HISTORIC SHIPS ON A LEE SHORE
Cutty Sark in Flames by Jessica Beverly n the early hours of 21 May 2007, a fire swept through Cutty Sark, the last surviving tea clipper. Television and internet news organizations instantly broadcast shocking images around the globe of the ship engulfed in flames. People awoke that morning to the news that the ship was completely on fire. The whole world watched and waited for more news and an assessment of the damage; it seemed that a piece of history had gone up in smoke. That morning, the Cutty Sark Trust's chief
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(left) Cutty Sark engulfed in flames before daylight on 21 May 2007. (above) The clipper's rig and superstructure and approximately 50% of her planking were removed in preparation far the conservation project and are safely housed in off-site storage locations. executive, Richard Doughty, feared the worst: "When the original fabric of the ship is lost, the touch of the craftsman is lost, history is lost. To lose the timbers and iron frame of the ship is to lose not just maritime heritage bur part of our national heritage." Once the smoke had cleared, an ex-
amination of the charred remains revealed that, in fact, all was not lost. At the time of the fire, Cutty Sark was undergoing a ÂŁ25 million conservation project, and a significant amount of the ship's fabric had been removed for storage. More than half her original hull planking, all three masts and rigging, coach houses, the master's
This view of Cutty Sark's deck shows the charred.framework of the temporary wooden roof which had been installed to protect the site and workers involved in the conservation project.
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saloon, deck furniture, and anchors had been safely transported to Chatham Historic Dockyard and other storage sites. Irreplaceable treasures, such as the Cutty Sark figurehead collection and the Trust's artifacts and archives, were also off-site at the time. A temporary wooden roof, installed to provide cover for the conservation team working on the project, suffered much of the visible damage, and it has been estimated that less than 5 percent of the ship's original fabric has been lost. Initial assessments have shown that, whilst the ship had suffered considerable damage with the loss of all three decks, the hull planks were very substantial and many only sustained surface charring. The wrought-iron superstructure appears to have coped well with the flames and heat, although some buckling of flat iron in the decks and around the hatches has occurred. We cannot yet be certain, but the shape of the hull appears to have only changed by a few millimeters. The overall hull form, which gives Cutty Sark her beautiful lines and helped her achieve award-winning ocean runs, remains true. Cutty Sark's History Cutty Sark was launched in 1869 in Dumbarton, Scotland. She was purposebuilt for speed to carry tea to London from China; in the nineteenth century, SEA HISTORY 120, AUTUMN 2007