After the Cutty Sark, the world's last remaining tea clipper, was damaged by fire yesterday, the Curator of the Cutty Sark Trust promises that she will be restored.
She's one of London's biggest tourist attractions having had 15 million visitors since she became a tourist attraction.
Cutty Sark: The ship that defined an age
Front page of today's Independent newspaper
By Eric Kentley, Curator Of The Cutty Sark Trust
Published: 22 May 2007
The Independent
Empire-builder ... Cutty Sark at sea. She was built in 1869 at the height of British Imperial grandeur, a time when Britain had the world's greatest and mightiest navy and when the country was about to enter the period when its global dominance and power were at their greatest
Picture: REUTERS
Aftermath ... much of the world-famous ship is left badly charred but vital components were already in storage and, inset, as millions of visitors to London know her, in her dry dock
Pictures: JIM BENNETT & RAY COLLINS
There is no ship anywhere like the Cutty Sark. She is the last, beautiful remaining product of the golden age of sailing ships, when Britain had world's greatest navy and had perfected the technology to make some of the most elegant cargo ships in history.
Since she has been dry-docked at Greenwich, 15 million people have paid to look inside her, and up to seven million people a year pass through Greenwich gardens to see her from the outside.
There are people in Falmouth who remember her from when she was dry-docked there, and thousands who went through training as naval cadets in Greenwich who remember her from those days. And now she lies charred in her dock, seemingly the victim of arson.
Her global fame is not just a reminder of the great age of sail, but of Britain's history as an island nation whose success depended on maritime prowess.
She is the only tea clipper still in existence, built in 1869 at the height of British imperial grandeur, named after a character in a Robert Burns' poem and designed to win the annual - and lucrative - race across the globe from China to London to bring the first tea of the year.
But even in her own day, in late Victorian times, she was a very famous ship. Everybody who was interested in sailing ships knew about her and her history. She had several good runs to China and back, but what really made her famous was when she was used as a wool clipper between Australia and the UK.
One of the things we had to do for our original application to the Lottery Fund for a grant towards the restoration of the Cutty Sark was to re-examine its significance. This taught us a clear lesson that has such resonance today: the grand old vessel has been through several disasters, and survived. It will survive this latest terrible disaster too.
After her launch, the Cutty Sark had seven good trips to China in the 1870s. It would go out loaded with alcohol, and come back carrying more than 1,400 tons of tea. On one famous occasion, it lost its rudder going through Java's Sunda Strait, but using an improvised replacement was still only a week behind the first ship back to London.
But on the eighth voyage, they discovered that all the tea had been loaded on to steam ships, which could make the return voyage in less time because they went through the Suez Canal, which sailing ships could not do because they needed the head winds. After the captain found out that he did not have a cargo to take home, he died, and the first mate, James Wallace, took over as captain.
Captain Wallace later threw himself overboard after his crew went on strike and the ship was becalmed in the Java Sea.
But when the Cutty Sark went into service carrying wool from Australia to the UK in the 1880s, she set a the world record by making the trip, round the Cape of Good Hope, in 72 days.
In 1895, she was sold to the Portuguese. She saw service during the First World War, when she was very badly damaged.
In 1922, she ran into a gale in the English Channel and had to dock in Falmouth. A retired shipowner, Wilfred Dowman, spotted her and decided to preserve her for the nation. He paid £3,750.
She was in dry dock in Falmouth until 1938, but after Wilfred Dowman died, his widow did not feel able to keep up the responsibility, so the ship made its last voyage, to Greenhithe, where it was a training ship.
That is when the director of the National Maritime Museum, Frank Carr, and the Duke of Edinburgh concocted a scheme to preserve her for all time as an attraction for visitors and a memorial to servicemen killed in the two world wars, creating a dry dock in a Greenwich bomb site.
As time went by, the need for her as a training ship diminished, and it became obvious that something would have to be done to save her for the nation, again.
She is an "extreme" clipper built right at the end of the age of sailing ships, when they had perfected the technology and the bows were getting sharper and sharper, or more "extreme". Her bow is like a knifepoint.
After she went out of service, the age of the clippers was over. There were still some sailing ships used to carry cargo, up until the Second World War, but they were four masted barques. They were nowhere as shapely and beautiful.
We expect the police to be investigating the site for a couple of days. Then our engineers will be able to go in and have a detailed look. They should be able to say pretty quickly whether the damage is major or minor.
If it is major, we may have to change our philosophy. Such a high proportion of the Cutty Sark is original to the ship that we have taken a stand that we make it absolutely clear what is new and what is original, and we get it to look as close as possible to what the ship was actually like.
When we needed to replace planks on the deck, we found some 19th century teak in a house in India that was being demolished. Luckily they were not in the ship yesterday. They are worth about £400,000.
Some of the planks along the side of the ship have been scorched. We simply cannot buy planks of teak that size anywhere. If they have to be replaced, we will have to use something else.
It is very strange that a fire should break out like this. No one had been working on site at least since Saturday morning, and not with anything hot.
At the Cutty Sark Trust, we are not even discussing the possibility that she cannot be repaired. Not any more. When I saw the first television pictures, I must say that my first thought was, "That's it for the Cutty Sark".
But now that we have seen her up close, it is serious, but it is not the end. The Cutty Sark has meant so much to so many people, that whatever it costs, and however long it takes, we will put her back together.
independent.co.uk
She's one of London's biggest tourist attractions having had 15 million visitors since she became a tourist attraction.
Cutty Sark: The ship that defined an age
Front page of today's Independent newspaper
By Eric Kentley, Curator Of The Cutty Sark Trust
Published: 22 May 2007
The Independent
Empire-builder ... Cutty Sark at sea. She was built in 1869 at the height of British Imperial grandeur, a time when Britain had the world's greatest and mightiest navy and when the country was about to enter the period when its global dominance and power were at their greatest
Picture: REUTERS
Aftermath ... much of the world-famous ship is left badly charred but vital components were already in storage and, inset, as millions of visitors to London know her, in her dry dock
Pictures: JIM BENNETT & RAY COLLINS
There is no ship anywhere like the Cutty Sark. She is the last, beautiful remaining product of the golden age of sailing ships, when Britain had world's greatest navy and had perfected the technology to make some of the most elegant cargo ships in history.
Since she has been dry-docked at Greenwich, 15 million people have paid to look inside her, and up to seven million people a year pass through Greenwich gardens to see her from the outside.
There are people in Falmouth who remember her from when she was dry-docked there, and thousands who went through training as naval cadets in Greenwich who remember her from those days. And now she lies charred in her dock, seemingly the victim of arson.
Her global fame is not just a reminder of the great age of sail, but of Britain's history as an island nation whose success depended on maritime prowess.
She is the only tea clipper still in existence, built in 1869 at the height of British imperial grandeur, named after a character in a Robert Burns' poem and designed to win the annual - and lucrative - race across the globe from China to London to bring the first tea of the year.
But even in her own day, in late Victorian times, she was a very famous ship. Everybody who was interested in sailing ships knew about her and her history. She had several good runs to China and back, but what really made her famous was when she was used as a wool clipper between Australia and the UK.
One of the things we had to do for our original application to the Lottery Fund for a grant towards the restoration of the Cutty Sark was to re-examine its significance. This taught us a clear lesson that has such resonance today: the grand old vessel has been through several disasters, and survived. It will survive this latest terrible disaster too.
After her launch, the Cutty Sark had seven good trips to China in the 1870s. It would go out loaded with alcohol, and come back carrying more than 1,400 tons of tea. On one famous occasion, it lost its rudder going through Java's Sunda Strait, but using an improvised replacement was still only a week behind the first ship back to London.
But on the eighth voyage, they discovered that all the tea had been loaded on to steam ships, which could make the return voyage in less time because they went through the Suez Canal, which sailing ships could not do because they needed the head winds. After the captain found out that he did not have a cargo to take home, he died, and the first mate, James Wallace, took over as captain.
Captain Wallace later threw himself overboard after his crew went on strike and the ship was becalmed in the Java Sea.
But when the Cutty Sark went into service carrying wool from Australia to the UK in the 1880s, she set a the world record by making the trip, round the Cape of Good Hope, in 72 days.
In 1895, she was sold to the Portuguese. She saw service during the First World War, when she was very badly damaged.
In 1922, she ran into a gale in the English Channel and had to dock in Falmouth. A retired shipowner, Wilfred Dowman, spotted her and decided to preserve her for the nation. He paid £3,750.
She was in dry dock in Falmouth until 1938, but after Wilfred Dowman died, his widow did not feel able to keep up the responsibility, so the ship made its last voyage, to Greenhithe, where it was a training ship.
That is when the director of the National Maritime Museum, Frank Carr, and the Duke of Edinburgh concocted a scheme to preserve her for all time as an attraction for visitors and a memorial to servicemen killed in the two world wars, creating a dry dock in a Greenwich bomb site.
As time went by, the need for her as a training ship diminished, and it became obvious that something would have to be done to save her for the nation, again.
She is an "extreme" clipper built right at the end of the age of sailing ships, when they had perfected the technology and the bows were getting sharper and sharper, or more "extreme". Her bow is like a knifepoint.
After she went out of service, the age of the clippers was over. There were still some sailing ships used to carry cargo, up until the Second World War, but they were four masted barques. They were nowhere as shapely and beautiful.
We expect the police to be investigating the site for a couple of days. Then our engineers will be able to go in and have a detailed look. They should be able to say pretty quickly whether the damage is major or minor.
If it is major, we may have to change our philosophy. Such a high proportion of the Cutty Sark is original to the ship that we have taken a stand that we make it absolutely clear what is new and what is original, and we get it to look as close as possible to what the ship was actually like.
When we needed to replace planks on the deck, we found some 19th century teak in a house in India that was being demolished. Luckily they were not in the ship yesterday. They are worth about £400,000.
Some of the planks along the side of the ship have been scorched. We simply cannot buy planks of teak that size anywhere. If they have to be replaced, we will have to use something else.
It is very strange that a fire should break out like this. No one had been working on site at least since Saturday morning, and not with anything hot.
At the Cutty Sark Trust, we are not even discussing the possibility that she cannot be repaired. Not any more. When I saw the first television pictures, I must say that my first thought was, "That's it for the Cutty Sark".
But now that we have seen her up close, it is serious, but it is not the end. The Cutty Sark has meant so much to so many people, that whatever it costs, and however long it takes, we will put her back together.
independent.co.uk
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