by Ulrich Guenther
Member since 12-Feb-1994
Build Type: Kit→ Mantua/Sergal
Country: England / United Kingdom
Era: 1815-1914
Length Range: 200-400 feet (61-122m)
Model Material: Wood
Model Type: Static
Propulsion Type: Impeller→ Sail
Scale: 1:78
Subject Type: Vessel→ Merchant→ Cargo→ Break-Bulk
About the Vessel
Cutty Sark is a British clipper ship built in 1869. She was one of the last tea clippers to be built and one of the fastest. She is well known for her race against Thermopylae from Shanghai to England in 1872. She had a 400 nm lead before losing her rudder in a storm. A valiant effort to effect repairs at sea was not enough, and she arrived home a week after Thermopylae.
The opening of the Suez Canal meant that steamships now enjoyed a much shorter route to China, so Cutty Sark spent only 8 years on the tea trade before turning to the trade in wool from Australia, where she held the record time to Britain for ten years.
Steamships eventually took over the route to Australia as well, and the ship was sold. She traded hands several times until transferred to permanent dry dock at Greenwich, London, for public display.
Model Images
Links
- Royal Museums Greenwich (museum ship)
- Wikipedia