Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

Skip to comments.

Breaking News: London's Cutty Sark On Fire
Sky News ^ | Monday May 21, 2007 | SkyNews

Posted on 05/20/2007 10:04:21 PM PDT by FreedomCalls

The preserved 19th-century ship the Cutty Sark is on fire, London Fire Brigade has confirmed. It is said to be 100% alight and eight fire engines are at the scene in Greenwich, south-east London.

Greenwich town centre is closed to traffic and the Docklands Light Railway will also close because of a police cordon, Scotland Yard said.

Local residents were also expected to be evacuated shortly.

The ship, one of the capital's best-loved tourist attractions, is currently closed to the public for extensive renovation work. It was due to reopen in 2009.

There are fears that gas cylinders that may be on board the ship because of the renovation work may explode.

London Fire Brigade said the Metropolitan Police received a call at 04:55am reporting an extensive fire on the 19th-century clipper.

The Clyde-built Cutty Sark was, in 1869, one of the last sailing clippers to be built.

She was destined for the tea trade, then an intensely competitive race across the globe from China to London, with immense profits to the ship to arrive with the first tea of the year.


TOPICS: News/Current Events; United Kingdom
KEYWORDS: conservation; cuttysark; fire
Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first previous 1-20 ... 61-8081-100101-120121-123 next last
To: Peanut Gallery

BUMMER


101 posted on 05/21/2007 9:55:23 AM PDT by Professional Engineer (Don't blame me, I voted for Hatch.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Mo1
when will they invent spell check for the mind, anyway? ;-)
102 posted on 05/21/2007 10:27:08 AM PDT by verum ago (The Iranian Space Agency: set phasers to jihad!)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 14 | View Replies]

To: Professional Engineer

Yep. I build a model of that thing once when I was a kid. Was a big enough model that the tackle and rigging were fully functional.


103 posted on 05/21/2007 10:33:13 AM PDT by Dead Corpse (What would a free man do?)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 101 | View Replies]

To: Moonman62

This is a shame. One of the Queen’s palaces burned too during renovations. The White House may have also during the Truman era, IIRC.


104 posted on 05/21/2007 10:42:21 AM PDT by PghBaldy (It's not a "DREAM." It's a NIGHTMARE. It's amnesty by another name.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 2 | View Replies]

To: PghBaldy

“In January 2006, letters written by Clarence Ray (apprentice on board the Cutty Sark in 1894) were brought to light by Dick Ray, his great-nephew. This important archive reveals how a fifteen year old boy lived and worked alongside his shipmates. In particular, he writes to his mother about the food on board the ship (including the delights of “Salt Tram Horse”, “Leu Pie” and “Junk and Spuds”), http://www.cuttysark.org.uk/index.cfm?fa=contentGeneric.fdvmyqknhxemnmvz&pageId=213

I was wrong- the White House burned in the Oval Office Christmas Eve 1929.


105 posted on 05/21/2007 11:02:32 AM PDT by PghBaldy (It's not a "DREAM." It's a NIGHTMARE. It's amnesty by another name.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 104 | View Replies]

To: PghBaldy

The White House was gutted for renovation during the Truman years, but the furnishings were removed first.


106 posted on 05/21/2007 11:20:59 AM PDT by PAR35
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 105 | View Replies]

To: verum ago

I guess i should just ask for that screwed up post of mine to be deleted :0)


107 posted on 05/21/2007 12:38:15 PM PDT by Mo1 ( http://www.gohunter08.com)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 102 | View Replies]

To: FreedomCalls

Bummer! I was on board that ship back in 1996 (before the DLR crossed the Thames) and have wandered past it several times since. It’ll be strange to think of Greenwich without it.


108 posted on 05/21/2007 2:20:06 PM PDT by Reverend Bob (Read my lips, no more Pawlenty.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Reverend Bob

Very sad - we visited in June 06 and got some great photos - some of the last it seems.

The Admiralty & Observatory were very impressive and the view from the hill is breathtaking.


109 posted on 05/21/2007 2:39:05 PM PDT by relictele
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 108 | View Replies]

To: relictele

Er, not the Admiralty - the Royal Naval College.


110 posted on 05/21/2007 2:48:17 PM PDT by relictele
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 109 | View Replies]

To: PAR35; PghBaldy; FreedomCalls
The White House was gutted for renovation during the Truman years, but the furnishings were removed first.

But the interior walls weren't necessarily rebuilt to the same plan as the original walls. The new building has a steel frame to support the walls and floors. This means the exterior walls are no longer load bearing, and the interior walls could be mad much thinner than before. This increased the amount of space available while allowing modern conveniences like electricity, plumbing, telecommunications wires, and air conditioning to be built in.

111 posted on 05/21/2007 3:05:45 PM PDT by Paleo Conservative
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 106 | View Replies]

To: No Truce With Kings
The problem was not the Suez Canal. The problem was that winds in the Mediterranean and Red Seas are highly variable. Clippers were ships optimized to have strong steady winds coming at them from behind.

Clipper ships were also rather expensive to operate due to the labor requirements to all the sails, plus the fact that they didn't have a whole lot of cargo space.

112 posted on 05/21/2007 3:09:15 PM PDT by Paleo Conservative
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 98 | View Replies]

To: FreedomCalls


113 posted on 05/21/2007 3:18:54 PM PDT by Paleo Conservative
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 65 | View Replies]

To: FreedomCalls

Sad to read that. I saw the Cutty Sark in Greenwich 3 years ago.


114 posted on 05/21/2007 4:05:40 PM PDT by Panzerlied ("We shall never surrender!")
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Mo1
I guess i should just ask for that screwed up post of mine to be deleted :0)

nah- maybe it'll inspire people to be more careful about reading articles on FR... irrelevant, weird, and even outright wrong comments from misreading articles seem to be on the uptrend nowadays.
115 posted on 05/21/2007 5:18:30 PM PDT by verum ago (The Iranian Space Agency: set phasers to jihad!)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 107 | View Replies]

To: Paleo Conservative

My grandfather was a deckhand on a Clipper ship around the turn of the last century, I do not know what ship but I remember my grandmother buying me model kits of the Cutty Sark to put together in the 60’s. I have a large wooden model of it now. This would be almost on a scale as losing the USS Constitution or “Old Ironsides” which is a registered active duty Navy vessel for anyones information. And it was the Panama canal that pretty much doomed the clippers like The Flying Cloud and Thermapyle (SP?).


116 posted on 05/21/2007 6:27:07 PM PDT by Eye of Unk
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 113 | View Replies]

To: Mad_Tom_Rackham
I wonder who owner her, what is her value, and was she insured?

I don't know that things like that are, or should be, insurable. Generally, insuring something requires being either being able to quantify the replacement cost of an item, or else what it would sell for on the open market. The concept of "replacement cost" is meaningless for the Cutty Sark, and I don't know of any market for such boats.

I don't really see any good way to set the valuation for insuring something like the Cutty Sark. It would seem that either the valuation would be too small to be meaningful, or else it would be so great as to encourage fraudulent destruction. Can insurance companies somehow avoid these problems?

117 posted on 05/21/2007 7:00:34 PM PDT by supercat (Sony delenda est.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 94 | View Replies]

To: Professional Engineer

I have done a lot of reading on this subject over the past few days. She is repairable, but it will take lots of time and money. Most of her 5” thick teak top deck had been removed for the restoration process, so it looks like much of the irreplaceable items were removed during the restoration process.


118 posted on 05/26/2007 11:37:18 AM PDT by StarfireIV ("We canot save ourselves if the picture of ourselves is in a troth." Bill Cosby)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 101 | View Replies]

To: StarfireIV

Thanks for the update. I hadn’t seen any further news, but had hoped the most vital portions for the ship had been removed, and weren’t damaged.


119 posted on 05/27/2007 6:43:39 AM PDT by Professional Engineer (Don't blame me, I voted for Hatch.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 118 | View Replies]

To: Professional Engineer; StarfireIV

Here’s another news item on the Cutty Sark. There’s a graphic showing the extent of the fire damage relative to the hull. The long-range prognosis looks quite good for a complete restoration.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/england/london/6675381.stm


120 posted on 06/02/2007 7:37:17 PM PDT by HKMk23 (Nine out of ten orcs attacking Rohan were Saruman's Uruk-hai, not Sauron's! So, why invade Mordor?)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 119 | View Replies]


Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first previous 1-20 ... 61-8081-100101-120121-123 next last

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.

Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

FreeRepublic, LLC, PO BOX 9771, FRESNO, CA 93794
FreeRepublic.com is powered by software copyright 2000-2008 John Robinson