Loss of the Cutty Sark

[mikephillips]

For all of our history loving folks, but particularly for the Brits that visit this board, I hope the fire that gutted the Cutty Sark was an accident rather than a deliberate act of vandalism. Losing a link to the past is bad enough but the idea that someone would burn it just for the sake of doing it, well, I saw the suggestion that they should be taken down to the docks of London and allowed to hang there until nothing's left like the old days. Here's hoping the remains are rebuildable.

 

[skywords]

Image all the kids that built models of that great ship and dreamed of sailing the world aboard her. I know I was one. I too hope they will rebuild her.

 

[Pumpkin]

cutty sark

I for one was at complete shock, I knew they were doing a re-fit. But thanks to the project most of the articules were out. It may have been an "accident" as you all know there are no accidents. Every thing that happens like this is man caused. Way too bad , hats off to the Brits, and the big ship.

We walked along side her back in the 70's what a beauty.

Chuck

 

[Nickodell]

The latest news is that the fire will not prevent the rebuiding, just add several million to its cost and delay things for a few months. Luckily, the masts, deck houses, saloon (not that kind!) and other irreplaceable parts had been removed for the restoration team to replace rotting wood.

Although the Cutty Sark was a unique link to the past, she only made a few actual trips to China and back with the tea, and was soon rendered obsolescent by steam ships. Top recorded speed 17.12 kts (20 mph).

What would be an absolute, unmitigated tragedy would be if some maniac set fire to the Victory, Admiral Lord Nelson's flagship at Trafalgar almost 200 years ago. I hope to god that they have a really good guard on it. I can imagine that the Victory would be a high-priority target for Islamic terrorists. After the last bunch were rounded up, the police and MI5 uncovered plans to target icons like Big Ben [actual correct name, Westminster Clock Tower. Big Ben refers to the hour bell], the Tate art gallery etc. I'm sure the Victory will be on their list some time. Maybe the Cutty Sark was a trial run.

 

[Nickodell]

Latest report. As the Cutty has a wrought iron hull, which didn't burn of course, the original estimate was that just replacing the timbers (ribs etc.) would suffice, and it was just a question of a few more million and a few more months. Now the marine surveyors are speculating that the intense heat might have warped the hull, which would likely be the end of the ship.

Notes on the Clippers: What killed them off was the opening of the Suez Canal and the advent of the steamship. The latter could transit the canal and take weeks off the trip from China; sailing ships were dependent on the Trade Winds, and had to travel out and home via the Cape of Good Hope at the bottom of Africa.

And life on even the most recent of the clippers was certainly not the romantic version we see on many movies. No jolly tars striding the decks, uttering the occasional "Arrh, Jim lad," playing accordians and dancing the Hornpipe. It was brutally tough and unforgiving.

On one of Cutty's last trips, in 1884 (called by the crew the "hell ship voyage"), the captain, Sidney Smith, busted an errant sailor's skull with a capstan bar for disobeying an order, whereupon the crew mutinied and locked him in his cabin to await trial for murder back in England.

However, when the ship docked in Java, the First Mate, James Wallace, helped Smith to escape. At this, the furious crew refused to work, and the ship was sailed back to England by six apprentices and four tradesmen. Realizing that his career was over and he faced punishment, Wallace jumped overboard in the Indian Ocean and was promptly eaten by sharks.

Not the Love Boat.

 

[weaselkeeper]

I had the terrific chance to visit her as well as the Victory when stationed at Upper Heyford a long time ago. I still have the pictures I took then. I'm glad to hear that she'll be saved. Really gave me an appreciation for the endurance of sailers just a couple hundred years ago. Also, gave me a life long appreciation for tall ships. Just finished reading "Nelson's Trafalgar" a month ago. Great read.

 

[Nickodell]

Hi, Pete. Many of my mother's family were navy types (her father, two uncles and a cousin) and two of my cousins and two uncles were (one lost on the Atlantic convoy in WWII) too, so there's more than the normal titre of salt in my veins. From my earlies days when I was able to read I devoured sea stories and accounts of sea battles from the Spanish Armada (1588), through WWI and II.

One of the things I found fascinating was that a crew member on one of Admiral Drake's ships fighting the Armada could have been transposed 217 years onto one of Adm. Nelson's at Trafalgar, and with the very minimum of orientation been able to crew that ship. Things had not changed very much in the two centuries - wooden ships, sail, and muzzle-loading cannon. However, in less than 70 years he would have been totally lost - iron ships, steam power, and breech-loading steel guns.

Nelson was quite a guy, bearing in mind that he was about 5'3" tall. Short though he may have been, he was still quite an accomplished c*cksman, seducing the wives of several noblemen during his brief stays ashore.
Lost an eye in one battle and an arm in another; a brilliant tactician who gained the respect of his officers and the adoration of his crews. The scene where he gets shot through the spine by a French marksman in the rigging of the French flagship, tells his flag officer Hardy to cover him up ("the men must not see that their Admiral is dying") and taken below, surviving just long enough to be informed that the battle is won, is right out of Hollywood.

Drake, Nelson and the Duke of Wellington. Three guys responsible for the fact that I'm not writing this in Spanish or French.

Incidentally, you will have noticed when you were on the Victory how low the deckheads (ceilings to landlubbers) were. This is the reason that the Royal Navy, alone among all service branches and other organizations, drinks the Loyal Toast ("Gentlemen: The Queen") sitting down.

A couple of years ago there was a celebration off the English coast of the bicentennial of Trafalgar, part of which was a reenactment of the battle. In an act of the most puke-making Political Correctness, the two fleets had to be called Red Fleet and Blue Fleet so as not to upset the attending French.

 

[weaselkeeper]

"Ceiling" height is one thing that first catches your attention. Of course people were generally shorter then, my 6' 0" didn't fit very well. I've heard that about the Queen's toast. It's amazing how some of our traditions evolve from a more practicle standpoint. Much like the 21 gun salute stemming from ships firing their guns empty prior entering port, to tell the locals they were friendly and not loaded.

My youngest son and I toured a WWII sub not long ago. Not enough elbow room and sunshine for me. They also have my respect.

 

[mikephillips]

You learn real quick why WW2 submariners were skinny little guys.

As far as Cutty, warping of the hull probably means the restoration to sailing condition is now out but perhaps a permanent mounting in a cradle of some sort is still doable.

 

[Nickodell]

At the Battle of Copenhagen, Nelson was ordered by the fleet admiral to withdraw in the face of a much larger Danish fleet. Nelson, when told by his flag lieutenant about the signal, placed his telescope to his blind eye and remarked: "I have only one eye; I have the right to be blind sometimes. I do not see the signal." Whereupon he ordered his squadron to attack the Danish fleet as it exited the harbor, and scored a big victory.

From this we get the phrases "The Nelson Touch," and "Turning a Blind Eye."