Much of my Monday was spent anticipating the loss of an old friend. I live in sight of the Cutty Sark at Greenwich. Like many London schoolkids, I was taken there to get an appreciation of the country's maritime history. One of the joys of moving to my present apartment was the view downriver to see her and the surrounding buildings. I knew the Christmas season had arrived when I saw the tree and its lights lashed to the top of her highest mast.
It was not only to be a loss for me, she was part of a World Heritage site. She was the only surviving tea clipper from the 19th century and was the never quite the fastest but was one of the most beautiful, elegant and functional. A true queen of the seas even if she had become a bit sorry in her dry dock in recent years. The disaster was even more profound when the police announced that the fire was suspicious. Had vandalism destroyed what wars and nigh on 150 years of changing economics and wars could not? Would the course for the 2012 Olympic Marathon lose one of its landmarks?
Slowly though, later in the day, better news started to emerge. Hope is starting to rise that she may emerge not quite the same but better than could be anticipated even on Sunday.
She was born (yes that is the right word) in Dumbarton, Scotland where she entered the River Levern in the afternoon of 22 November 1869. Her father was John "Jock" Willis, known in the port of London as "White Hat Willis" after the white top hat he always wore. He conceived her to win the annual tea race to bring the new season's crop from China. She bankrupted the firm that designed and constructed her and had to be fitted out by a second.
The Cutty Sark's first voyage began on 16 February 1870 when she left London for Shanghai by way of the tip of South Africa. She arrived there laden with "manufactured goods" on 2 June. On 25 June she set off with 1450 tons of tea, arriving back in London on 13 October. Her last tea trip was seven years later. In 1878 her captain was unable to find a cargo in Shanghai as the new steam ships operating through the Suez Canal had taken over the work from sail. He died there in October. From there she started on a mixed career of different cargoes. Her history includes a homicide:
In 1880, the ship's First Mate, Sidney Smith, by all accounts a bully and disliked by the crew, killed (with considerable provocation) seaman John Francis. Smith was confined to quarters, but at Anjer Captain Wallace connived at his escape. The crew, incensed, downed tools and refused to work resulting in most of the sailing being done by the six apprentices and four tradesmen. On 5th September the ship was becalmed in the Java Sea for three days. With the guilt, calm, steaming heat and realisation that his career was finished, Wallace jumped overboard. Although a rescue attempt was mounted, the only sign of Wallace was the number of sharks swimming furiously about?
To make matters worse, on arrival at Anjer, William Bruce was transferred from the Hallowe'en and appointed Master of the Cutty Sark.
Bruce was apparently an incompetent drunk who was dismissed to be replaced along with his crew by the Captain and First Mate from the Blackadder.
The rest of her story can be found of the web site of her preservation group.
There you will also find the reason for the hope. She had been undergoing major restortion and nearly half the original structure had been removed to other sites like Chatham for this work. This includes a lot of the timberwork interior apart from the deck timbers themselves and the hull. Much of the timberwork in the centre of the ship has been lost or badly charred. On the other hand, initial surveys indicate that the cast iron ribs that are essential for her lines have survived. The loss of the original wood is a great blow for the historical record but on the other hand the state of the hull timbers meant that the planned works would still not take her out of dry dock. The disaster has rekindled interest in her and the difficulties that the Trust that owns her has in getting funds to do the original restoration may be circumvented. The now much fuller restoration needed could even see her becoming seaworthy once again.