Cutty Sark

Cutty Sark

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	Scott & Linton William Denny and Brothers
Cost	£16,150[2]: 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[1]
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	963 GRT 921 NRT[2]: 195
Displacement	2,100 tons (2,133.7 tonnes) at 20 ft (6.1 m) draught[3]
Length	Hull: 212.5 ft (64.77 m)[4] LOA: 280 ft (85.34 m)[3]: 194
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	1870: ship rig 1916: barquentine rig
Speed	17.5 knots (32.4 km/h) maximum achieved[2]: 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 1880's 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.