FAMOUS SHIPS

THE "CUTTY SARK"

This famous ship is a very rare bird - you can still see her in all her glory today in Falmouth, lying at her moorings. She was launched in 1869, in the middle of the Victorian ear, and has very sweet lines. She was a composite tea clipper, built at Dumbarton to the order of Captain John Willis, a London Shipowner, who hoped to defeat the famous Thermopylae. Her measurements were as follows: gross tons, 963; net tons, 921; length 212 feet 5 inches; breadth, 36 feet; depth, 21 feet; moulded depth, 22 feet 5 inches. Some of her spar lengths were: bowsprit and jib-boom, 60 feet; mainmast from deck to truck, 145 feet 9 inches; main yard, 78 feet; spanker-boom, 280 feet. The designer of the Cutty Sark was Hercules Linton, who was a young and rising designer. No one expected him to produce the masterpiece that the Ciitty Sark turned out to be.

She was by far the most powerful of the tea clippers - she seemed to bear driving to an unlimited extent. It is very difficult to make a judgment of a vessel's abilities based on her records, for so much depends on the skipper and also to some extent on the caprices of fortune. Some say the Cutty Sark was slow in light winds - the records indicate that she was not quite as fast as the steel clippers or the Therniopylae in light winds.

Captain Moodie commanded her in her first three voyages. He was a superb seaman but would not take chances in navigation through waters that were not only studded with coral reefs but were also not very well surveyed. He would not take chances and preferred to go around difficult or dangerous areas.

Captain F.W. Moore had her on her forth voyage, but he was up in his years and far more concerned with how the ship looked in port. The next skipper was Captain Tiptaft, who had a reputation for not pressing a ship followed by Captain Wallace, who never had a chance to show what he could do. These voyages took place between 1870 to 1877.

The only exciting time was in 1872, when Cutty Sark raced her rival Therniopylae from Shanghai, were they sailed within a few hours of each other. The Cutty Sark was leading the race by, some say, over 600 miles when she lost her rudder off the Cape coast.

After 1877 Culty Sark loaded jute at Manila for New York. Captain Tiptaft had died on the China coast, and his chief officer, Captain Wallace, was appointed to the command.

In March of 1880 the sail plan of the ship was reduced since her owners considered that henceforth she would have to go and find cargoes all over the world. They were happy to get a charter to load Welsh coal for the American fleet in Japanese waters. Now comes one of the strangest and most adventurous voyages of the Clitty Sark's life at sea. The first mate evidently killed a Negro seaman with a handspike on the Indian Ocean. With the help of Captain Wallace, he managed to escape aboard an American ship while the Culty Sark lay at Anjer. Captain Wallace was so worried by this and the resulting trouble with the crew that he stepped over the stern one calm morning in the Java Sea and was taken by sharks. The ship, under her second mate, returned to Singapore, were the coal destined for Japan was discharged and a new captain appointed. Captain Bruce took over command. A splendid navigator, he was also afraid of land and always shortened sail long before land was in sight. So, Cutty Sark wandered to Calcutta, then to Australia, loaded to Shanghai from Sydney, and finally took jute to New York from Cebu, Philippines. Apparently Captain Bruce divided his time between drinking bouts and prayer meetings. The difficulties of this voyage continued, however. A foremast hand missed the she-oak net at Melbourne and was drowned the first night alongside the wharf. Cholera attached the ships company at Shanghai - two died. On the passage home a seaman was lost overboard.

Captain Bruce and his first mate were sacked, and Captain E. Moore took over. He started off by making a rather dull sugar voyage to Bengal, but then made two fine Australian voyages, astonishing the wool fleet with his passages to Newcastle, N. S.W.

Finally, the Cutty Sark was given the skipper she deserved, Captain Woodget, under whose command the ship not only broke all records but also ran a very happy ship. On Woodget's first wool passage the Ctilty Sark beat her arch rival Thermopylae by a week and so delighted her owner that he presented her with the golden cutty sark which ever afterward was seen at her main truck.

There are many tales of the happy voyages the Cutty Sark had under Captain Woodget. He had many friends in Sydney and knew all the prettiest girls to boat. There are stories that he even allowed his crew to ride a bicycle around the deck while in port to the great fun of all.

The passage home from Brisbane in 1895 was the last under the Red Ensign. From August, 1895 until June, 1922 she sailed under the Portuguese flag and the name of Ferreira. During this time she had many strange adventures, but she usually sailed from Lisbon to Rio and New Orleans. In the middle of WWI she was towed into Table Bay dismasted. She could not get spars, so her captain refit her as a three-masted schooner and that is the way she sailed until 1922, when Captain Dowman purchased her.

The famous tea clipper has been used as a stationary training ship and has only once been under way since Captain Dowman reconditioned and re-rigged her. She can still be seen today in all her glory in England.

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