Cutty Sark: The Famous Tea Clipper Ship

Questo famoso veliero, che ha più di 150 anni, non è direttamente collegato al whisky. Infatti, un tempo era utilizzato per il commercio del tè. Dopo diversi lavori di ristrutturazione, è ora possibile visitare questo veloce mercantile nel bacino di carenaggio di Greenwich, a sud-est di Londra.

Bandera UK
Sarah Davison

Speaker (UK accent)

Aggiornato il giorno

The Cutty Sark in Greenwich, London is preserved as a museum ship

Ascolta questo articolo

Stampare

Built on the River Clyde in Glasgow, Scotland, the British merchant ship Cutty Sark was first launched on the 22nd November 1869. On her maiden voyage this tea clipper travelled from London to Shanghai carrying large amounts of wine, spirits and beer to China. She came back loaded with something even more precious to the British: six hundred tonnes of tea.

VERY FAST

The Cutty Sark was one of the last tea clippers to be built, and one of the fastest. After a few years on the tea trade she carried wool from Australia, where she held the record sailing time to Britain, of seventy days or less, for a decade. Then improvements in steam technology meant that steamships came to dominate the long trip to Australia, and the Cutty Sark was sold to a Portuguese company.

A LIFETIME

She was only built to last thirty years, but the Cutty Sark proved unstoppable. She continued as a cargo ship until purchased in 1922 by retired Captain Wilfred Dowman, who used her as a training ship in Cornwall. She continued training cadets until 1954, when, at the age of eighty-five, she was finally retired. She was transferred to permanent dry dock in Greenwich, London for public display.

FIRE SHOCK

The Cutty Sark had travelled across oceans, but it was on dry land in 21st-century England that she was put most in danger. In 2007, a fire broke out when an industrial vacuum cleaner was accidentally left on during restoration work. More than forty firefighters fought the blaze, but the Cutty Sark was severely damaged. After a five-year £50 million restoration project, this historic vessel was finally reopened to the public in all her former glory.

THE NAME

Curiously, ‘cutty sark’ is an archaic Scottish name for a short nightdress. It comes from a famous poem called Tam O’Shanter by the poet Robert Burns. It is about a farmer called Tam who, riding home from the pub on his horse Meg, sees a group of witches dancing. One witch in particular, Nannie, is very beautiful and wears only a short nightdress. Tam is bewitched by her and shouts out, ‘Well done, cutty sark!’ in appreciation of her dancing. Unfortunately, the witches then begin to chase him. Nannie almost catches up, grabbing Meg by the tail. Happily, the tail falls off and Tam and Meg escape. During her service for a Portuguese company, her name was changed to Ferreira, but the crew often referred to her as ‘pequina camisola’, which has the same meaning as ‘cutty sark’.

The Art of Yorkshire: Northern England

Places

The Art of Yorkshire: Northern England

Abbiamo visitato il famoso parco di sculture dello Yorkshire, nella contea più grande dell'Inghilterra. Questo vero e proprio museo all'aperto unisce opere di artisti locali, come Barbara Hepworth, ad altre figure di spicco dell'arte mondiale.

Julian Earwaker

Short Story: Miss Winterleigh

Fiction

Short Story: Miss Winterleigh

Questo racconto breve è ambientato nella romantica Venezia della metà del secolo scorso. Il narratore rivela la triste storia di Miss Winterleigh e mostra come si possano fare favori a chi non c'è più.

James Schofield

More in Explore

TODAY’S TOP STORIES

Anne Boleyn: A Radical Reformer
Wikimedia Commons

People

Anne Boleyn: A Radical Reformer

Il 19 maggio 1536, Anna Bolena, seconda moglie di Enrico VIII, fu decapitata a Londra. La sua eredità ha segnato la storia dell'Inghilterra.

Julian Earwaker