Sark Tall Ships Race. The ship also inspired the name of the Saunders Roe Cutty Sark flying boat.
- ^ a b c Cite error: The named reference
MacGregor 1983was invoked but never defined (see the help page). - ^ "Lloyd's Register, Navires a Voiles" (PDF). Plimsoll Ship Data. Archived from the original (PDF) on 20 March 2009. Retrieved 13 March 2009.
- ^ a b Scott, J. L. (January 1941). "A Survey of Thecutty Sarkin 1937". The Mariner's Mirror. 27 (3): 180–205. doi:10.1080/00253359.1941.10658765.
- ^ a b c Lloyd's Register of Shipping, 1870. Wyman & Sons. 1870. Retrieved 3 December 2014.
- ^ "1883–95 The Australian Wool Years". 9 October 2015.
- ^ "Cutty Sark: Queen reopens Greenwich tea clipper". BBC News. 25 April 2012.
- ^ "Her Majesty The Queen reopens Cutty Sark | The National Lottery Heritage Fund". heritagefund.org.uk. 11 May 2012. Retrieved 18 December 2021.
- ^ "Cutty Sark damaged in fire on deck". BBC News. 19 October 2014. Retrieved 26 October 2014.