Fire on Cutty Sark

[Alan Wheeler]

A Fire broke out aboard the preserved tea clipper Cutty Sark this morning. It was totaly ablaze and may ahve been totaly destroyed.

She had been undergoing a multi-million pound restoration in her dry dock at Greenwich when the fire broke out.
Cutty Sark is the world's only surviving square rigged clipper ship, built in 1869.

[The_Bean]

This is indeed very sad. An old lady of the sea that had endured so much in her lifetime... to be totally destroyed under suspicious circumstances

Read more at Sky News - London's Cutty Sark On Fire

[GordMay]

The twenty-first century has not been kind to these heritages of a glorious past ...
The “City of Adelaide”, later known as HMS “Carrick”, was the oldest surviving* clipper ship in the world, and one of only a few to exist, but sadly, she too is gone.
BBC NEWS | England | Wear | No hope for clipper's homecoming
Carrick becomes an abandoned ship Oldest surviving clipper will now be broken up

[shellback]

I was shocked to hear about the fire aboard the Cutty Sark. A ship, with so much to share. She's a ship of legend and one worthy of respect and the fact the fire is suspicious, is troubling.

I've read that they will restore her to her full glory. The equipment, sails and other items were already moved off the boat during her refurbishment, so the hull is the main part that burned.

May her return to the water be quick!

[SkiprJohn]

Very sad. Although their hay day wasn't very long the clippers were machines of beauty that will never be successfully reproduced.

[Benny]

Yes unfortunately, there is not enough funding and/or will to preserve these great ships. Probably within 100 years, our decendants will not be able to see any great sailing ships of yore. It will be a sad turn of history that examples of the very means to discover the wealth of the new world will not be able to be appreciated by those who will benefit from their contribution.

Closer to home, the replica of John Cabots ship which completed a voyage from England to Lake Ontario tracing Cabot's voyage of discovery to Newfoundland and Upper Canada a couple of years ago, now sits in Jordon Harbour Marina basin very close to where I live in St Catharines on the south shore of Lake Ontario - on the bottom, stripped and burned out. All that is left is her steel frame and spars. This was due to vandaliism. She should have been preserved for posterity but - no financial backers so she sat there until some little bastards pillaged what they could and burned her.

[GordMay]

Questions have been raised on one London newspaper website over the lack of fire extinguishing systems on board the preserved Tea Clipper ship, Cutty Sark, which suffered severe damage in a blaze early Monday morning.

The worst damaged section appears to have been the stern of the 280ft ship, and investigators are on the scene in Greenwich, trying to determine how the fire was started. Arson is still suspected and CCTV footage is being reviewed for the period before the emergency services were called.

Renovation work that meant much of the ship's original rigging, her masts the wheel and master's cabin, had been removed from the site and is therefore undamaged. However, Dr Eric Kentley, a senior consultant at the Cutty Sark Trust, said that the sprinkler system had been taken out, when the bulkheads were removed and would have been put back once it was open to the public again.

The immediate task facing the Cutty Sark Trust is to make the ship safe before a full survey can be made of the remains. Cutty Sark's insurers have already agreed to release £1 million and have announced they will honour the full claim.

But the ship's restoration will now take much longer and therefore the Cutty Sark Trust are 'desperately' seeking funds. Yachting Monthly has teamed up with the trust as a media partner to help raise the money required. Experts have estimated the cost of repair could be in the region of £35 million.

If you can help please go to: Cutty Sark - Visit the world famous Cutty Sark clipper ship