cutty sark ship

The Cutty Sark Trust is thrilled with the decision by Heritage Lottery Fund to increase their grant to Cutty Sark by £10 million. Richard Hamilton, Chairman of the Cutty Sark Trust, said:

"The Heritage Lottery Fund has been an incredible partner of the Cutty Sark Trust and we are deeply grateful for this extra support. The support from the public and our other partners has also been enormously encouraging.

"The Trust has secured £30 million against the projected cost of £35 million to realise this exciting and innovative project at the heart of the Maritime Greenwich World Heritage Site."

Visitors to the Trust’s web site, www.cuttysark.org.uk, can follow the project’s progress on the online diary.

Editors’ Notes

Progress update on the conservation project

At the time of the fire, the ship’s masts, gear, deckhouses and saloon, along with about half of the original main deck and 200 of her hull planks had been removed for conservation or storage. Of the planks that remained on the ship during the fire, only a relatively small number were badly fire damaged. But none was so badly damaged that it has not been possible to remove the charring so that it can be rehung on the ship. We also know now as the result of surveys that the ship’s frames have not been distorted significantly. There has been some distortion of the diagonal ties under the decks, but we are confident that these can be left if not too visually intrusive or straightened if necessary to lay the new decks.



Overall, less than 2% of the fabric from her working life as a sailing ship has been lost. We have been remarkably lucky – Cutty Sark is still here.

Now, for the first time since she was built, the ship’s iron frame is currently fully exposed. Of the 500 planks on the hull, 400 have been removed for conservation, leaving less than eight feet of planking runs at the bottom of the hull.

The fire has not affected the strength of the metalwork and therefore it has not compromised the overall plans for the re-presentation of the ship.

A third of the ship has now been cleaned with a wet abrasive process and this has exposed details such as foundry marks which have not been seen since 1869.

The whole of the bowsprit has been disassembled and removed for conservation. The rudder has been removed and the poop has been raised to expose the metal work underneath.

We still do not know what caused the fire. We are waiting for the police report to be issued. The ship is still technically a crime scene.

About the Cutty Sark Trust

The Cutty Sark Trust is an independent charity which owns and runs the sole surviving tea clipper, Cutty Sark. The ship is the iconic gateway to Maritime Greenwich, designated by UNESCO as a World Heritage Site. For over 50 years Cutty Sark has been the flagship of the area which now attracts over six million visitors each year. The Trust’s mission is to ensure that Cutty Sark is preserved for this and future generations to enjoy and that she continues to be a rich cultural resource for all.



The Cutty Sark Trust’s six priorities for the conservation programme are:

1. To ensure that no major conservation work will be required for the next 50 years

2. To ensure that the ship continues to be sustainable, building reserves for future maintenance

3. To broaden access to the ship

4. To maximise learning opportunities

5. To reinterpret the ship for the 21st century

6. To develop a skilled workforce

Prior to the grant uplift, HLF had awarded five grants totalling £13.45million to the Cutty Sark Trust including a £11.75million grant in September 2006 towards the current conservation project.

Further information:

For the Cutty Sark Trust, please contact the

Kathryn Hughes on 07801 823 839/0203 249 1072 or email: Kathryn@kayakpr.co.uk
office on: 020 8858 2698

Cutty Sark Factsheet

Cutty Sark’s name derives from the famous poem, "Tam O’ Shanter" by Robert Burns about a man’s admiration for a scantily-clad witch called Nannie. Nannie was dressed in a short night dress known as a 'cutty sark', an archaic Scottish name for this garment.

The ship was launched on 22 November 1869 from Scott and Linton's shipyard at Dumbarton, on the Clyde. She was built at a cost of £16,150 for John "White Hat" (so named after his favourite headwear) Willis. John (or Jock) Willis wanted a ship that could challenge the best clippers on the China tea run.

She weighs 963 tons and her main mast is 47 m high. Her length overall is 85.4 m (280ft). She has 11 miles of rigging and carried 34 sails, with a total area of 32,000 sq. ft. (2,976 sq. m) giving her a top speed of over 17 knots.

Scott & Linton, founded in 1868, had never built a ship of this size before and were keen to accommodate their client's every demand. However, they went bankrupt before the job was complete, citing poor cash flow and pressure from their landlords, Dennys of Dumbarton, who finished the job.

She was built for the China tea trade, but the opening of the Suez Canal and the introduction of quick and economic steam travel, meant that she carried her last cargo of tea in 1877. Her fastest voyage to London carrying tea was 107 days in 1871.



The ship's heyday was in the Australian wool trade, from 1883 to 1895. Under the command of Captain Richard Woodget she was the fastest ship on the run, her best time being 72 days from Sydney to London in 1885 via Cape Horn.

In 1895, as Cutty Sark was no longer making as much money as she once did, John Willis sold the ship to the Ferreira shipping company of Portugal. Renamed the Ferreira, she spent the next 27 years (including surviving the First World War) taking different cargoes to destinations in Africa, the Americas and Europe, visiting every major port in the world. However, she was dismasted in a storm in 1916, and had to be re-rigged as a barquentine.

In 1922 she was bought and restored by Captain and Mrs Dowman and became the first historic vessel since Sir Francis Drake’s Golden Hinde to be open to the public. She was moored in Falmouth, Cornwall and maintained at the personal expense of the Dowmans, who also used her as a cadet training establishment.

In 1938, after Captain Dowman’s death, Cutty Sark was transferred to the Thames Nautical Training College at Greenhithe and was used as an auxiliary training ship to HMS Worcester.

After being displayed for the 1951 Festival of Britain, Cutty Sark was brought to Greenwich by the Cutty Sark Preservation Society. A special dry-dock was constructed for her, and the ship was floated in, in December 1954.

Over two and a half years were spent on the ship’s restoration, and in 1957 the ship was opened to the public (in a live BBC broadcast) by HM The Queen. Since that time, Cutty Sark has been visited by over 16 million people from all over the world.