Post by Administrator on Feb 16, 2024 20:34:33 GMT
Royal Museums Greenwich
⛵ On 16 February 1870, Cutty Sark left London bound for Shanghai on her first voyage, commanded by Captain George Moodie.
⛵ Cutty Sark was originally built exclusively for the China tea trade in Dumbarton, Scotland. After successfully reaching China for the first time on 31 May, the ship sped back to London loaded with 1,305,812 lbs of tea.
⛵ Unfortunately, Cutty Sark's tea career was cut short by the Suez Canal. Opened in the same week as Cutty Sark was launched, the canal cut the voyage out to China by over 3,000 miles - but it wasn't practical for sailing ships like Cutty. Sark.
⛵ After just eight voyages, Cutty Sark was forced out of the trade for which it had been built, but kept on being one of the fastest ships of its day, and entered the Australian wool trade in 1883, becoming the dominant ship in bringing wool from Australia to England.
⛵ Today, Cutty Sark is the world's sole surviving tea clipper.
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Cutty Sark was placed in Greenwich as a memorial to the Merchant Navy, particularly those who lost their lives in the two world wars. The sacrifice of the Merchant Marine for their country is still little known and the sculptor Maurice Lambert’s memorial to the Merchant Navy, which was restored in 2011, is displayed prominently at Cutty Sark.
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