![]() The life of a sailor on fast sailing ships was no picnic at the best of times, but the incredible events of her next voyage, 1890-91, occupy an entire chapter in "The Log of the Cutty Sark" (Basil Lubbock, 1924) and formed the base of Joseph Conrad's "The Secret Sharer". In 1890, she was taken out of the tea races and cut down to save money for general cargo carrying. Her legendary reputation is supported by the fact that her captain chose to continue this race with an improvised rudder instead of putting into port for a replacement, yet was beaten by only one week. In the most famous race, against Thermopylae in 1872, both ships left Shanghai together on June 18, but two weeks later Cutty Sark lost her rudder after passing through the Sunda Strait, and arrived in London on October 18, a week after Thermopylae, a total passage of 122 days. The Cutty Sark was launched on November 22, 1869, and after Scott & Linton was liquidated she was completed by William Denny & Brothers for John Willis & Son.Ĭutty Sark was destined for the tea trade, then an intensely competitive race across the globe from China to London, with a substantial bonus to the ship to arrive with the first tea of the year. Ez a hajó egyben emléket állít társainak. Akkoriban nyílt meg ugyanis a Szuezi-csatorna, mely óriási előnyt biztosított a gőzösöknek, hiszen a sokkal rövidebb utat rövidebb idő alatt járhatták meg, míg a vitorlásoknak továbbra is meg kellett kerülniük a Jóreménység-fokát.Ī Cutty Sark azon kevés túlélő vitorlás hajók egyike, melyek Angliából világszerte szállítottak árut. Mire a Cutty Sark megjelent a tengeren, a teakereskedelmet addig bonyolító kínai vitorlás hajók napjai meg voltak számlálva, bár még nem sejtették balsorsukat. Ez a terv olyan adatok alapján készült, ami majd 3 km2 vitorlafelülettel, 17 csomó feletti maximális sebességgel, valamint egy 3000 lóerős motorral kalkulált.ġ870 februárjában a hajó már a tervezett útvonalon közlekedett. John Rennie grafikus készítette el számára a hajózási útvonalat, figyelembe véve a hajó hihetetlen képességeit. Ez a hajó óriási hírnevet szerzett az egész világon, belopva magát a brit matrózok szívébe, akárcsak Nelson admirális halhatatlan Victory nevű hajója november 22-én bocsátottak vízre a Clyde-on, a Scott és Linton hajókikötőnél Dumbartonnál egy 963 tonnás csodálatos vitorlás hajót, a Cutty Sark-ot. The erotic sight of her dancing in such a short undergarment caused Tam to cry out "Weel done, Cutty-sark", which subsequently became a well known catchphrase.ġ869. In the poem she wore a linen sark that she had been given as a child, which explains why it was cutty, or in other words far too short, for her. She is also represented as Nannie Dee by the ship's figurehead, a stark white carving of a bare-breasted woman with long black hair holding a gray horse's tail in her hand. She was named after Cutty Sark (Scots: a short chemise or undergarment), the nickname of the fictional character Nannie Dee in Robert Burns' 1791 poem Tam o' Shanter. ![]() Her length was 212 feet 5 inches (64.74 m) with a draft of 21 feet (6.40 m) and a deadweight of 921 tons. The original keel was also rock elm and 17 inches (43 cm) thick, but was replaced in the 1920s with one constructed from 15 inches (38 cm) pitch pine. Her planking, deadwoods, stem and sternpost were of American rock elm, secured by brass bolts to an internal iron frame. The Cutty Sark was designed by Hercules Linton and built in 1869 at Dumbarton, Scotland, by the firm of Scott & Linton, for Captain John "Jock" "White Hat" Willis expressly to outsail the clipper Thermopylae. The Cutty Sark is one of only three remaining original clipper ships from the nineteenth century in part or whole, the others being the City of Adelaide, awaiting transportation to Australia for preservation, and the beached skeleton of Ambassador of 1869 near Punta Arenas, Chile. She is preserved in dry dock in Greenwich, London.Ĭutty Sark is one of only three ships in London on the Core Collection of the National Historic Ships Register (the nautical equivalent of a Grade 1 Listed Building) - alongside HMS Belfast and SS Robin.īadly damaged by fire on while undergoing conservation, the vessel is being restored and is expected to reopen in 2011. Built in 1869, she served as a merchant vessel (the last clipper to be built for that purpose), and then as a training ship until being put on public display in 1954.
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