The three-masted clipper ship Cutty Sark was built on the River Clyde in Scotland and launched on 22 November 1869 for the Jock Willis Shipping Line. Entering service on the cusp of the age of steam navigation, Cutty Sark was one of the last clipper ships built and also one of the fastest. While the speed of steamships and the opening of the Suez Canal in 1869 meant that Cutty Sark served only a few years transporting tea from China to Britain, she soon moved to the wool trade between Australia and Britain. When the wool trade too was taken over by steamships, Cutty Sark was sold in 1895 to Portuguese owners and renamed Ferreira (and later Maria do Amparo) and continued carrying cargo until 1922. Purchased as a training ship that year, Cutty Sark operated out of Falmouth and in 1938 was transferred to the Thames Nautical Training College in Greenhithe as an auxiliary cadet training ship. No longer suited as a training ship, Cutty Sark was towed to the London suburb of Greenwich as a museum and tourist attraction in 1954.
On 21 May 2007, during an extensive conservation project, a fire consumed Cutty Sark in its Greenwich dry dock. Fortunately, as much of the ship's decking, planking, and its masts had been previously removed to a storage facility, the ship was restored and re-opened to the public on 25 April 2012.
Clipper Ship Cutty Sark - Specifications:
Displacement: 2,100 tons
Tonnage: 963 gross register tonnes
Length: 64.77 metres (212 feet 5 inches)
Beam: 10.97 metres (36 feet)
Draught: 6.4 metres (21 feet)
Propulsion: 32,000 square feet of sail
Speed: 17.5 knots (32.4 km/h) maximum achieved
Complement: 28-35
Photos taken 20 September 2015
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| The restored Cutty Sark sits suspended over a covered dry dock in Greenwich, very close to the Greenwich Pier served by the Thames Clipper ferries. |
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| The lower cargo hold of Cutty Sark, once used to carry crates of tea or bales of Australian wool, now features displays on the ship and its voyages, the tea trade, and the Opium Wars, as well as a theatre used for musical performances and lectures. Visitors begin their tour of Cutty Sark by entering through a hatch cut into the side of the hull at the level of the lower hold. |
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| Displays resembling wooden tea crates stacked in Cutty Sark's cargo hold recount the tea trade and the sailing Clippers that carried the precious commodity from China to a Britain thirsty for the exotic Oriental beverage. |
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| Visitors walk through the hold from the stern to the forward end before ascending a staircase to the Tween deck. |
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| A diagram depicting how crates of tea were loaded into Cutty Sark to maximise efficient use of the available space in the holds. |
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| Cutty Sark's composite construction can be seen. In composite construction, a wooden hull was bolted onto an iron framework. the iron framework was much stronger and could thus be much thinner than wooden framing, leaving more space for cargo. Cutty Sark was constructed from East Indian teak, American rock elm, and yellow pine, with a rudder of English oak. Muntz metal (like brass) bolts held the timber planks to the iron ribs, while sheets of Muntz metal clad the wooden hull below the waterline to reduce fouling by barnacles and seaweed. |
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| The Tween deck, showing the large cargo storage space available aboard Cutty Sark. This deck now contains various artefacts, displays, and interactive exhibits on the ship, its history and various owners over the years, cargo types carried, and life aboard. |
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| A 1:75 model of Cutty Sark depicting her as she was rigged as a tea clipper (1870-1877). In 1880, the ship's sails and masts were reduced in size so that fewer crewmen were required, thus saving money. |
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| A life ring from Cutty Sark during her time as a training ship at the Thames Nautical Training College at Greenhithe from 1938 to 1953. |
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| Several artefacts belonging to Captain Richard Woodget, master of Cutty Sark between 1885 and 1895. The items include a speaking trumpet, a telescope, a barometer, and a chronometer. |
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| An interactive exhibit allows visitors to learn about all of the ports that Cutty Sark called at during her career, from Pensacola, Florida to Pernambuco, Brazil, and from Cape Town, South Africa to Melbourne, Australia. |
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| Cutty Sark's brass bell, stolen by one of the ship's former officers around 1903 when the ship was sailing under the Portuguese flag. When Cutty Sark was bought back by a British owner for use as a training ship in 1922, the bell was returned. |
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| A carving of the emblem of the Most Exalted Order of the Star of India, Cutty Sark's original stern decoration. It was copied from another clipper ship, the Tweed, owned by Cutty Sark's owner, John Willis. Tweed had originally been built in Bombay, India for the Indian Marine of the East India Company. |
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| A display depicting large bales of Australian wool, one of the major commodities that Cutty Sark carried during her career as a cargo vessel between 1883 and 1895. Cutty Sark was the fastest sailing ship on the wool trade for ten years, and Captain Richard Woodget was in command during the ship's fastest voyages: 77 days from Australia to Britain, and 73 days from Britain back to Australia. |
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| A view of Cutty Sark's starboard side, showing the fore mast and extensive rigging, as well as the blue glass bubble which surrounds the ship's hull and the dry dock in which she sits. |
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| The ship's bell hangs near the bow. |
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| The deckhouse, containing accommodations for the bo'sun, carpenter, and sailmaker. |
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| A closeup look at some of the rigging aboard Cutty Sark. |
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| One of Cutty Sark's wooden lifeboats. |
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| Looking forward along Cutty Sark's upper deck. The deckhouse in the centre of the photo housed the galley and seamen's accommodation. |
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| A view of the spartan living conditions for seamen aboard Cutty Sark. |
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| The ship's wheel, located on the poop deck at the stern. |
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| Looking forward from the steering position on Cutty Sark's poop deck. |
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| The Master's cabin is in the deckhouse immediately forward of the steering position. While spartan, the cabin contains a bunk, a desk, and a chair, and allowed the captain easy access to the wheel. |
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| The officer's wood-panelled wardroom in the aft deckhouse, known as Liverpool House, where the ship's officers had their accommodations. The wardroom is lighted by a hanging lamp and by a skylight over the table. Leather banquettes flank the wardroom on the port and starboard sides, and a small fireplace provides warmth. |
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| The officers' head (toilet), located just off the wardroom. |
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| The officers' pantry, located inside the aft deckhouse (Liverpool House). While all meals were prepared in the galley located in a forward deckhouse, the officers' meals were served from this pantry by a steward. The steward looked after the Master and First and Second Mates, serving meals and tidying their cabins. Typical meals consisted of pea soup, salted meat, and potato pie. |
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| The First Mate's cabin. |
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| Some of the crockery upon which officers' meals were served. Several items here are marked with the company (house) flag of John Willis & Son, while the large plate includes the name of the ship, Ferreira, when it was under Portuguese ownership. |
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| The enclosed dry dock permits visitors to walk right underneath Cutty Sark's hull, suspended from steel supports embedded in the side of the dock. The bottom of the dry dock provides space for a cafe and displays on the conservation of the ship from 1954 to the present. |
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| Looking down on the drydock floor from an elevated viewing gallery at the bow of the ship. The plimsol lines marking the depth of water can be clearly seen on the hull, as well as the brass sheathing that prevented accumulation of barnacles and seaweed, as well as damage to the hull timbers by wood-eating toredo worms. |
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| Looking aft from straight on the bow. The graceful lines of Cutty Sark's hull can be seen from this angle, explaining why the ship enjoyed remarkable speed by sailing ship standards. |
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| A display of ships' figureheads. Many are carved in the likeness of famous historical figures, including Hiawatha, Arabella, Cleopatra, General Gordon, Benjamin Disraeli, Boadicea, Sirius, Abraham Lincoln, Garibaldi, and Sir Lancelot. |
