sailing ship | Wine and History Visited

Day 4, Wednesday, June 27, 2018

Our original plan was to go back to the City Cruises river cruise and take one more trip over to Greenwich on the River Thames. We got there at 9:20, but the boat didn’t depart until 10 am and we decided that we didn’t want to wait that long, so we took the Tube and the train to Greenwich instead.

Artsy escalator shot

Once we got to Greenwich, we went to the Cutty Sark Museum. The Cutty Sark is a sailing ship that was built in 1869 for the tea trade; it was once the fastest sailing ship in the world. Her maximum logged speed was 17.5 knots, or 20.1 miles per hour. That was fast back in the day! However, she was built right as technology was converting over to steam ships, which could travel a lot faster than sailing ships. There was fierce competition in the tea trade, and the Cutty Sark could not compete with steam ships, so she began carrying wool from Australia back to the UK, as well as other products.

The Cutty Sark

The Cutty Sark got her name from the clothing worn by the witch Nannie Dee in Tam o’ Shanter, a 1791 poem by Robert Burns. A cutty sark is a Scottish term for a short nightgown. The Cutty Sark’s figurehead is a carving of Nannie Dee holding onto a grey horse’s tail. In the poem, the witches are chasing Tam, who is fleeing on his horse Maggie. The common wisdom of the time said that witches couldn’t cross running water, so he fled over the river, but not before Nannie managed to grab Maggie’s tail, which came away in her hand.

You can see a whole collection of contemporary carved figureheads there; they really are beautiful pieces of art! The figurehead in the photo below is the original from the ship, but her head and arm were lost in a storm in the late 19th century – she was repaired in 1970. The figurehead that is currently on the bow of the Cutty Sark is a replica.

Figureheads – the Cutty Sark’s is in the top center

The Cutty Sark plied the waters as a merchant ship until 1922, when she was sold and then used for several years as a training ship. In 1954 she went on public display. She is one of only three composite construction clipper ships left in the world – meaning she was built with a wooden hull on an iron frame. One of the other three is in Chile, and is only a beached skeleton now though. The Cutty Sark is a pretty special ship. And yes, in case you were wondering, Cutty Sark Whisky is named after this beautiful ship.

The mast of the Cutty Sark

Taryn and Me with the bow

Sadly, some of her original timbers have been destroyed in two fires; one in 2007 while she was being restored and another smaller fire in 2014. About 50% of her planking had been removed for conservation when the 2007 fire broke out, or it would have been worse, but the fire still did significant damage to the center section of the ship. The 2007 fire wasn’t thought to be arson, but it is an interesting story of several unfortunate circumstances and various people dropping the ball, as is often the case.

It was a self guided tour, so we wandered around and checked things out – there were guides at various places to answer questions. It was fun to check out such a beautiful old ship!