Cutty Sark ( ship) in trouble

[Clipper]

Cutty Sark trust needs £8 million

The trust that owns the 134-year-old tea clipper Cutty Sark is putting all of its limited resources into making a bid for Heritage Lottery funding in order to preserve the ship before she is condemned as being unsafe.
The clipper's composite construction, consisting of an iron frame clad in timber, is severely affected by several different types of corrosion. Marine surveyors visited the ship in Greenwich and were very concerned about the poor structure of the counter and extensive corrosion in the keelson area.

Richard Doughty, the chief executive of the Cutty Sark Trust, says: "There is the problem of rain water coming through the deck over a long period and many different chemicals have been used to clean the ship. It's a chemical soup in the bilge."

There is a some hope as scientists at the University of Portsmouth reckon that they can arrest the electrolysis process and remove chlorides from the iron frame.

However, the cost of preserving the Cutty Sark, which is a World Heritage Site and listed in the Core Collection, could be in the region £8 million. The trust gets no support from central or local government. Its turnover of around £500,000 a year is generated from admittance fees, the shop, functions and just one corporate supporter (Berry Brothers & Rudd). Because of this the trust has been forced to spend nearly all of its funds on making a Lottery bid.

After having a bid turned down in 1999 the trust is working with the National Maritime Museum and modelling its bid on the successful one made by the SS Great Britain. "It's a last-ditch attempt to save the ship. We're staking everything on the HLF bid," says Richard. And what if the bid is unsuccessful? The alternatives could involve selling her, says Richard.

[ 09-28-2003, 07:28 PM: Message edited by: Clipper ]

[Andrew Craig-Bennett]

Yes, I am afraid this is a British national disgrace. The world's only surviving clipper ship is about to fall apart (she really is in a bad way) and the trust which owns it can come up with no better idea than to appeal to the National Lottery.

It can be said that the decision to place the ship in a dry dock, half a century ago, was fundamentally misconceived, and certainly some appalling "restoration" (like replacing the decks with teak over ply!) was done.

What we have here is a ship with a wrought iron centreline, floors, frames, stringers and margin plates, planked with elm (yes, ELM) and sheathed with Muntz metal, placed in a dry dock exposed to the British climate...rainwater is trapped by the sheathing and rots the elm....

[TimH]

Well I would definately say that the Cutty Sark is much more important to humanity than another moon mission.......such priorities :(

[Meerkat]

Didn't Suahili suffer greatly from being dry docked (exhibited) too?

[Andrew Craig-Bennett]

Suhaili was placed in the National Maritime Museum (indoors) by Robin Knox Johnson because she was iron fastened and he had doubts about her continuing seaworthiness. However, after a couple of years, he had a change of heart (spoke to a few more surveyors, perhaps) and rescued her.

Unlike "Suhaili", whose owner loves her, the "Cutty Sark" alas has not had a caring owner since Captain Dowman, who had admired her as a boy and who, when she put into Falmouth in distress, rigged as a barque, bought her from her Portuguese owners and restored her.

He had wanted her to be used as a training ship and in his time she was used for that purpose, but he left her to a Trust, i.e. a committee, who unwisely entombed her in concrete, open to the elements.

[Ian Wright]

Let's 'rebuild' another one, take off the old bit, replace it with a new bit and so forth. No engine though.
IanW

[Clipper]

http://www.imagestation.com/picture/sraid81/pd99c824e10564141dc751244b1b2de1f/faf45e26.jpg
Fore Stay of the Cutty Sark
Andrew,
I have several proof sheets and 2 1/4" sq negatives of Cutty Sark showing details similar to the above. They were taken In 72 over thirty years ago. Would they be of any help in saving her ? I would be willing to send them along to the appropiate parties. Please advise.

[Hugh Paterson]

Bloody hell
ONLY 8 Million, I have to ask, would it not be cheaper/better to build a new hull and save what you can from the old one, rather than spend years trying to reverse the decline. Yes I know she's historic, but the builders didnt intend her to last this long, and other deserving cases have had lottery funding refused. Same goes for the Carrick, some fools pulled her out of the water next to the Scottish Maritime Museam (eh) :mad: and she has gone to pot sitting on the slipway. The staff there cannot look after a dozen small craft, why the hell they thought that they could cope with a bloody ship confuses the hell out of me.
Shug

[brian.cunningham]

:(

[Jerry Sousa]

An update, from the BBC website.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/3573894.stm

[TimH]

can you imagine how much people would pay for a cruise aboard that ship? Under full sail she would be the most photographed object in the world for a while I'd bet....
Anyone know what ever happened to the Alvin Clark? She was that ship that was raised from the bottom of Lake Michigan a while ago and became a maintenance nightmare. Time for a google search...

[Mike Field]

.
A painting of her I've always thought was wonderful. Look at that beautiful counter! Artist Cornelis de Vries.

http://www.woodenboatfittings.com.au/public/cutty-sark-ptg.jpg
.

[brian.cunningham]

:(

[Jack Heinlen]

Put the 12 to 40 million USD into building a new one, and SAIL it. Pull whatever you can off the old girl, make a nice memorial place with a few timbers ensconsed, and a vistor's center, and move on.

Of course, hearing about EU regulations regarding such ships, I might just throw up my hands and let nature take its course, walk away. No engine Ian says...HA! Look it up. You have bought, sort of, into this union, and have regulations no one has ever heard of before, but you can bet the inspectors will be there to enforce them if you build new.

[ 08-18-2004, 11:54 PM: Message edited by: Jack Heinlen ]

[Joe ( Cold Spring on Hudson )]

The first model boat I ever almost completed was the Cutty Sark I almost made it through all the rigging. But I was about 10 years old. Even then living in the Bronx looking out over the Spuyten Duyvil building that boat made me long for the sea.

Edited to say I found an example of the model
this was the box . Impressive for a 10 year old hun?

http://www.megahobby.com/images/RVG5401.jpg

Such a shame :(

[ 08-19-2004, 12:12 AM: Message edited by: Joe ( Cold Spring on Hudson ) ]

[Dan McCosh]

The most moving experience I have had visiting a historical site was the visit to the Cutty Sark about 25 years ago. Seems incredible that she has deteriotated so much.

[Ian Wright]

The last couple of years I have visited Cutty Sark, Warrior,Victory and Trincomalee. All of them wreaks or convincing fakes. GRP guns, plywood windlasses, steel ex-gaspipe masts and spars,,,,,,,,,,, but NONE of them will ever sail again. Such a shame.
IanW