Cutty Sark: Difference between revisions

| Ship country = [[United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland|United Kingdom]]

| Ship builder = {{ubl|[[Scott & Linton]]|[[William Denny and Brothers]]}} <!-- Just the builder. The location goes in the main text. -->

| Ship motto = "WhereWhen there's a Will[ ]isWillis a[ ]way"

| Ship country = [[Portugal]]

| Ship homeport = [[Lisbon]], [[Portugal]]

| Ship homeport = [[Lisbon]], [[Portugal]]

After the [[SS Agamemnon (1865)|big improvement]] in the [[fuel efficiency]] of steamships in 1866, the opening of the [[Suez Canal]] in 1869 gave them a shorter route to [[China]], so ''Cutty Sark'' spent only a few years on the tea trade before turning to the trade in [[wool]] from [[Australia]], where she held the record time to Britain for ten years.<ref>{{cite web|title=1883–95 The Australian Wool Years|url=http://www.rmg.co.uk/discover/explore/1883-95-australian-wool-years|date=9 October 2015}}</ref> [[SS Aberdeen (1881)|Continuing improvements]] in steam technology early in the 1880s meant that gradually steamships also came to dominate the longer sailing route to Australia, and the ship was sold to the [[Portugal|Portuguese]] company Ferreira and Co. in 1895 and renamed ''Ferreira''. She continued as a cargo ship until purchased in 1922 by retired sea captain Wilfred Dowman, who used her as a training ship operating from [[Falmouth, Cornwall|Falmouth]], [[Cornwall]]. After his death, ''Cutty Sark'' was transferred to the [[Thames Nautical Training College]], Greenhithe, in 1938 where she became an auxiliary cadet training ship alongside [[HMS Frederick William (1860)|HMS ''Worcester'']]. By 1954, she had ceased to be useful as a cadet ship and was transferred to permanent dry dock at [[Greenwich]], [[London]], for public display.

''Cutty Sark'' is listed by [[National Historic Ships]] as part of the [[National Historic Fleet]] (the nautical equivalent of a [[Grade 1 Listed Building]]). She is one of only three remaining originalintact [[Composite ship|composite construction]] (wooden hull on an iron frame) clipper ships from the nineteenth century in part or whole, the others being the clipper {{ship||City of Adelaide|1864|2}}, which arrivednow in [[Port Adelaide]], [[South Australia]] onand 3the Februarywarship 2014{{ship|HMS|Gannet|1878|6}} forin preservation[[Chatham, andKent|Chatham]]. theThe beached skeleton of ''[[Ambassador (clipper)|Ambassador]]'', of 1869 lying near [[Punta Arenas]], Chile is the only other significant remnant of this construction method.

''Cutty Sark'' was ordered by ship-owner John Willis, who operated a shipping company founded by his father. The company had several ships in the tea trade from China to Britain. Speed was an advantage to vessels carrying a high-value, seasonal product, such as tea. Faster ships could obtain higher rates of freight (the price paid to transport the cargo), and tea merchants would use the names of fast-sailing ships that had carried their products in their advertising.{{r|MacGregor 1983|p=13}} ''Cutty Sark'' was ordered during a boom in building tea clippers in the period 1865–69—something1865–1869—something that was attributed to a substantial reduction in the import duties for tea.<ref name="Shewan">{{cite book |last=Shewan|first=Andrew |date= 1996|title=The Great Days of Sail, Reminiscences of a Tea-clipper Captain |location=London |publisher=Conway Maritime Press Limited |orig-year= reprint of 1927 edned.|isbn=085177699X}}</ref>{{rp|introduction}} In 1868 the brand-new [[Aberdeen]]-built clipper, ''[[Thermopylae (clipper)|Thermopylae]]'', set a record time of 61 days port to port on her maiden voyage from London to [[Melbourne]] and it was this design that Willis set out to better.<ref>{{cite book |editor-last=Dear |editor-first=I. C. B |editor-last2=Kemp |editor-first2=Peter |editor-link=I. C. B. Dear |title=Oxford Companion to Ships and the Sea |publisher=Oxford University Press |date=2005 |edition=2nd |isbn=978-0198606161}}</ref>

Willis considered that ''The Tweed''{{'}}s [[bow (ship)|bow]] shape was responsible for its notable performance, and this form seems to have been adopted for ''Cutty Sark''. Linton, however, felt that the [[stern]] was too [[barrel]] shaped and so gave ''Cutty Sark'' a squarer stern with less [[tumblehome]]. The broader stern increased the buoyancy of the ship's stern, making it lift more in heavy seas so it was less likely that waves would break over the stern, and over the helmsman at the wheel.<ref name="Lubbock 1945">{{cite book |last=Lubbock |first=Basil |title=The Log of the Cutty Sark |date=1945 |publisher=Brown, Son and Ferguson, Ltd |edition=Secondsecond |location=Glasgow |author-link=Basil Lubbock}}</ref>{{rp|20–24}}<ref>Villiers pp. 17–19</ref> ''Cutty Sark'' was given masts that followed the design of ''The Tweed'', with similar good rake and the foremast on both placed further aft than usual.<ref name="Lubbock">{{cite book |last=Lubbock |first=Basil |orig-year=1914 |year=1981 |title=The China Clippers |location=Glasgow |publisher=Brown, Son and Ferguson Ltd |isbn=0851741096 }}</ref>{{rp|page=291}}

Work on the ship was suspended when Scott and Linton ran out of money to continue. Rather than simply liquidate the company, an arrangement was made for Denny's to take over the contract and complete the ship, which was finally launched on 22 November 1869 by Captain Moodie's wife. The ship was moved to Denny's yard to have her masts fitted, and then on 20 December towed downriver to [[Greenock]] to have her running rigging installed. In the event, completing the ship meant the company's creditors were owed even more money than when work had first been halted.<ref name=Ships>{{cite book |last1=Mitchell |first1=W. H. |last2=Sawyer |first2=L. A. |date=1995 |title=The Empire Ships |page=49 |publisher=Lloyd's of London Press Ltd |location=London |isbn=1850442754}}</ref>

[[File:Cutty sark detail.jpg|right|upright|thumb|Fine lines{{efn|"Fineness" or "fine lines" is explained in the article on clippers at [[Clipper#finenessFineness|Fine lines]]}} of the [[Bow (ship)|bow]]]]

''Cutty Sark'' has a registered length of {{convert|212.5|ft|2}}, with a depth of hold of {{convert|21|ft|2}} and a net tonnage of 921. The hull is one of the sharpest of all the tea clippers: she has a coefficient of under deck tonnage{{efn|The coefficient of under deck tonnage is a method of estimating the "sharpness" of a hull design when all the necessary dimensions of the ships being compared are not available. Sharpness is the amount by which a hull differs from a rectangular block of the same length, breadth and depth: the more material that has to be cut away from that notional block, the sharper the hull. For the coefficient of under deck tonnage, the [[block coefficient]] and the [[prismatic coefficient]], the lower the number, the sharper the hull.}} of 0.55, compared to ''Thermopylae'' at 0.58.{{r|MacGregor 1983|pp=195–99195–199, 247}} ''Cutty Sark''{{'}}s [[prismatic coefficient]], another measure of hull sharpness, is 0.628; this allows comparison with US built clippers studied by [[Howard I. Chapelle]].{{efn|The prismatic coefficient for clippers studied by Chapelle can be seen in his book ''The Search for Speed Under Sail''. The prismatic coefficient for some of the more famous US-built ships are:<br/>
*''Challenge'' (1851): 0.60, the most extreme clipper by builder [[William H. Webb]]<br/>
*''[[Witch of the Wave]]'' (1851): 0.66, an ordinary clipper but with speed records from China to London<br/>
*[[Lightning (clipper)|''Lightning'' (1854)]]: 0.61, Anan extreme clipper built by [[Donald McKay]]—an example of the larger-sized US-built clippers.<ref name="Chapelle 1967">{{cite book |last=Chapelle |first=Howard I. |author-link=Howard I. Chapelle |title=The Search for Speed Under Sail, 1700–1855 |date=1967 |publisher=Bonanza Books}}</ref><br/>
It is probable that few, if any, merchant sailing vessels had a prismatic coefficient of less than 0.57.{{r|Chapelle 1967|p=45}}}}{{efn|An alternative prismatic coefficient calculation for ''Cutty Sark'' is given as 0.627 based on a survey of the ship afloat in 1937.{{r|Scott 1941|p=185}}}} After water-line length, the prismatic coefficient is the next most important determinant of potential hull speed.<ref name="Cannon 2021">{{cite journalbook |last1=Cannon |first1=Sophie |last2=Boyd |first2=Stephen |last3=Whitewright |first3=Julian |titlechapter=Development of a Quantitative Method for the Assessment of Historic Ship Performance |journaltitle=Practical Design of Ships and Other Floating Structures |series=Lecture Notes in Civil Engineering |date=2021 |volume=63 |pages=269–89 |doi=10.1007/978-981-15-4624-2_16|isbn=978-981-15-4623-5 |s2cid=225128699 }}</ref> Unladen, or with a cargo of low density, ballast was required for stability. For example, when she was loaded with wool, 200 tons of ballast was carried. The largest wool cargo she ever carried was 900 tons' weight (the total of ballast and cargo of 1,100 tons is consistent with the estimated deadweight cargo capacity of 1,135 tons at 20-foot draught). The largest tea cargo carried was 615 tons' weight. Conversely, a dense cargo allowed full use of the deadweight capacity: if loaded with coal, she would usually carry 1,100 tons.{{r|Scott 1941|p=187}}

The diagonally-braced iron frame made for a strong, rigid ship;<ref name=hull/> diagonal members prevent racking ([[Shear stress|shearing]], where frame rectangles become [[parallelograms]]).<ref>{{cite report |last1=Tuomi |first1=Roger L. |last2=Gromala |first2=David S. |title=Racking Strength of Walls: Let-in Corner Bracing, Sheet Materials, and Effect of Loading Rate |series=USDA Forest Service Research Paper |date=1977 |number=FPL 301 |url=https://www.fpl.fs.fed.us/documnts/fplrp/fplrp301.pdf }}{{Dead link|date=March 2023 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}</ref> Less [[:Wiktionary:work#Verb|working]] and leaking of the hull meant less crew time spent pumping, allowing more time to be spent on changes of sail.{{citation needed|date=January 2020}} The wrought-iron-framed hull also took up less cargo space than an all-wood hull would have done.<ref name=hull>{{cite web |title=Touch Cutty Sark's copper hull |url=https://www.rmg.co.uk/cutty-sark/must-see/touch-cutty-sarks-copper-hull |website=Royal Museums Greenwich: UNESCO World Heritage Site In London |language=en |date=21 September 2015}}</ref> The Muntz metal sheeting reduced [[fouling]] of ''Cutty Sark''{{'}}s hull;<ref name=guide/> with a cleaner hull, she could sail faster.<ref>[https://darchive.mblwhoilibrary.org/handle/1912/191 "Marine fouling and its prevention"; prepared for]. Bureau of Ships, Navy DeptDepartment, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, United States, Navy Dept. Bureau of Ship, 1952. [https://darchive.mblwhoilibrary.org/handle/1912/191 (pdf)]</ref>

''Cutty Sark'' was destined for the [[tea]] trade, a seasonal trade of a high value cargo from [[China]] to [[London]]. Though the "premium" or bonus paid to the ship that arrived with the first tea of the year was abandoned after the [[Great Tea Race of 1866]], faster ships could usually obtain a higher price for transporting their cargoes than others.<ref name="MacGregor 1983">{{cite book |last=MacGregor |first=David R. |date=1983 |title=The Tea Clippers, Their History and Development 1833–1875 |publisher=Conway Maritime Press |isbn=978-0870218842}}</ref> Her first roundtrip voyage under captain George Moodie began 16 February 1870 from London with a cargo of wine, spirits and beer bound for [[Shanghai]]. The return journey, carrying {{Convert|1305812|lb}} of tea from Shanghai, began 25 June, arriving 13 October in London via the [[Cape of Good Hope]].

''Cutty Sark''{{'}}s [[Race Cutty Sark and Thermopylae|well-known race against]] ''[[Thermopylae (clipper)|Thermopylae]]'' took place in 1872, the two ships leaving [[Shanghai]] together on 18 June. Both ships were of similar size: length, beam and depths were within {{convert|1|ft|spell=in|1}} of each other. The ''Thermopylae'' had a slightly larger capacity: 991 compared to 963 (GRT) or 948 compared to 921 (net).{{sfn|Carr|1964|p=5}} Two weeks later ''Cutty Sark'' had built up a lead of some {{convert|400|nmi|mi km}}, but then lost her rudder<ref>{{cite web|url=http://collections.rmg.co.uk/collections/objects/15131.html|title=The tea clipper Thermopylae|publisher=[[National Maritime Museum]]}}</ref> in a heavy gale after passing through the [[Sunda Strait]]. John Willis's brother was on board the ship and ordered Moodie to put into [[Cape Town]] for repairs. Moodie refused, and instead the ship's carpenter Henry Henderson constructed a new rudder from spare timbers and iron. This took six days, working in gales and heavy seas which meant the men were tossed about as they worked and the brazier used to heat the metal for working was spilled out, burning the captain's son. The ship finally arrived in London on 18 October a week after ''Thermopylae'', a total passage of 122 days. The captain and crew were commended for their performance and Henderson received a £50 bonus for his work. This was the closest ''Cutty Sark'' came to being first ship home but it was Moodie's last trip as her captain before he transferred to steamships. He was replaced by Captain F. W. Moore.{{citation needed|date=May 2024}}

Eventually steamships began to dominate the wool trade too and it ceased to be profitable for a sailing ship. In 1895 Jock Willis sold ''Cutty Sark'' to the [[Portugal|Portuguese]] firm Joaquim Antunes Ferreira for £1,250.<ref name="Platt13">{{cite journal|last1=Platt|first1=Alan|last2=Waite|first2=Simon T.|last3=Sexton|first3=Robert T.|title=The Cutty Sark's Second Keel and History as the Ferreira|journal=The Mariner's Mirror|volume=95|issue=1|page=13|publisher=The Society for Nautical Research|location=Portsmouth, UK|date=February 2009|doi=10.1080/00253359.2009.10657081|s2cid=163769315}}</ref> She was renamed ''Ferreira'' after the firm.<ref name="Platt13"/> Her crews referred to her as ''Pequena Camisola'' (''little shirt'', a straight translation of the Scots ''cutty sark'').<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.bymnews.com/new/content/view/8591/80|website=BYM News & Magazine|title=Cutty Sark|date=24 January 2005|access-date=21 May 2007}}</ref>

''Cutty Sark'' was preserved as a [[museum ship]], and has since become a popular [[tourist]] attraction, and part of the [[National Historic Fleet]]. She is located near the centre of [[Greenwich]], in south-east [[London]], close aboardto the [[National Maritime Museum]], the former [[Greenwich Hospital (London)|Greenwich Hospital]], and [[Greenwich Park]]. She is also a prominent landmark on the route of the [[London Marathon]] and marks the finish of [[The Big Half]]. She usually flies [[signal flag]]s from her [[Ensign (flag)|ensign]] [[halyard]] reading "JKWS", which is the code representing ''Cutty Sark'' in the [[International Code of Signals]], introduced in 1857.

The ship is in the care of the Cutty Sark Trust, whose president, the then [[Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh|Duke of Edinburgh]], was instrumental in ensuring her preservation, when he set up the Cutty Sark Society in 1951. The Trust replaced the Society in 2000.<ref name="Radio4-2007-05-22"/> She is a [[Grade I listed building|Grade I listed monument]] and was on the [[Heritage at Risk Register|Buildings At Risk Register]] following the 2007 fire. The gallery beneath the ship holds the world's largest collection of ships' figureheads, donated to the Society by [[Sydney Cumbers]] in 1953.<ref name=figure>{{cite web |title=Figureheads |url=http://www.rmg.co.uk/cuttysark/history-and-collections/collections/figureheads |website=[[Royal Museums Greenwich]] |access-date=20 May 2012 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120704082353/http://www.rmg.co.uk/cuttysark/history-and-collections/collections/figureheads |archive-date=4 July 2012 |df=dmy }}</ref>

* [httphttps://www.rmg.co.uk/cutty-sark Official site]

* [https://www.snf.org/texts/uploads/files/Cutty%20Sark%20Trust_1.pdf Views of the restoration, including frame] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220412004642/https://www.snf.org/texts/uploads/files/Cutty%20Sark%20Trust_1.pdf |date=12 April 2022 }}