The techniques and materials to build a ship like that correctly have been lost to history and stupidity. This is a tragic loss of an irreplaceable artifact.
Ding,ding ding ding ding ding ding ding..pause...ding ding... FIRE FIRE FIRE. Class Alpha Fire Main Deck Midship Centerline. Fire Department equip from repair 7.
Ian Allchin from the London Fire Brigade said: "The fire is now well under control."There is substantial damage to the ship and we'll be here for several hours."
Beautiful ship. Sorry to hear of it.
Fire
Camera phone picture of the Cutty Sark ablaze. On 21st May, 2007, the Cutty Sark caught fire and was reported by the BBC to be completely ablaze. The extent of any damage is not known but there is concern that it may have affected the framework of the ship. The fire was reported to the fire service at 04:46 AM by members of the public. A representative of the fire brigade said at 7:09 AM that the fire was well under control and that damage was extensive but until the experts can make a full damage assessment survey, it is unknown just how much has been lost. The fire was declared by a journalist on site to have been out at 07:21, with most of the wooden structure in the centre having been lost.
In an interview with the the chief executive of the Cutty Sark Trust it was revealed that at least half of the "fabric" (Timbers etc) of the ship is not on the site due to it being dismantled for the preservation work and that they are most worried about the iron framework around which the fabric are attached.
Aerial video footage at 7:22 AM shows extensive damage but seems to indicate that whilst damage is extensive the ship as a whole has not been destroyed in its entirety. The bow section looks to be "relatively unscathed" and the stern also looks to have survived without major damage. The fire seems to have been concentrated on the centre of the ship, one journalist commented that "you can see right through from one side to the other" however no one currently on site knows just how much had already been removed for the preservation work
The latest reports confirm that 50% of the ship was not on the site. Of the remaining material on site (approx half of the ship) around 80% of that has at least been damaged.
Currently the cause of the fire is unknown but is being treated as suspicious by the authorities.
At 8.20am the British Firebrigade confirmed that a molatave cocktail was thrown into the ship at about 3.00am hightening the suspicions that this was the work of arson. The firebrigade did however stress that all possibilities were still being investigated.
I was in London last Thanksgiving and hoped to get on-board for a look around. She was undergoing renovations so that wasn't possible.
I wonder if a workman got careless?
Thank goodness the whole country is under surveillance. Surely the police have CCTV video of the perp throwing the Molotov cocktail and will catch him soon enough.
Jewish lightning??????
The day of the opening of the ill fated milenium bridge.
It’s a real shame.
I MUST down to the seas again, to the lonely sea and the sky,
And all I ask is a tall ship and a star to steer her by,
And the wheel's kick and the wind's song and the white sail's shaking,
And a grey mist on the sea's face and a grey dawn breaking.
I must down to the seas again, for the call of the running tide
Is a wild call and a clear call that may not be denied;
And all I ask is a windy day with the white clouds flying,
And the flung spray and the blown spume, and the sea-gulls crying.
I must down to the seas again to the vagrant gypsy life.
To the gull's way and the whale's way where the wind's like a whetted knife;
And all I ask is a merry yarn from a laughing fellow-rover,
And quiet sleep and a sweet dream when the long trick's over.
- John Masefield
Can anyone who knows about the history of these vessels answer a question?
I read the clipper’s domination of the China trade came to an end because the Suez canal was built, giving the slower steam ships access to China via a shortcut because the clippers weren’t able to navigate the canal.
Was this because the clippers were too big? I’m just sort of curious why they didn’t use the steam vessels to tow the clippers through the Suez and let them do what they did best for the rest of the route.
Horrible news! Words fail me...
BUMMER
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.
Sad to read that. I saw the Cutty Sark in Greenwich 3 years ago.
Lottery puts another £10m into Cutty Sark (Historic tall ship was damaged by fire last year)