Cutty Sark
The Cutty Sark Trust
2 Greenwich Church Street
Greenwich, London
SE10 9BG
Tel: 020 8858 2698
About Cutty Sark
Cutty Sark is the world-famous Victorian ship at dock in Greenwich, damaged by fire in May 2007. A world famous family attraction, Cutty Sark is the gateway to the Greenwich World Heritage Site. It’s one of only three surviving period ships with a composite wrought iron frame and wooden teak and elm planking, and the only tea clipper in existence. Most of her 280-foot (85 metre) hull survives (2% was lost in the fire), and the family attraction is the best example of a merchant composite construction vessel anywhere.
While the Cutty Sark is closed till September 2008, a temporary exhibition allows ticket holders to learn about its conservation, part-take in tea tastings, see the ship's figurehead 'Nannie' and watch the conservation via webcams.
Cutty Sark has provided a family day out for over 15 million visitors and, on re-opening, the revamped family attraction will tell the 963 ton vessel’s story from design by Hercules Linton and construction in Dumbarton in 1869, to recent refit.
Designed to sail for 30 years, Cutty Sark retains 90% of its original hull, indicating its impressive construction. Its captain hoped to win the annual race to bring Chinese tea back to Blighty, but the loss of the ship’s rudder scuppered the 1872 attempt. Seven more China voyages followed to 1878, but steamships were in the ascendant and Cutty Sark then carried coal, jute, castor oil, and Australian mail.
In 1880, the ship’s First Mate, Sidney Smith, killed seaman John Francis, and a mutiny led to Captain Wallace jumping overboard. Captain Moore joined from Blackadder and Cutty Sark shipped wool and tallow. In 1889, she outran P&O’s steam ship Britannia and, in 1895, a Portuguese firm bought and renamed her Ferreira. In 1916, she was demasted off the Cape of Good Hope, sold, re-rigged in Cape Town and renamed Maria Do Amparo. In 1922, she was bought by Captain Wilfred Dowman, who restored her as a training ship. Saved for the nation, Cutty Sark was the first ship since the Golden Hind to be opened to the public.
When Dowman died in 1936, however, she was sold, left Falmouth in 1938 and served as a wartime trainer, mooring on the Thames for the 1951 Festival of Britain. Bought by in 1953, she was placed at Greenwich a year later and officially opened by the Queen in 1957.
A ticket to the regenerated ship grants visitors access to the cramped Tween Deck accommodation for 28 crew and teak-lined Master 's Saloon, the main deck’s 152-foot mast and 11 miles of rigging, and the Hold’s world-record collection of 60 figurines, including Florence Nightingale, Elizabeth Fry, William Wilberforce, Benjamin Disraeli and Sir Lancelot.
Indeed, Cutty Sark’s interiors, particularly the Master's saloon and cabins, have been used in screen productions like Our Mutual Friend, The Four Feathers and The Search For The North West Passage. Other highlights of a family day out are the 22-foot Jolly Boat, Captain’s Gig and No.1 Lifeboat, newspaper cuttings, period memorabilia such as a teapot and paintings, and original fittings and furnishings like the ship’s bell, a tea caddy, a gravy boat from the Captain’s table, a sextant, telescope, dividers, slide rule, and chronometer, plus tea trolleys, bottles and scales. It all adds up to a fascinating voyage around an outstanding family attraction, making for a fun and educational family day out - just the ticket!