Built on the River Clyde in Glasgow, Scotland, the British merchant ship Cutty Sark was first launched on the 22nd November 1869. On her maiden voyage this tea clipper travelled from London to Shanghai carrying large amounts of wine, spirits and beer to China. She came back loaded with something even more precious to the British: six hundred tonnes of tea.
VERY FAST
The Cutty Sark was one of the last tea clippers to be built, and one of the fastest. After a few years on the tea trade she carried wool from Australia, where she held the record sailing time to Britain, of seventy days or less, for a decade. Then improvements in steam technology meant that steamships came to dominate the long trip to Australia, and the Cutty Sark was sold to a Portuguese company.
A LIFETIME
She was only built to last thirty years, but the Cutty Sark proved unstoppable. She continued as a cargo ship until purchased in 1922 by retired Captain Wilfred Dowman, who used her as a training ship in Cornwall. She continued training cadets until 1954, when, at the age of eighty-five, she was finally retired. She was transferred to permanent dry dock in Greenwich, London for public display.
FIRE SHOCK
The Cutty Sark had travelled across oceans, but it was on dry land in 21st-century England that she was put most in danger. In 2007, a fire broke out when an industrial vacuum cleaner was accidentally left on during restoration work. More than forty firefighters fought the blaze, but the Cutty Sark was severely damaged. After a five-year £50 million restoration project, this historic vessel was finally reopened to the public in all her former glory.
THE NAME
Curiously, ‘cutty sark’ is an archaic Scottish name for a short nightdress. It comes from a famous poem called Tam O’Shanter by the poet Robert Burns. It is about a farmer called Tam who, riding home from the pub on his horse Meg, sees a group of witches dancing. One witch in particular, Nannie, is very beautiful and wears only a short nightdress. Tam is bewitched by her and shouts out, ‘Well done, cutty sark!’ in appreciation of her dancing. Unfortunately, the witches then begin to chase him. Nannie almost catches up, grabbing Meg by the tail. Happily, the tail falls off and Tam and Meg escape. During her service for a Portuguese company, her name was changed to Ferreira, but the crew often referred to her as ‘pequina camisola’, which has the same meaning as ‘cutty sark’.
