Britain’s Legendary Tea Clipper
Britain has a long and proud history as a great shipbuilding and seafaring nation. One of its most famous surviving ships is the tea clipper Cutty Sark. This traditionally constructed commercial sailing vessel was built in Scotland in 1869, using a composite method of a wrought-iron frame lined with teak planks.
Designed for speed, the Cutty Sark was created to race tea from China to England, one of the most competitive and profitable trade routes of the era. At the time of her launch, she was among the fastest ships in the world.
Unfortunately for traditional sailing ships, the Suez Canal opened in the same year, providing steamships with a shorter and more reliable route that left wind-powered clippers at a disadvantage.
A New Role: The Wool Trade
With the tea trade increasingly dominated by steamers, the Cutty Sark found a new purpose transporting wool from Australia. In this role she excelled, breaking numerous sailing records and earning a reputation as one of the swiftest vessels afloat.
However, steamships eventually overtook this market too. In 1895, the ship was sold to a Portuguese company and renamed Ferreira. She spent the following decades, through the First World War, carrying cargoes such as coal around the world.
Return to Britain
By 1922, she was the last surviving operational clipper ship in the world. Her working career was nearly over, and she was purchased and brought back to England to serve as a cadet training ship. She settled in Falmouth Harbour, Cornwall, and reverted to her original name, Cutty Sark.
She remained in Falmouth until 1938, when she sailed for the final time after being bought by the Incorporated Thames Nautical Training College. Fittingly, she was crewed by cadets for this last voyage, helmed by a 15-year-old boy.
Training Ship to National Treasure
For several years, the Cutty Sark operated as a training vessel on the Thames alongside HMS Worcester. By 1950, she was deemed redundant and underwent a refit, after which she took part in the Festival of Britain.
During this time she collided with a tanker, damaging her figurehead and causing the loss of one of its arms. Fortunately, the missing arm was later recovered and successfully reattached.
A New Home in Greenwich
In 1954, the clipper was moved to a dry dock in Greenwich, where she has remained on public display ever since. Preserved as a museum ship, she has undergone extensive restoration over the years.
A major setback occurred in 2007, when a serious fire broke out during conservation work. Fortunately, much of the original timber had been removed for restoration, meaning the damage was far less severe than feared.
Restored for the World
After a £50 million renovation, the Cutty Sark was officially reopened by Queen Elizabeth II on 25 April 2012, exactly fifty years after she first opened to the public.
Today, she attracts visitors from across the globe and is one of the most iconic sights along the route of the world-famous London Marathon.
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