THE CUTTY SARK

The Cutty Sark is a clipper ship. 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. She is preserved in dry dock in Greenwich,

London.

Cutty 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.

Badly damaged by fire on 21 May 2007 while undergoing conservation, the

vessel is being restored and is expected to reopen in 2012.[2]

The Cutty Sark is

one of only three remaining original composite construction (wooden hull on

an iron frame) 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.