Cutty Sark

The Cutty Sark is a classic British clipper ship, and the only one of its kind in the world today. Built way back in 1869 on the River Leven in Scotland, she (yes, a ship is always female) was among the last tea clippers to be built. She is also believed to be one of the fastest, with years of design development coming to fruition in her construction. Cutty Sark marks the end of an era as sailing ships made way for steam propulsion.

Location: The Cutty Sark is permanently moored at the dry dock in Greenwich, London.

Timings: You can visit Cutty Sark between 10:00 am and 5:00 pm every day.

Highlights:

It must have been a pretty exciting time back then, right? The race for tea and the lives of the people who lived and worked on the ship in their quest to make the most profit. Here is what you can look forward to on your visit to the world’s only undamaged tea clipper:

1. A free audio guide: Pop on the audio guide and get all the grisly details of Cutty Sark’s past. Murder, mutiny and everything in between. 
2. Walk the main deck: Take a stroll along the main deck and marvel at the complicated rigging that sailors would climb on in their search for land. Imagine you are one of the clipper’s famous captains and take over wheel. Steer through imaginary seas and look out over the hull of the ship as waves crash over the deck.
3. Cutty Sark had her own figurehead, Nannie: Discover the story of Nannie and learn how she became the famous figurehead – the carved wooden figures that adorn ships’ prows – of Cutty Sark. 
4. See the Long John Silver Figurehead collection: Cutty Sark also has the world’s largest Merchant Navy figurehead collection. Learn all about Long John Silver and how he came about this nickname.
5. See the ship’s bell: Well-maintained since it last rang, the original bell on Cutty Sark’s deck is quite a sight.
6. Enjoy the view: What if you’re not at sea? You can still enjoy stunning views across the River Thames. Gaze at the London skyline and see if you can spot famous landmarks.
7. Look around the hull: When you touch the Cutty Sark you will be touching a part of history. Walk around the copper hull and understand what made it the fastest ship of its day.
8. Marvel the original structure: More than 90% of Cutty Sark’s original structure has been preserved. Go back to 1869 and observe how the crew lived and worked as you meander through the ship.
9. Spend time with costumed characters: Enjoy the interactive tours and meet the costumed characters from Cutty Sark’s past like the ship’s owner Jock Willis, or even the ship’s cook.
10. Step inside the Captain’s Cabin: Discover the captain’s quarters and understand how the man-in-charge lived and worked.
11. Don’t miss the Cutty Sark Theatre: Make time for the Cutty Sark Theatre where you can watch stand-up comedy and musicals. Don’t forget to watch the daily screening of a film on Cutty Sark’s 150 years of existence.
    
    

Price:

For a fee you can explore and enjoy the piece of history that is the Cutty Sark.

Adult: £12

Child: £6.50 (aged 5 to 15)

Family tickets: £20 (one adult and two children), £29 (two adults and up to two children)

Recommended for:

You wouldn’t want to pass up an opportunity to see the world’s only surviving tea clipper to have sailed the seas. It is a piece of history, a bit of craftsmanship and plenty of thrills, all rolled into one,

Interesting facts about the Cutty Sark

What mysteries does the world’s only surviving tea clipper hold? Does it have tales that no one knows? Read on to know more.

1. You already know that the Cutty Sark is the world’s only surviving extreme clipper. But do you know that its hull is the same one from its original construction? 
2. Cutty Sark is 150 years old, and while it served as a British merchant ship, the clipper has docked at sixteen different countries. Its collective voyage distance when added up measures up to two and a half trips to the moon and back.
3. Cutty Sark was named after a poem by Robert Burns called Tam O’Shanter. Cutty Sark is a short nightie worn by one of the main characters in the poem, a young and attractive witch, Nannie.
4. Cutty Sark was launched on 22nd November 1869 in Scotland. She set off on her maiden voyage from London to Shanghai on 16th February 1870. On its first voyage, the clipper carried wine, spirits and beer, and came back with 1.3 million pounds of tea.
5. Cutty Sark was built for a life of just thirty years. But it had other plans and served as a working ship for fifty-two years. Thereafter, it worked as a training ship for another twenty-two years and today it has been open to visitors for sixty years.
6. Cutty Sark was originally built for the China tea trade, but it ended up carrying lots of other cargoes as well during its career. In seven years, Cutty Sark ferried almost 10 million pounds of tea.
7. It was the opening of the Suez Canal that ended the need for sailing ships in the tea trade. Cutty Sark was no different and it had to find new work. It moved to transporting various cargoes, including over 10,000 tons of coal and even 45,000 woollen bales.
8. In Cutty Sark ship designers had perfected clipper ship design and she was one of the fastest ships in the seas. At 14 years, Cutty Sark was captained by Master Richard Woodget and under his stewardship she started recording remarkably fast passage times.
9. A total of 653 men served on Cutty Sark as a British ship. Most travelled with her just once, a round voyage from London and back again. The youngest was a fourteen-year-old apprentice and the oldest a fifty-six-year-old sail maker.
10. The ship has seen heavy seas, war, neglect, obsolescence, fire and old age to finally find her resting spot in Greenwich. She survived storms which ripped her rudder off on two occasions, endured a dismasting in the WWI and even faced a terrible fire in 2007. Luckily, just the year before the massive fire, most of Cutty Sark’s original fabric had been removed. So even though the fire was devastating, it didn’t do as much damage as it could have done.
11. Cutty Sark was sold to a Portuguese firm in 1895 by her ageing owner, John ‘Jock’ Willis, and she was renamed Ferreira. Ferreira swam the oceans for twenty-seven years, after which, there was another exchange of ownership, where she was named Maria do Amparo for several months. 
12. Cutty Sark houses the world’s biggest collection of figureheads, donated by an eccentric maritime history lover.