Conservation Plan 3 Significance.pdf - National Maritime Museum

Conservation Plan 

1: History of Fabric 


3: Significance 


4: Proposals 


2: Condition Report 

Access Policy 

Learning 

Policy 

Project 

Management 

Plan 

Environmental 

Protocol 

Operational 

Plan 

Learning 

Strategy 

Interpretation 

Strategy 

Audience 

Development Plan 

Marketing 

Strategy 

Funding 

Proposals 

Training Plan 

Business Plan

Purpose and Scope 

Cutty Sark Conservation Plan vol.3: Significance 

Cutty Sark has been open to the public in Greenwich for almost half a 

century. However, structural surveys and condition assessments of 

Cutty Sark undertaken recently have given cause for alarm about the 

condition of the ship and it is clear that, if she is to be kept open for 

another 50 years, ‘something must be done’. As one of the first steps, 

the Cutty Sark Trust is following the recommendation of the Heritage 

Lottery Fund and English Heritage and producing a formal 

conservation plan. 

The Trust’s Conservation Plan consists of four volumes: 

1. History of Fabric – a detailed study of the repairs and 

alterations to the ship 

2. Condition Report – giving the results of the structural and 

environmental surveys undertaken over recent years 

3. Significance – an assessment of precisely what it is that we are 

seeking to conserve: it is an assessment of what Cutty Sark is, 

and why and how she is significant. 

4. Conservation Proposals – which outlines the courses of action 

the Trust will undertake to conserve the significance of the 

ship. 

This volume assessing Cutty Sark’s significance is crucial, because from 

this the parameters for all the activities that happen on and around 

the ship – conservation, maintenance, interpretation, access and 

commercial concerns – are set. The assessment of significance is 

therefore the foundation for the Trust’s vision and the majority of its 

plans, policies and procedures. . An assessment of significance was 

compiled in the 1990s, and nothing in that document is disputed in 

this. However, emphasis was put almost entirely on the ship’s 

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Cutty Sark Conservation Plan vol. 3: Significance 

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technological and maritime significance: this re-evaluation assesses her 

cultural significance as well. 

The format of this volume follows the English Heritage and Heritage 

Lottery Fund guidelines for conservation planning and is shown 

diagramatically below: 

Documentary 

Sources 

Understanding the 

Vessel 


Collection 


Site 

Interpretation 

Principles 

Historical Summary 

Structure and Fabric 

Cultural Role 

Assessment of 

Significance 

Statement of 


Vulnerability of 


Vision for Cutty Sark 

Realising the Vision 

Conservation 

Principles 

Conservation Policies 

This document’s primary purpose is to define the significance of Cutty 

Sark and consequently her position in cultural heritage. The evidence 

from which this is argued is presented as a summary of the history of 

the ship – in terms of her career, the materials from which she is built


and her socio-cultural role – from construction in 1869 to the present 

day. This evidence is then analysed to present the argument that the 

ship has a number of significances, and these are themselves 

summarised in a statement of significance. The final sections of the 

Plan deal with the consequences of the significance – namely a vision 

and a set of policies for retaining the ship’s significance, both 

physically and intellectually. These will determine the conservation 

treatments and interpretation treatments that are appropriate of the 

ship. 

The fundamental conclusions of this volume – the statement of 

significance and the resulting principles and policies – were agreed by 

the Council of the Cutty Sark Trust at the Trustees’ Meeting of 26 

November 2003. It has also been circulated among the Maritime 

Greenwich World Heritage Site partners and endorsed by them. Earlier 

versions were passed to a number of organisations and individuals for 

comment, and posted on the Cutty Sark website. Respondents are 

acknowledged on page 91. 

However, significance is a relative term, and the Trust is conscious that 

what is significant (and what is not) today may not be so tomorrow, 

and in time the ship may take on a new meaning. It is therefore 

important – and because we are likely to embark on a major re- 

interpretation of the ship shortly it is essential – that this plan is 

reviewed regularly. The Trustees have agreed that a formal review will 

be undertaken no later than 31 January 2009. 

Richard Doughty, Chief Executive 

Dr Eric Kentley, Curatorial Consultant 

Simon Schofield, Research Assistant 

March 2004 

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Contents 

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1. Documentary Sources .................................................................. 5 

2. Understanding the Vessel: Historical Summary............................. 9 

3. Understanding the Vessel: Structure and Fabric ......................... 25 

4. Understanding the Vessel: Cultural Role .................................... 38 

5. Understanding the Collection .................................................... 52 

6. Understanding the Site .............................................................. 54 

7. Assessment of Significance ........................................................ 60 

8. Statement of Significance .......................................................... 70 

9. Vulnerability of Significance ....................................................... 71 

10. Conservation Principles .............................................................. 76 

11. Interpretation Principles ............................................................. 78 

11. The Vision for Cutty Sark ........................................................... 81 

12. Realising the Vision.................................................................... 83 

13. Conservation Policies ................................................................. 84 

14. Bibliography............................................................................... 89 

15. Acknowledgements ................................................................... 91 

Appendix I. Summary of Visitor & Non-Visitor Profiles, 2001-03........ 92 

Appendix II. The Figurehead Collection ............................................. 94 

Appendix III. Oral History Project....................................................... 99

1. Documentary Sources 

Item(s) 


A large amount of documentary evidence relating to Cutty Sark has 

survived, the majority being held by the National Maritime Museum, 

Lloyd’s Register of Shipping and the Cutty Sark Trust. These include: 

Original specification 

John Rennie’s 1868/9 design plan 

Where held 

Dumbarton Public Library 

Glasgow Transport Museum 

Correspondence of Scott and Linton (the builders) National Maritime Museum 

Manuscripts Collection 

Exchange of correspondence between the Lloyd's Lloyd’s Register of Shipping 

and the builders relating to the design of the iron 

frame 

Midship section and extensive lists of Calculations 

of Displacement, etc. 

Initial entry report and survey, 1870 

Financial records of Wm. Denny & Bros (who 

completed the ship after Scott & Linton went into 

liquidation) 

Schedules of Repairs year from 1870 to 1899 

Annual Surveys for 1870 and 1876 

Chief Surveyor's Report for Classing Committee 

1893, 1895 and 1899 

Report by Mr J. M. Robertson, Ship Surveyor to 

Lloyd's Register of Shipping on the preliminary 

examination undertaken at Greenhithe on March 

9 th 1950. 

General arrangement, rigging and sail plans of the 

ship in her tea clipper configuration by G. F. 

Campbell 

Lloyd’s Register of Shipping 


Glasgow University 

Archives 




National Archive (Kew) 

National Maritime Museum 

Ships Plans Collection 

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Lines, elevation, deck, sail and rigging plans by 

Harold A. Underhill in 1932 

Official logs for the period 1870-95 

30 transcripts of logs from privately-owned 

volumes (including abstract logs of Cutty Sark for 

the periods 1870-72 and 1886-95) 

Log of the 1882-3 voyages. 

Ship's papers for her voyages of 1882-83 and 

1883-4 

Apprentice indentures and certificates of 

discharge). 

Crew lists for the period 1870-74 

Cutty Sark balance sheets 1872-73 

Administrational records of merchant shipping 

1870-94 

Newspapers, journal and magazines (such as The 

Times, The Illustrated London News and The 

Journal of Commerce) and some Australian and 

Chinese papers giving details of outgoing cargoes. 

Press cuttings and photographs 

Newspaper cuttings collected by a former master, 

Richard Woodget. 

Prints of Cutty Sark at most of the phases of her 

career from 1888 to the present day. 

16 drawings presented to the Museum in 1962 by 

D. I. Moor which include deck and lines plans 

(including one dated 1922); a copy of a midship 

section plan drawn in 1922; distribution of ballast 

plan; arrangement of proposed saloons for use of 

the ship as a Livery Hall for the Worshipful 

Company of Shipwrights; diagram showing 

clearance under Thames bridges; curves of 

buoyancy and capacity sections. 




Manuscripts collection 


Manuscripts Collection (Basil 

Lubbock papers) 

Cutty Sark Trust 











British Newspaper 

Library 






Historic Photographs 

Collection 


Ships Plans Collection

Records of the Incorporated Thames Nautical 

Training College (which acquired Cutty Sark in 

1938) 

Material relating to the attempts to find a home 

for the ship in the 1930s and to her restoration in 

the 1950s. 

Papers of Frank Carr (Director of the Museum 

1947-66) which, in twenty boxes, contain 

information relating to the acquisition of Cutty 

Sark by the Cutty Sark Society, its positioning in 

the purpose-built dock at Greenwich and its 1950s 

restoration. The minutes of the Society's Ship 

Management Committee, include condition 

reports as well as reports on repairs and 

maintenance carried out. 

drawings relating to the repair work by London 

County Council's Engineers Department, including 

details of rigging, including designs for an 

emergency exit prepared in 1964, and designs for 

showcases 

Photographs, slides, drawings and written 

material, mostly relating to the vessel after her 

installation at Greenwich. 




National Archive (Kew) 






Searches of archives in Australia, China and Portugal are continuing. In 

addition, to learn about the ship after her working life, the Cutty Sark 

Trust is under taking an oral history project (an early synopsis of which 

is summarised in Appendix II). 

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Several books have been published on the story of Cutty Sark, of which 

the most valuable and reliable are considered to be: 

• Lubbock, B. The Log of the Cutty Sark (1924), which contains a 

detailed narrative of her voyages up to 1922 as well as 

information on her construction and structural history. 

• Smith, C. F., The Return of the Cutty Sark (1924) which provides 

further detail of the areas covered by Lubbock 

• Longridge, C. N., The Cutty Sark (1949), which contains, amongst 

much of relevance, the original specification. 

• Scott, J. L., 'A Survey of the Cutty Sark in 1937', in The Mariner's 

Mirror (1941) — undertaken when the ship was offered to the 

Worshipful Company of Shipwrights. 

• Carr, Frank G. G., 'The Restoration of the Cutty Sark', Royal 

Institution of Naval Architects July 1966 Quarterly Transactions. 

• Steel, G., The Story of the Worcester (1962).

2. Understanding the Vessel: Historical Summary 

1870 

1900 

1930 

1960 

1990 

Trading under British 

Flag 

Trading under 

Portuguese Flag 

Training 

Ship at 

Construction 

Training Ship / 

Exhibition Ship, 

Falmouth 

Training 

Ship at 

Training Ship, 

Greenhithe 

Exhibition Ship, 

Greenwich 


1st Restoration 

2nd Restoration 

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As evidenced in the previous section, the career of Cutty Sark has 

been well documented. It is not the intention to re-write her history 

here, but simply to set out the most pertinent facts relating to her 

context, functions and story. 

2.1. Tea and Merchant Sailing Ships 

19th-century China 

Tea Trade 

Development and 

Demise of the 

Clipper 

The opening up of Canton, Amoy, Foochow, Ningpo and Shanghai to 

free trade as a result of the Treaty of Nanking in 1842 (and the 

subsequent opening-up of the ports on the Yangtze after the Treaty of 

Tientsin in 1858) resulted in an explosion is the export of Chinese tea. In 

1835, Britain imported 44.3 million lbs: in 1849, this had risen to 55.5 

million lbs. 

It became fashionable to drink the freshest tea and particularly from the 

first ship to arrive with that season’s cargo. The first tea brought home 

therefore commanded a premium price. 

Although iron ships were common in the second half of the nineteenth 

century, it was thought that the lack of ventilation ‘sweated’ tea cargos, 

a belief that persisted for many years. 

The characteristics of the clipper were a sharp bow with fine lines, a 

large sail area and a relatively small cargo-carrying capacity. The term 

‘clipper’ has no precise definition, but distinctions are now made 

between ‘medium clippers’, ‘clippers’ and ‘extreme clippers’ depending 

on the degree of sharpness in the hull form. Cutty Sark is classified as 

an extreme clipper.


The majority of UK-registered clippers were built between 1853 and 

1870. 

Not all clippers were built for the tea trade: most notably (as she also 

survives) City of Adelaide, an emigrant/cargo vessel, built for trading 

with Australia, and Patriarch, an iron-hulled clipper built specifically for 

the Australian wool trade (wrecked 1912). 

Speed was the essential characteristic of the clipper. The most 

celebrated race was in 1866 when Ariel docked in London a mere ten 

10 minutes before Taiping after a 99-day voyage from China. 

It is notoriously difficult to compare one tea clipper against another, 

given different dates of departure and routes, but Cutty Sark was 

undoubtedly one of the fastest, repeatedly getting away from China 

before her rivals. The fastest of the tea clipper of all is generally 

considered to be Thermopylae. However, once in the wool trade, 

although she made some very fast passages out to Australia, but never 

made the speedy passages back to London that that Cutty Sark 

achieved. The fastest wool clipper is generally considered to have been 

the iron-hulled Patriarch, although Cutty Sark is also considered as the 

only ship that could match her (and indeed did). Indicative sailing times 

are included in the following table. 

The more economical steamships eventually replaced the clippers, but 

large sailing ships — particularly four-masted barques — continued to 

trade between Europe and the other continents until the eve of World 

War II. 

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The four- (and five-) masted barques emerged in the late 19 th /early 20 th 

century. Much larger than clippers, and more efficient in terms of crew, 

these vessels were no match for the speeds (or the beauty) of the tea 

clippers. The famous ‘last grain race’ between the barques in 1939 was 

won by Moshulu in a time which was three days longer that Cutty 

Sark’s slowest voyage from Australia to England.


2.2. Clippers and Four-Masted Barques: Dimensions and Indicative Voyage 

Times 

Fast Voyages from Australia 

Days 

To 

From 

Year 

140 

London 

Adelaide 

1872 

Depth (m) 5.7 

Beam (m) 

10.1 

Length 

(m) 53.8 

Date of 

launch 1864 

Type 

Name 

composite clipper 

City of Adelaide 

lost at sea, 1872 

6.4 

10.3 

60.1 

1865 


Ariel 

76 

Start Point 

Sydney 

1882 

6.3 

11.0 

64.1 

1869 


Thermopylae 

68 

Ushant 

Sydney 

1869 

6.8 

11.6 

67.7 

1869 

iron clipper 

Patriarch 

67 

Ushant 

Sydney 

1885 

6.4 

11.0 

64.7 

1869 


Cutty Sarlk 

86 

Falmouth 

Port Lincoln 

1936 

7.2 

14.0 

95.7 

1902 

4-masted barque 

Herzogin Cecile 

96 

Queenstown 

Port Lincoln 

1939 

8.1 

14.2 

102.2 

1904 

4-masted barque 

Moshulu 

119 

Plymouth 

Sydney 

1967 

2.3 

3.2 

16.2 

1966 

ketch-rigged yacht 

Gipsy Moth IV 

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2.3. The Career of Cutty Sark 

Building of Cutty Sark 

1868—1869 

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The above table illustrates the relative sizes of clippers and their 

‘successors’, the four-masted barques. The voyages times are indicative 

that clippers were significantly faster, but it is notoriously difficult to 

compare individual voyages and it should not be interpreted as an 

attempt at a ‘league table’. 

It is worth noting that Cutty Sark carried 32,000 ft 2 of canvas. Relative 

to her size, this was a greater sail area than carried by any other clipper. 

Cutty Sark was commissioned by London-based ship owner John ‘Jock’ 

Willis, son of the founder of J. Willis & Son. 

Willis already had three ships in the China tea trade but none were true 

clippers. 

It is believed that Willis commissioned Cutty Sark specifically to compete 

with Thermopylae (launched 1868 by Walter Hood of Aberdeen), the 

fastest ship of the day. 

Cutty Sark was designed and built by Messrs. Scott & Linton of 

Dumbarton, who had submitted the lowest tender. 

Scott & Linton built one other clipper — Inverishie — but not for the 

tea trade. This vessel was lost in the early 1870s. Hercules Linton, who 

is specifically credited with Cutty Sark’s design, had been apprenticed 

to Halls of Aberdeen, pioneers in the development of the clipper.

Trading under British 

Flag 

1870—1895 


Scott & Linton went into bankruptcy before the ship was completed 

and the works were finished by William Denny & Brothers at 

Dumbarton, as had been specified in the contract in such an event. This 

was the only clipper ship Dennys ever built. 

Cutty Sark was launched on 22 November 1869 and left the Clyde to 

collect her first cargo from London on 13 January 1870. 

Her first voyage from London to Shanghai took just 98 days. Her cargo 

included large amounts of wine, spirits and beer. She returned with 1.3 

million lbs of tea. 

On outward voyages her cargoes were ‘general’ – one voyage took coal 

to Singapore, another took scrap iron to Shanghai. 

She failed to beat Thermopylae: on her third voyage she was 400 miles 

ahead when her rudder broke, forcing emergency repairs and causing 

her to arrive in London a week after her rival. 

The Suez Canal had opened a week before her launch, which gave 

steamers a competitive advantage. Although initially consumers 

believed that tea carried in the iron-hulled steamers was not as pleasing 

on the palate as that brought home in a sailing ship, steamers quickly 

came to dominate the tea trade. 

Cutty Sark carried her last tea cargo in 1877. 

She ended the decade transporting jute from Manila to New York and 

traded as a general cargo vessel until 1883. 

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Trading under 

Portuguese Flag 

1895 — 1922 

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In 1883 she became a wool clipper, transporting wool from Australia to 

the UK. In her very first voyage in this role, she made the passage from 

Newcastle NSW to London in 83 days, the best passage of the year and 

beating every other ship by 25 days or more. 

Because of her speed, she was often used as the ‘last chance’ for wool 

sales, kept in reserve in Sydney or Melbourne until the last minute. 

Improvements in the carrying capacity and economical running of 

steamships began to threaten the sailing ships, with their relatively small 

holds in this trade. Although Cutty Sark was not losing money in 1895, 

she was certainly less profitable and that year Willis sold her to Messrs. 

Ferreira of Lisbon for £2,100. 

Comparatively little is known about the ship during the period 1895- 

1914. Renamed Ferreira, she carried miscellaneous cargoes between 

Lisbon, Brazil, Portuguese East Africa and New Orleans. 

Her officers were aware of her previous history — for example, in Table 

Bay in 1916, they are known to have acted as tour guides around her. 

Indeed, despite the renaming, she was known to her crews as ‘El 

Pequina Camisola’, the closest Portuguese comes to ‘cutty sark’. 

In 1914, a visit to Liverpool created a revival of British interest in her, 

and again in London in 1919, she was sufficiently well-remembered for 

enthusiasts, journalists and photographers to crawl over her decks. 

Put up for sale in 1921, a group of UK admirers made an unsuccessful 

bid.

Training Ship / 

Exhibition Ship at 

Falmouth 

1922-1938 


Forced into Falmouth in 1921 for storm induced repairs, she was 

spotted by Captain Wilfred Dowman, owner of the Falmouth training 

ship Lady of Avenel. 

Returning to Lisbon, she was sold to the Companhia Nacional ce 

Navegacao and renamed Maria do Amporo, and employed in 

transporting scrap iron to Hamburg. 

She was purchased by Captain Dowman for £3,750 1 (well above her 

commercial value and £1,650 more than Willis had sold her for) and 

towed back to Falmouth in 1922. This marked the end of her life as a 

working ship. 

Dowman appears to have intended to restore her to her original 

specification and attempt the record for passages from Australia, but 

this eventually proved unaffordable. The restoration was not 

undertaken with rigour, but motivated by a desire toe return her to her 

form in her ‘glory days’. Consequently, much Portuguese fabric would 

have been lost. 

She became a training ship for boys entering both the Royal Navy and 

the Mercantile Marine, training about a dozen cadets at a time. 

1 

New research suggests that Dowman was forced to sell a farm on his Trenssome Estate to raise the 

purchase price. 

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Training Ship on the 

Thames 

1938 — 1953 

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Importantly, she was open to the public during this time — several 

years before HMS Victory and USS Constitution became publicly 

accessible — and is thus the longest surviving exhibition ship in the 

world. Her image was used to market Falmouth as a tourist 

destination, appearing on many postcard views of the town. The 

oral history project has discovered that among her visitors were King 

George V, the Prince of Wales (later Edward VIII), Amy Johnson, and 

the socialite Dai Llewellyn. Although actual visitor numbers are not 

know, they were sufficient to provide local boatmen with a living, 

ferrying tourists between ship and shore. Cutty Sark was also used at 

this time for events such as tea dances, as a flagship for regattas, 

and aided the local dockyards during the Depression through the 

restoration and maintenance work she required. Unsurprisingly, she 

was apparently greatly missed by the people of Falmouth when she 

left the harbour in 1938. 

On Dowman’s death in 1937 Cutty Sark was offered by his widow to 

the London branch of the Worshipful Company of Shipwrights for use 

as their headquarters ship. The ship was surveyed, and plans drawn up


for her conversion into a livery hall, but the offer was eventually 

declined. 

She was presented, in June 1938, to the Incorporated Thames Nautical 

Training College, TSS Worcester; towed to the Thames and moored at 

Greenhithe, alongside HMS Worcester (ex-Frederick William). 

After World War II, the College acquired the much-larger HMS 

Exmouth, making both Worcester and Cutty Sark redundant. 

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Restoration / 

Reconstruction 

1953 – 1957 

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In September 1949 the College offered Cutty Sark to the National 

Maritime Museum, who declined, pleading lack of resources and the 

restrictions placed on the institution by its establishing Act of 

Parliament. 

London County Council set up a committee (under Chairman of the 

General Purposes Committee of the Council) of experts to investigate 

the preservation, berthing and use of the vessel. The first meeting of 

the Cutty Sark Steering Committee was held on 19 May 1950. 

Cutty Sark was moored on buoys at Greenwich as a floating exhibit for 

the duration of the Festival of Britain in 1951 but there is no evidence 

that she was open to the public at this time. At the end of the Festival 

she was returned to her moorings at Greenhithe. 

The original Steering Committee gained charity status as the Cutty Sark 

Preservation Society in October 1952 and this became the Cutty Sark 

Society in 1955. (In 1989 the Society merged with the Maritime Trust 

which had been founded in 1969.) 

On 28 May 1953 Cutty Sark was formally handed over to HRH the Duke 

of Edinburgh who received the vessel on behalf of the Society. On 18 

February 1954 she was moved from her moorings at Greenhithe to the 

East India Import Dock. 

On 22 February 1954 construction of a new purpose-built dock began 

at Greenwich, thanks to a contribution of £170,000 from the London 

County Council. The last pile was driven and the foundation stone laid 

on 3 June by the Duke of Edinburgh. Cutty Sark was placed in the new 

dock on 10 December 1954.

Public Resource 

1957 onwards 


A programme of major reconstruction, restoration and adaptation was 

then undertaken which lasted until June 1957. The intention was to 

restore her to her appearance in 1872, when she was a tea clipper but 

the crew’s accommodation had moved from the fo’c’sle to deckhouses. 

She was to have running as well as standing rigging, to give the best 

possible impression of a fully rigged ship, albeit without sails. The 

replacement philosophy was like-with-like. 

Despite post-war austerity, the restoration of the Cutty Sark secured 

funding and sponsorship in excess of £300,000 (equivalent to around 

£4.8 million in today's money). 

The emotional return of the Cutty Sark to Greenwich truly captured the 

imagination of the British public, fired by the media frenzy that 

accompanied the story. The ship was feted by national newspapers, and 

Richard Dimbleby's live coverage of the opening ceremony performed 

by HM The Queen in June 1957 had an equivalent to the impact of the 

floating of the Mary Rose two and a half decades later. Early editions of 

the children’s programme Blue Peter used images of the ship in its 

opening titles. 

Since opening to the public more than 14 ½ million visitors have paid to 

visit her. 

So successful was the ship as an attraction that she contributed a 

significant amount of her operating surplus to the restoration of the 21 

ships acquired by the Maritime Trust. These exceeded £1m (equivalent 

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to £5.15m today). In addition the ship was also paying the salaries of a 

fund-raising team to raise the full costs of restoration of ships such as 

Discovery, Cambria, Gannet, Robin, Lydia Eva and Belfast, as well as 

being instrumental in the set-up of the Scottish Fisheries Museum in 

Anstruther. 

Attendances The bars indicate annual attendances (scale on the left); the line the 

500,000 

450,000 

400,000 

350,000 

300,000 

250,000 

200,000 

150,000 

100,000 

50,000 

0 

1957 

1959 

cumulative attendance figures (scale on right) 

1961 

1963 

1965 

1967 

1969 

1971 

1973 

1975 

1977 

1979 

1981 

1983 

1985 

1987 

1989 

1991 

1993 

1995 

1997 

1999 

2001 

2003 0 

Annual visitor numbers show distinct peaks and troughs, but 

attendances declined significantly in the 1990s, due to: 

• loss of coach parking facilities in Cutty Sark Gardens 

16,000,000 

14,000,000 

12,000,000 

10,000,000 

8,000,000 

6,000,000 

4,000,000 

2,000,000 

• damage to Greenwich pier in the early 1990s (caused by a Polish 

warship) which greatly reduced the number of tourists arriving by 

boat 

• increased number of attractions in Greenwich 

• lack of investment in more engaging displays 

• lack of investment in promotion and publicity 

• (more recently) free admission to other attractions in Greenwich –


the National Maritime Museum, Old Royal Observatory and the 

Painted Hall and Chapel. 

The steady decline in visitor numbers has resulted in a number of 

schemes being proposed, including 

• the creation of ‘dockside buildings 

• the creation of facilities in the nearby underground car park 

• the re-presentation of the ship as a museum gallery 

None materialised, due to lack of funding or local resident opposition. 

However, the Cutty Sark Trust has re-organised its operations. Until 

2002, it was run along the merchant navy system, with a Master, 1 st 

and 2 nd Officers and Crew. This has now been replaced with a visitor 

attraction model of management, with an Operations Manger, a Front 

of House team and a technical team. 

Partly as a result of reinvigorating the organisation, attendance for 2003 

exceeded 161,000 visitors, which puts her among the most visited 

historic ships in the UK. It is estimated by the Greenwich Tourist Office 

that currently 2,500,000 visitors pass through Cutty Sark Gardens 

annually (so the ship welcomes 6% of these visitors on board). It 

means, however, that Cutty Sark is the most seen historic ship in the 

UK. 

A profile of visitors in recent years to the ship, and non-visitors in Cutty 

Sark Gardens, by gender, social grouping, residency and age is set out 

in Appendix I. Significantly, there has been a significant increase – 30% 

– in the proportion of local residents visiting. This may in some measure 

be due to the publicity that the ship’s physical condition has generated, 

particularly in the local press, where it is quite clear from the coverage 

that the ship is a much loved part of the Greenwich landscape. 

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Private, 11 

Functions hires 2003 

Associat'n, 

1 

Visiting and looking are not the only ways the ship has been used. From 

the 1960s to the 1980s navigation classes were held on board most 

nights of the week. She is constantly used as a filming backdrop, but 

also as a story in her own right – most recently in a Channel 4 

documentary on ‘Speed Machines’. Channel 4 News has also covered 

her conservation problems in some depth. 

Charity, 6 

Corporate, 

17 

A limited amount of functions hiring was 

undertaken in the 1990s (in the summer 

months), but this has only been actively 

marketed since 2003. The table here shows the 

breakdown of events by category of hirer. The 

first half of 2004 by contrast has seen a 

significant rise in the number of private 

bookings. 

The ship is able to accommodate 120 guests 

seated (but has no food preparation facilities 

of its own) and the saloon is also offered for 

hire for bespoke intimate meals. All function 

hires take place when the ship is closed to the 

general visitor..

3. Understanding the Vessel: Structure and Fabric 

Original Construction 


Cutty Sark is classed as an extreme clipper — a fast sailing ship with 

exceptionally fine hull lines. 

She is of composite construction — i.e. wooden planks attached to iron 

framework with diagonal tie plates let into the planking, with an iron 

box keelson. The planks were sheathed below the waterline with yellow 

metal to prevent fouling. 

The advantages of composite construction were that the iron frames 

took up less space than wooden frames (increasing cargo capacity) and 

anti-fouling treatments for iron-plated hulls at the time were 

inadequate. 

Of 65 clippers built between 1853 and 1870, 33 were wooden, 27 

composite and 5 iron. 

Two other composite construction vessels survive in the UK — City of 

Adelaide (1864), an emigrant ship now lying at Irvine and the gunboat 

HMS Gannet (1878), at Chatham. 

She was built under ‘Special Survey’ which meant regular inspections by 

Surveyors of Lloyd’s Register during construction and she was assigned 

the highest classification for her hull and equipment, i.e. 16A1, 

meaning that she should be subject to a special survey after 16 years. 

25 of 107


Alterations 

1870 — 1953 

Ship rig 

Barquentine 

26 of 107 

The crew accommodation was moved from the foc’sle to a new deck- 

house in 1871. 

The masts and spars were shortened when she began work as a wool 

clipper, facing stormier conditions of Cape Horn. 

Under the Portuguese, she was re-rigged as a barquentine in 1916. 

The original fore lower mast was retained, a new main lower mast 

stepped and the mizzen lower mast was repaired and lengthened. The 

boats, davits, skid beams, etc. were moved forward to a position 

between the fore and main masts. The poop deck accommodation 

was also altered at this time. 

Under Captain Dowman’s ownership Cutty Sark was re-rigged back to 

ship-rig, but using the existing lower masts. Unfortunately, both the 

fore and main lower masts were too short and the mizzen lower too 

long, and many of the spar dimensions were incorrect. Photographs 

show that the shrouds were incorrectly set up. Additional davits and 

lifeboats were fitted abeam of the after deckhouse and in the position 

in which the boats were stowed before the Portuguese alterations. 

Also at this time, four ventilators were installed at the fore end, three 

ventilating the foc’sle accommodation and one replacing the small 

hatch forward of the foremast to ventilate the fore end of the ’tween 

deck. A cowl ventilator, two mushroom ventilators and two skylights 

were fitted to the roof of the afterdeck house, and one cowl ventilator 

fitted at the afterend of the coach roof. Companionways were built 

over the hatchways and, just prior to her departure from Falmouth, 

the ’tween deck was pierced for portholes.

Alterations 

1953 — 1957 


There are no records of structural alterations to the vessel during her 

time at Greenhithe, although during the War, the fore, main and 

mizzen topgallant and royal masts were sent down, with their yards, 

as a precaution against low flying aircraft. They were not sent back up. 

No records have been located detailing any work that may have been 

undertaken in 1951 for the Festival of Britain. 

Masterminded by the then-director of the National Maritime Museum, 

this restoration/reconstruction programme involved a huge amount of 

repair and replacement work, particularly to the superstructure. 

However, the structural and cosmetic alterations to the hull were 

relatively minor, the principle ones being: 

• creation of a new deck in the lower hold for exhibitions 

• emergency exit cut through the bottom of the ship 

• entrance way cut in the side of the ship to provide visitor access 

• insertion of stairways through fore and aft hatches to provide 

visitor access 

A considerable amount of research was undertaken to present the 

ship in a form in which she would have appeared in 1872 (with the 

most notable exception of the configuration of the saloon), including 

gathering primary material, as the working life of the ship was still 

within living memory. Apart from a few errors in the rigging, the use 

of softwoods (which decayed rapidly), and a support system that 

would prove inadequate, as a restoration project, it was an 

outstanding achievement. However, it would today be criticised 

because much evidence of earlier periods was swept away at this time, 

including panelling in the saloon, and a philosophy of replacement 

rather than conservation. 

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Alterations 

1957 — today 

28 of 107 

Again, although there has been a constant programme of repair and 

replacement, little has been done to alter the physical appearance of 

the ship. Works that have affected her visual appearance are: 

• insertion of intermediate frames to strengthen the hull 

• removal of the emergency escape fitted in the 1954-7 restoration, 

but without replacing the cut planking 

• compartmentalisation of forward end of ’tween deck to create 

office accommodation 

• conversion of foc’sle into workshop 

• creation of partitioned area on false deck, initially for exhibition 

but now used as a rigger’s workshop 

• removal of two ventilators at the break in the monkey foc’sle 

• freshwater pump relocated 

Summary Approximately 95% of Cutty Sark’s hull is Victorian; her 

superstructure, masting and rigging date from the 1950s and later. 

A full dating of each element of the ship’s structure and fittings is 

contained in Conservation Plan volume 1: History of Fabric. A brief 

summary is provided on the following pages.

Summary of Fabric History 1 – Original Fabric 

1957 – 2003 

Post restoration 

1953 – 1957 

Restoration 

1938 – 1953 

HMS Worcester 

1922 – 1938 

Training ship at 

Falmouth 

1895 – 1922 

Under 

Portuguese 

Ownership 

1870 – 1895 

Under British 

Ownership 

1869 

Build period 

Hull and Framing 

Apron 

Bulwark (35’ rpr) 

Planking on port top 

side (rpr) 

Sheathing 

Stem (rpr) 

Sheathing 

30’ of false keel 

Head frames / 

rails 

some planking 

repairs 

Frames/floors 

Beams 

Diagonal bracing 

External planking 

Bulwarks 

Keelson 

Bilge keelson 

False keel 

Keel 

Keel plate 

Stem 

Sternpost 

Stringers 


Decks 

Focsle deck 

’Tween deck (rpr) 

Main deck 

’Tween deck 

Main deck (parts) 

Poop 

Superstructure 

Crew WCs 

Coachroof (rpr) 

Coach roof (rpr) 

Deckhouses 

29 of 107


Summary of Fabric History 1 – Original Fabric (cont.) 

30 of 107 

1957 – 2003 


1953 – 1957 

Restoration 

1938 – 1953 

HMS Worcester 

1922 – 1938 


Falmouth 

1895 – 1922 

Under 

Portuguese 

Ownership 

1870 – 1895 

Under British 

Ownership 

1869 

Build period 

Mast, Spars & Rigging 

Fore lower mast 

Fore top mast 

Jibboom 

Main topmast crosstrees 

Fore stuns’l booms 

All yards 

including fore 

stuns’l booms. 

All masts except 

the fore and 

mizzen lower 

mast and 

bowsprit 

Upper part of 

lower mizzen 

mast 

Lower part of 

lower mizzen 

mast 

Outfit 

Catheads 

Fife rails – main & 

foremast 

Focsle companionway 

Figurehead 

Trailboards 

Knightheads 

Lazarette hatch 

Steering gear box 

Anchors 2 

Windlass 

Jolly boat 

Galley range 

Figurehead 

Gingerbread 

Lifeboats 

Nameboards 

Sprinkler system 

Cargo winches fore 

& aft 

Rudder 

Steering gear 

Mooring bitts 

2 Starboard anchor is wooden; port anchor is of correct period, but not original to the ship.

Summary of Fabric History 2 – Additions 

1957 – 2003 


1953 – 1957 

Restoration 

1938 – 1953 

HMS Worcester 

1922 – 1938 


Falmouth 

1895 – 1922 

Under 

Portuguese 

Ownership 

1870 – 1895 

Under British 

Ownership 

1869 

Build period 


Escape hatch in 

bilges 

Intermediate 

frames 

Doorway in fwd 

bulkhead 

Portholes on 

’tween deck 

Decks 

False deck 

Poop 

Access to 

coachhouse / 

configuration of 

master’s 

accommodation 



Masts, Spars & Rigging 

Outfit 

Office 

accommodation 

Fore and 

afterhatch 

companion ways 

Bilge drain 

pumps 

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Summary of Fabric History 3 – Removals 

1957 – 2003 


1953 – 1957 

Restoration 

1938 – 1953 

HMS Worcester 

1922 – 1938 


Falmouth 

1895 – 1922 

Under 

Portuguese 

Ownership 

1870 – 1895 

Under British 

Ownership 

1869 

Build period 

32 of 107 


Cement in bilges 

Internal planking 

(ceiling) 

Decks 

Cement on main 

deck waterway 

Poop 


Masts, Spars & Rigging 

Outfit 

Barometer 

Water tanks 

Foc’sle 

accomm— 

odation

Profile (cutaway) 


1869 - build period 

1870 - 1895: under British flag 

1895 - 1922: under Portguese flag 

1922 - 1938: Falmouth 

1938 - 1953: HMS Worcester 

1953 - 1957: restoration 

1957 - 2003: post restoration 

uncertain 

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Deck Plans 

34 of 107 




1922 - 1938: Falmouth 




uncertain

External Profiles 





1922 - 1938: Falmouth 




uncertain 

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Planking and cross-bracing 

36 of 107 




1922 - 1938: Falmouth 




uncertain

Midship Section 





1922 - 1938: Falmouth 




uncertain 

37 of 107


4. Understanding the Vessel: Cultural Role 

4.1. Measures of Fame 

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Cutty Sark was a famous ship during her working life. She was a visitor 

attraction in Sydney in the 1880s as well as in the 1910s when under 

Portuguese ownership. Records show that she was a popular attraction 

in London during World War I when she called in for a refit. 

She was the first ship regularly open to the public in the UK since 

Drake’s Golden Hind (which was soon destroyed by souvenir hunters). 

She was opened to the public at Falmouth six years before HMS Victory 

and nine years before USS Constitution. 

She is the only ship in England to be given Listed Grade I status.


The Cutty Sark Trust would, of course, assert that Cutty Sark is one of 

the most famous ships in the world, but, without costly market 

research, this is difficult to prove, particularly in relative terms. 

A quick vox pop survey was undertaken on Monday 27 th January when 

88 people were interviewed at four London locations: Trafalgar Square, 

outside the London Eye, Vinopolis/Southwark Cathedral and the Tower 

of London. The survey is by no means statistically significant, but it does 

serve as an indication of awareness of maritime history and the place of 

Cutty Sark therein. 

Awareness of Historic Ships 

Total Spontaneous awareness Overall 

0% 20% 40% 

Cutty Sark 

33% 77% 

Belfast 

31% 68% 

Titanic 

21% 

Victory 

21% 56% 

Golden Hind 

18% 

Santa Maria 

14% 

Mary Rose 

13% 53% 

Pinta 

12% 

Queen Mary 

10% 

Mayflower 

9% 

Nina 

9% 

QE2 

9% 

Endeavour 

8% 57% 

Discovery 

Consitution 

6% 

5% 

58% 

Queen Mary 2 

5% 

Noah's Ark 

4% 

Bismark 

4% 

Vasa 

Great Britain 2% 

4% 

Top of Mind, 1st mention 

Graf Spee 2% 

Other spontaneous mentions 

As can be seen in the table above , Cutty Sark scored highest on a 

spontaneous and prompted basis: first known top of mind, that is to 

say first name mentioned, for 16%; top on overall spontaneous 

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Vessel 

awareness 38% of all people mentioned the ship without prompting. 

Lastly, when prompted on the name Cutty Sark, total awareness rises to 

77%. (It should be noted that this knowledge of the ship is 

concentrated among Londoners and out of town UK visitors who 

formed just over half (56%) of the sample.) 

Romantic and national histories all appear to play a part as international 

visitors were most likely to recall Titanic (mentioned spontaneously by 

35% of foreign visitors), with Nina, Pinta and Santa Maria (Columbus’s 

three ships on his first transatlantic voyage) closely following. 

In addition, on the simple premise that the more famous a ship, the 

more models and images of it would be in circulation, the number of 

models and prints available on the international internet site ebay.com 

was counted on three occasions, each six months apart. The results on 

the three occasions show a remarkable consistency and Cutty Sark, by 

this measure, is the second most famous ship in the world. 

9.4.03 

Models available Prints available 

8.12.03 

9.4.04 

Titanic 60 82 74 216 15 30 29 74 290 

Cutty Sark 21 39 28 88 5 5 3 13 101 

Constitution 27 11 32 70 4 3 11 18 88 

Mayflower 8 20 7 35 2 1 7 10 45 

Victory 11 12 13 36 1 2 2 5 41 

Santa Maria 12 12 15 39 0 0 0 0 39 

Golden Hind 0 6 3 9 0 1 0 1 10 

Cook’s Endeavour 1 3 3 7 1 0 2 3 10 

Mary Rose 0 1 1 2 0 0 0 0 2 

Britannia (royal yacht) 0 0 1 1 0 0 0 0 1 

Great Britain 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 

Finally, to gauge whether the fame of Cutty Sark is simply a recent 

phenomenon, the catalogue of The Times 1785 – 1985 at the British 

Total 

9.4.03 

8.12.03 

9.4.04 

Total 

Total items

4.2. The Image 


Newspaper Library was consulted. Using ship names as keywords, the 

following numbers of records were found: Cutty Sark 1,305; the Mary 

Rose 410; SS Great Britain 87; HMS Victory 62; HMS Warrior 26; and 

RS Discovery 11. Included in the Cutty Sark number may be some 

references to the yacht and the racehorse in the 1920s of the same 

name, but this is unlikely that these amount to significant numbers. 

Images of Cutty Sark are used widely, to evoke 

or as symbolic of the great age of sail. 

The word ‘clipper’ is now being used in 

London on various means of transport for its 

implication of a fast vessel. It is also now a 

brand of tea. 

Cutty Sark public houses are to be found not 

only in places with strong associations with the 

ship, such as Dumbarton, Falmouth, 

Greenwich and Cape Town, but also in less 

likely places, for example Ljubljana in Slovenia. 

Even in the 1920s — a quarter of a decade 

after her record-breaking voyages — her image 

was famous enough to be appropriated by 

Berry Bros. & Rudd for a brand of light whisky 

aimed at the American market – presumably 

because it had sufficient familiarity. The 

original label design — by the Scottish artist 

James McBey (1883–1959) — is still in use. 

41 of 107


4.3. The Inspiration 

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Francis Chichester’s circumnavigation in 1966-67 

in the yacht Gipsy Moth IV was directly inspired by 

Cutty Sark. Carrying with him the masthead ‘cutty 

sark’, this voyage attempted to beat the times of 

actually set by Cutty Sark, following her route to 

Australia and back. It was no coincidence that the 

sponsor was the International Wool Secretariat. 

Chichester was subsequently knighted at 

Greenwich, and a new berth created in Cutty Sark 

Gardens for Gipsy Moth IV. 

Cutty Sark was also an inspiration for the designer 

of Cunard’s Queen Mary 2, Stephen Payne. His 

visits to the clipper, beginning at the age of seven 

led him to a career in naval architecture. 

Currently, there are nine kit models available for 

Cutty Sark, each from a different manufacturer. 

They range in price from £15 to over £1,000.


The architects Grimshaw & Partners looked at the 

technology of the ship and adapted it for long- 

span structures in the 1980s, such as the Western 

Morning News offices in Plymouth and Oxford’s 

Ice Rink (which is indeed known locally as ‘Cutty 

Sark’). 

The ship has been the inspiration for numerous 

artists, amateur and professional. This bow view is 

by John Everett (1876-1949), painted in the 1930s 

long after her sailing days were over. 

The ship also gave her name to an aircraft, first 

flown in 1929. 

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4.4. Recent References in Popular Culture 

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Cutty Sark has also inspired musicians. It is the 

name of a recent folk piece and a theme tune by 

John Barry; mentioned in a Dire Straits lyric and 

the name of a 1980s German rock band. A 

Belgian recording company currently goes under 

the name of ‘Cutty Shark’ (see below) . 

The ship’s name is sufficiently embodied in 

public consciousness to be included in this 

tabloid headline (and in the Belgian record 

company’s name) without explanation of the 

pun. 

An extract from: The Bart Simpson Guide to 

Life: a wee guide for the perplexed (Harper 

Collins 2000).

BBC TELEVISION 

French & Saunders 

Christmas Show 2003 

[In balloon over London] 

SAUNDERS: Have you been on the 

Cutty Sark? 

FRENCH: I haven’t touched a 

drop. 

4.5. The Scottish Connection 

The masthead cutty sark. in sheet 

metal 


A joke which works because the name ‘Cutty 

Sark’ is primarily associated with the ship, not 

the whisky. 

Cutty Sark was Scottish 

-designed 

-built 

-owned 

Of 73 clippers built in the UK between 1853 and 1871, 

41 were built in Scottish yards. 

A distinctive feature of the later clippers (including Cutty 

Sark) is the so-called Aberdeen bow, developed by Halls 

of Aberdeen, a yard in which Cutty Sark’s designer was 

apprenticed. 

Her name is a Lowland Scots term for a short nightdress 

immortalised in the poem Tam O’Shanter by Scotland’s 

national poet, Robert Burns. 

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Tam and Meg pursued by Nannie 

Cutty Sark’s figurehead of Nannie 

holds the tail of Meg 

46 of 107 

It is uncertain whether the name Cutty Sark was the 

choice of John Willis, the owner, or Hercules Linton, the 

designer. However, it is noteworthy that one of Willis’s 

other ships, The Tweed, 1 had a figurehead of Tam 

O’Shanter, and another of his clippers was Hallowe’en, 

so Willis may have been developing a theme. 

The Tam O’ Shanter Story 

Tam, after an evening drinking, comes across a coven of 

witches and warlocks (with the Devil himself in 

attendance) and is pursued by the witch Nannie, who is 

wearing a cutty sark. 

Her cutty sark, o’ Paisley harn, 

That while a lassie she had worn, 

In longitude tho’ sorely scantly… 

Tam escapes Nannie thanks to his faithful horse Meg 

who reaches a bridge before the witch can catch him (as 

a witch cannot cross water). But only just – Nannie pulls 

out Meg’s tail as they cross. 

Now wha this tale o’ truth shall read 

Ilk man, and mother’s son take heed 

Whene’er to drink you are inclin’d 

Or cutty sarks run in your mind, 

Think! ye may buy the joy’s o’er dear: 

Remember Tam O’Shanter’s mare. 

Why a ship should be named after a garment worn by a 

supernatural being unable to cross water has never been 

explained.

4.6. Landmark of Greenwich 


The Borough of Greenwich, as redefined in terms of its boundaries under 

the 1964 Local Government Act, is misnamed in that it is in fact the 

‘Borough of Greater Woolwich’ in terms of its political centre of gravity, 

population density and its late 20 th century demographic and economic 

history as an area of industrial decline. The ‘historic Greenwich’ area 

from which it takes its name is a comparatively small enclave in the 

north-west corner (though with some of the same problems). 

The reason why the name ‘Greenwich’ rather than Woolwich was 

adopted is obvious, but worth restating. It embodies a world fame 

based on Greenwich Mean Time and the possession of historic (and 

royal) national cultural assets which constitute the strongest possible 

‘brand’ for what was a generally depressed and underprivileged part of 

outer London for over half a century. It also strongly represents what a 

majority of local people of all sorts are most intensely proud of in their 

borough. 

The presence of Cutty Sark in particular as ‘maritime icon’ of the 

Borough, no less than of the historic Greenwich town centre, plays a 

major part in this. The ship’s arrival – twelve years before local 

government reorganisation when ‘historic Greenwich’ was an 

independent local authority – is the first of three seminal events to have 

benefited the historic town in the second half of the 20 th century, with 

outward ripple effect for the modern Borough and surrounding area. 

The other two were the repurposing of the Old Royal Naval College as a 

modern university campus and the almost simultaneous arrival in 1998- 

99 of the Docklands Light Railway finally making Greenwich ‘part of 

London’ on the London Underground Map – a culturally critical measure 

47 of 107


48 of 107 

in terms of general perceptions. 

As regards the ship specifically, the DLR ‘Cutty 

Sark for Maritime Greenwich’ station is one of 

only five on the London Transport Network 

named after an attraction, and the only one in 

which that is an ‘artefact’ rather than a building 

or park. The perceived importance of having such 

a station in the town centre close to the 

ship was also demonstrated by the fact that the Borough and other local 

partners entirely paid for its construction which was excluded from the 

main DLR extension project for legal reasons. 

The local cultural impact of Cutty Sark is thus well summarised in the 

official history of the National Maritime Museum (to 1967): 

‘The importance of the Cutty Sark being located in 

Greenwich cannot be over emphasised. For anyone 

who emerges from the adjacent foot-tunnel under the 

Thames, or arrives by river, the presence of the ship 

transforms one’s expectations, putting the sea into a 

landscape which is otherwise dominated by historic but 

not essentially nautical buildings… The ship’s opening 

marked the moment when maritime activity in 

Greenwich was overtaken by maritime history, and 

when a preserved vessel could both visibly represent the 

maritime element of the district, and balance its historic 

Royal Naval associations with a powerful symbol of 

London (and Britain’s) equally historic legacy of seaborne 

commerce. At that time the Port of London was 

still busy with shipping and with trade. But in ‘Maritime 

Greenwich’ by the mid-1950s only the Royal Naval 

College retained its direct – and largely invisible – links 

with the sea. From the summit of Observatory hill a 

notional observer could still look out across a landscape 

where …..[maritime] education was still prominent, for 

museums [i.e. the National Maritime Museum] 

emphasised that aspect of their work. But the view was 

also one in which the other historic ‘traditions’ of 

Greenwich as a resort for recreation and as a theatre of 

memory were beginning to dominate. The transition 

from ‘real’ activity to ‘heritage’ had been a long one,


but somewhere between Attlee’s New Britain and the 

New Elizabethan age of Churchill’s last administration 

the balance shifted irrevocably 

Littlewood and Butler1998, 157. 

This view was implicitly endorsed in UNESCO’s inscription of ‘Maritime 

Greenwich’ as a World Heritage Site in 1997 and reiterated in the first 

and subsequent editions of the WHS Management Plan, which describes 

the ship as: 

‘…of international importance, a major tourist 

attraction and, to many, one of the most potent 

symbols of Britain’s maritime pre-eminence in the 

nineteenth century. She makes an invaluable 

contribution to the character of Maritime Greenwich as 

the maritime centre of the capital. As a major national 

icon she is the physical embodiment of the naval and 

maritime virtues which lie enshrined in the neighbouring 

Royal Naval College and National Maritime Museum’ 

English Heritage / Greenwich Council 2003 

The truth of this is regularly demonstrated in various ways. At its 

simplest is Cutty Sark’s perpetual presence on postcards and similar 

material, often at the centre of a collage of images representing 

London as a whole. This may be partly due to the ship’s aesthetic 

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50 of 107 

qualities as a ‘central’ image in the design of such material; it may be a 

conscious acknowledgement of London’s maritime past, or an entirely 

unconscious recognition that the City – despite the demise of the 

inner-city Thames as ‘the port of Empire’ – is still the world capital of 

shipping in financial and regulatory terms. Which, any or all of these is 

less important than the fact that Cutty Sark remains such a powerful 

cultural symbol and London signifier. 

This has now gained a further layer in the 23-year history 

of the London Marathon – a worldwide annual televised 

event in which Cutty Sark has become a major 

international sporting icon as well in its role as the first 

important waypoint of the route after the spectacular 

start at the southern gates of Greenwich Park. The point is only made 

more powerful by the fact that it is the only famous landmark in the 

‘Maritime Greenwich World Heritage Site’ that is given Marathon 

coverage.

4.7. The Memorial 

The design in charcoal for the 

memorial wreath executed by the 

modernist sculptor Maurice Lambert 

(1901-64). The concrete wreath is 

fixed to the southern face of the 

dock wall. 

The commemorative plaques 


The intention of the Cutty Sark Steering Committee in the 

1950s was that one of its purposes would be a memorial to 

the Merchant Navy — particularly those lost during the World 

Wars. Documents at the National Archives show that this 

proposal was endorsed by the Royal Navy. It was planned that 

the house flags of ships lost would be flown on Cutty Sark on 

the anniversaries of their sinking, but this has not been put 

into practice. 

The ship was also intended as a memorial to the merchant 

seamen of the age of sail, as signified by a plaque on the 

dock wall. 

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5. Understanding the Collection 

52 of 107 

The Cutty Sark Trust has a large collection of maritime-related 

artefacts, acquired over the years. These include objects from the ship 

herself, such as her original bell, binnacles, wood carvings (e.g. the Star 

of India stern carving), Nannie, the original (but restored) figurehead 

now on display on the ‘tween deck and the cutty sark mast head 

emblem. In addition, the Trust possesses a collection of artefacts 

relating to the ship and her history, ranging from her first voyages as a 

tea clipper, to those sailed under Portuguese flag, to her days as a 

training ship before arriving at Greenwich. This collection includes 

objects connected to the Cutty Sark’s designers, builders, owners, crews 

and cargoes, as well as the clipper ship genre and the Merchant Navy. It 

also includes a number of artefacts relating to Robert Burns, the author 

of the poem from which she derives her name.


Of these the largest group of artefacts is the Cumbers Collection, 

donated to the Cutty Sark Preservation Society in 1953 by the collector 

Sydney Cumbers (1875-1959). 

Although the Cumbers Collection was an eclectic gathering of artefacts, 

ranging from a model of a Viking Longship to a photograph of Margate 

Jetty, it contained 104 ships’ figureheads — by far the largest collection 

in the world ( for example more than four times the size of the National 

Maritime Museum’s Collection). 

The figurehead collection is described more fully in Appendix II. In 

summary, all are of merchant ships, the earliest dating from around 

1660, but the vast majority are 19 th century. The sheer number of them 

create a virtually self-contained reference collection for this important 

folk art. 

The figureheads also portray several of the main celebrities of that time 

– Disraeli, Fry, Garibaldi, Gladstone, Gordon, Lincoln, Nightingale, Omar 

Pasha, Pitt and Wilberforce are all represented. 55 figureheads are on 

permanent display on the false deck. 

The Cutty Sark Trust was awarded provisional Museum Registration in 

November 2003. Its Acquisitions and Disposals Policy, following 

Re:source guidelines, states that the Trust now seeks to acquire and 

retain only material relating to the history of Cutty Sark; clipper ships; 

the China tea trade; and Robert Burns memorabilia, especially that 

relating to Tam O’Shanter. A Documentation Assistant was appointed 

in 2003 and a full inventory of the collection was completed in January 

2004. This is now being transferred to a MODES database. 

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6. Understanding the Site 

54 of 107 

Cutty Sark has no historical link with Greenwich beyond her presence 

here for over 50 years. She is located in purpose built dock on the 

former site of the Ship Hotel which was bombed in World War II. 

1869 

Greenwich Hospital 

Ship Hotel 

Pepys Building / Mews Block 

The First Greenwich Hospital Improvement Bill, passed in 1831, set out 

Nelson Street, King William Street and Clarence Street (later renamed 

College Approach). The Hospital was also responsible for the building 

of Greenwich Pier and the Ship Hotel in 1858. On one side of the hotel 

ran Greenwich Church Street, down to the Garden Stairs on the water’s 

edge; one the other side, King William Walk ran up to the Park.

An interwar view with the Ship Hotel on the left. 


1916 

The 1,300-metre long Greenwich Foot Tunnel, linking Greenwich with 

the Isle of Dogs, was built in 1902; the Rotunda on the Greenwich side 

being sited just to the west of the Ship Hotel. 

Rotunda for 

tunnel 

Part of the Ship Hotel was demolished in 1908 to build 13 houses. 

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56 of 107 

1951 

During World War II, the Ship Hotel and the attached houses were 

bombed and damaged beyond repair. The site was sold to the London 

County Council to create a riverside park. 

As the plan below shows, several locations for Cutty Sark’s dry dock 

were considered. The dock was constructed in none of these locations 

but to the south of Site B.

Cross section of the dock 


To create the dock for Cutty Sark, not only were the 

bombed remains of the Ship Hotel and the houses 

attached to it demolished, but also the buildings in the 

immediate vicinity of the tunnel rotunda. 

1977 

Close by in another dry berth is 

Gipsy Moth IV, sailed single- 

handedly round the world by Sir 

Francis Chichester, 1966-7. 

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Location in Cutty Sark Gardens 

58 of 107 

The dock and the surrounding Cutty Sark Gardens are owned by 

Greenwich Council. Considerable investment was made by the Council 

and the Greenwich Development Agency in the 1990s to enhance the 

area. Now, in collaboration with other Maritime Greenwich partners, the 

Council has commissioned a masterplan for the Gardens, to be 

undertaken in conjunction with a commercial developer, specifically to 

enhance the ship and its long term sustainability.

World Heritage Site 


Cutty Sark now lies within the Greenwich 

World Heritage Site, which encompasses the 

former Royal Naval College, the National 

Maritime Museum (including the Old Royal 

Observatory), the Royal Park and Greenwich 

town centre. The Site includes Vanbrugh Castle 

and St Alphege’s Church, and thereby 

altogether creates a showcase of Stuart and 

Georgian architecture within a relatively small 

area, with works by Inigo Jones, Sir Christopher 

Wren, Nicholas Hawskmoor and Sir John 

Vanbrugh. 

The World Heritage Site partners recognise the importance of the ship, 

not least its role as a gateway to the whole Maritime Greenwich World 

Heritage Site. 

Cutty Sark’s particular contribution to the World Heritage Site status is 

through UNESCO’s Criterion vi: directly or tangibly associated with 

events or living traditions, with ideas or with beliefs or with literary 

works of outstanding international importance. 

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7. Assessment of Significance 

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Among institutions at the heart of heritage management, there is a 

widespread acceptance that Cutty Sark is of considerable significance. 

On 8 th June1973, the Department of the Environment listed her at 

Grade I, the only ship in England to be given such a designation. 5 

Twenty years later, she was described by English Heritage as: 

‘almost certainly the finest surviving 19 th century ship in the world’. 6 

The World Heritage Site’s view of the ship has been quoted above 

(page 49): a major national icon. 

The National Historic Ships Committee (NHSC) has included Cutty Sark 

in its Core Collection of the fifty-eight vessels the Committee considers 

to be of outstanding national importance. Inclusion in this system is 

based on a scoring system, against the following criteria: 

1. technological innovation 

2. exemplary status – type and construction 

3. exemplary status – function 

4. aesthetic impact 

5. historical associations with people and events 

6. socio-economic association 

7. percentage of original fabric (by reference to the end 

8. condition 

9. age 

of her normal working life) 

10. scarcity of type 

11. scarcity of function


These criteria are, understandably, restricted to factors relating to the 

vessel as a working ship. Actual scores are not made public by the 

NHSC, but it is likely that Cutty Sark would score highly on exemplary 

status of type and construction and function, aesthetic impact, 

percentage of original fabric and scarcity of type. She is unlikely to score 

highly on technological innovation (as there is nothing revolutionary 

about the way she was built or sailed), historical associations (she is not 

linked with any persons of national, let alone international importance) 

or socio-economic activities (her contribution to 19 th century trade was 

comparatively small) or scarcity of function (as there are several 

preserved merchant ships, although in tiny numbers compared to 

preserved buildings). 

The NHSC assessment recognises that significance can take a number of 

forms and one of the key criteria is the percentage of original fabric. A 

more sophisticated approach (suggested by Kerr ,1982) and particularly 

useful for buildings, is to ‘deconstruct’ a structure by tabulating all its 

constituent parts, dating them and assessing the significance of each 

part. The first part of this process has been set out in the Cutty Sark 

Conservation Plan volume 1: History of Fabric, where the results of 

which have been summarised in Section 3 above. But to take it further 

would be to conclude that the ship is of little significance. Even to the 

avid ship historian, there is nothing of exceptional significance about 

her planking. It could also be argued that, given the existence of fine 

Victorian ironwork elsewhere (in stations, bridges and piers as well as in 

ships), her composite construction (itself a short-lived technique 

between the ages of wood and steel) is of little significance too. The 

patent for full iron framing was taken out in 1850. Twenty years later, 

the use of iron as a basic load carrying structure was finished. 

Furthermore, take away the planking and the iron framework, and the 

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rest of the ship is largely a 20 th century reconstruction. 

Thus, it is the Cutty Sark Trust’s contention that the ship’s significance 

does not come from the significance of her individual elements, but 

rather from her whole. 

It might be argued that the ship’s significance is no more than fame, 

brought about at least in part by her survival as the world’s only tea 

clipper. However, it has been shown here that among clippers (a ship 

developed specifically for speed), Cutty Sark was one of the fastest, and 

her fame began during her working life among those who could 

appreciate her fine lines. It is not the case that Cutty Sark has acquired, 

from the very fact of her survival, a fame which she did not have at the 

time. Cutty Sark’s status is firmly anchored in the late nineteenth 

century, when she was built as a thoroughbred and deservedly won this 

accolade during her early career. Her survival is not a matter of chance, 

but the result of deliberate actions to save her by men who recognised 

her importance. 

However, to argue that Cutty Sark is one of the most significant 

clippers, begs the question, how significant was the clipper? 

Numerically, they were few even in their heyday, compared to the 

thousands of other types of sailing ship. Cutty Sark does not represent 

the typical merchant ship of the period: what she does represent is the 

speed machine of the era. As the newspaper articles of the times show, 

as such she attracted huge public interest. In much the same way, 

Concorde is not a typical aircraft, the Ferrari not the typical car, but 

their significance lies in them being the speed machines of their eras. 

A by-product of this is her beauty as a piece of ship architecture that

Prioritising 

Significances 


can be appreciated by those with no knowledge of sailing or ships. And 

from this has grown a cultural significance, which has placed her, 

despite her actual untypicalness, as the archetypal sailing ship. 

• On the basis of her history and her current fabric, the Cutty Sark 

Trust believe that the ship could be regarded as significant in 16 

different ways, some of which overlap. 

• Some of these possible significances are judged to be more 

important than others and therefore in order to conclude a 

Statement of Significance which can genuinely inform decision 

making, they have been ranked in descending order of 

importance. 

• An initial ranking was achieved by distributing 100 points 

between the sixteen by the Chief Executive and his curatorial 

adviser. This was amended after consultations with the Board of 

Trustees, the International Congress of Maritime Museums, the 

Maritime Curators Group and consultation through the Trust’s 

website. 

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Sixteen 

Significances of 

Cutty Sark 

The only other extreme clipper in 

the world – the wreck of 

Ambassador, now lying near Punta 

Arenas. 

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1 Clipper: Cutty Sark is one of only two surviving clippers in the world 

(the other being City of Adelaide) and the majority of her hull 

fabric dates from this period, and as a vessel purely designed to 

carry cargo, she is the more representative of the type. 

Furthermore, as one of the later examples and an extreme 

clipper, she is an embodiment of its ultimate evolution. 

2 Sailing ship: Although there are a number of sailing ships, both 

preserved and replica, Cutty Sark represents the pinnacle of 

evolution of commercial sail in terms of speed, carrying a 

remarkable amount of canvas in relation to her size. As sail has 

been the predominant mode of ship propulsion for longer than 

any other method, there is a particular value in the vessel that 

represents the highest evolution of the form of the ship-rig. 

3 Aesthetic qualities: She is the archetypal image of a beautiful sailing 

ship, with her image used widely both commercially and 

artistically. She is included in the World Heritage Site along with 

buildings by Jones and Wren. It is recognised by the Greenwich 

Council planners who have ensured that the seating in Cutty 

Sark Gardens is arranged almost entirely around views of the 

ship. 

4 Composite construction vessel: Cutty Sark is the best of the three 

surviving composite construction vessels. Gannet does not have 

the diagonal ties let into the planking, nor the stringer 

arrangement. Cutty Sark is in considerably better condition than 

City of Adelaide. Furthermore, if the current plan to return the 

latter to a seaworthy condition succeeds, this will result in a 

considerable loss of fabric and major modifications to her


structure. Although composite construction was a relatively 

short-lived construction method, almost half the UK-built clippers 

constructed between 1853 and 1870 were composite. This 

reinforces Cutty Sark value as a representative of clippers in 

general. As clippers had on average a life of 13 years, Cutty 

Sark’s survival for 135 years is an indication of the quality of her 

construction. 

5 Learning experience: 14.7 million people have paid to see the vessel 

since 1957. She generally receives more than 150,000 visitors a 

year – which puts her high on any list of museum attractions 

(and very high on any list of ship attractions). This is clear 

evidence of a wide interest in the stories the ship has to tell. 

6 Greenwich landmark: The image of Cutty Sark is used widely to 

publicise the borough, by the Council and various other 

Greenwich-based organisations such as Greenwich Community 

College. It is widely concluded that Cutty Sark acts as a gateway 

for Maritime Greenwich. She contributes immensely to the World 

Heritage Site as the only ship in a maritime-orientated complex. 

7 Tea clipper: This was the purpose for which she was built and how 

she is most widely perceived. Her structure is tangible evidence of 

the importance of the tea trade in the 19th century. 

8 International ‘icon’: Cutty Sark is one of the most famous ships in the 

world, on the evidence of both the ‘ebay test’ (page 40) and a 

remarkable 30% of visitors being long haul. 

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9 Memorial to the Merchant Navy: This was a specific 

objective of the 1950s and the ship forms the most dramatic 

memorial imaginable. 

10 Scottish pedigree: Cutty Sark’s Scottishness is of course celebrated 

most clearly in her name, but she is also one of a number of 

preserved ships (including Glenlee and Britannia) that reflect 

Scotland’s ship-building history, and is the earliest surviving 

example. A large number of clippers were built in Scotland. Halls 

of Aberdeen are generally regarded as the most innovative of 

designers and builders (and it was in this yard that Cutty Sark’s 

own designer, Linton, served his apprenticeship), but a number 

were also built on the Clyde, for example by Robert Steele & Co. 

at Greenock. Cutty Sark was of course completed by one of 

Scotland most famous shipbuilding yards – Wm. Denny & Sons. 

11 Merchant ship: Although as a tea clipper she is an example of a 

merchant ship, she is not a representative example – she was a 

specialised sailing vessel of a construction that was in use for a 

very short period. 

12 Wool clipper: It was as a wool clipper that she made her most 

famous voyages, possibly because she was under the command 

of a very skilful master, Richard Woodget. As noted above, so 

highly was her speed regarded that she could be a ship of last 

resort for late despatch. The only difference in appearance to her 

earlier role as a tea clipper was shorter masts and loss of the 

skysail. However, in terms of relative cultural significance, her 

role as a tea clipper takes precedence: not only is this her current 

main claim to fame, but also the appearance to which the 1922 

and 1950s restorations sought to return her.


13 London landmark: Cutty Sark is publicised by airlines, such as Virgin, 

and the BTA to publicise the city; she appears on postcards for 

sale in the centre; is a logo on Central buses and is a key marker 

on the marathon route. 

14 Portuguese trader: Cutty Sark was at sea under a Portuguese flag 

longer than she was under a British flag. Her history between 

1895 and 1914 is a gap in our knowledge, and research is 

ongoing. However, nothing discovered so far suggests that she in 

this or the 1914-1922 period played a role of particular 

significance in the Portuguese maritime scene. The stir she 

caused when visiting ports during this period was not caused by 

her then-appearance, but because she was recognised as having 

been Cutty Sark, the famous clipper. Furthermore, fabric from 

poop accommodation configuration was removed during the 

1950s, with the exception of the after companionway and the 

‘porch’ to the forward companionway. 

15 Training ship at Falmouth: It was Captain Dowman’s actions at 

Falmouth that effectively saved her for the nation, but there is no 

record of any of the students going on to great things. It explains 

why there is a pub called The Cutty Sark in Falmouth, but she 

seems to have made little lasting impact otherwise. The Cutty 

Sark Trust’s Oral History Project has found a number of 

octogenarians in the town with clear recollections of the ship, 

but the collections of the National Maritime Museum Cornwall 

(which have absorbed those of the Cornish Maritime Museum) 

have nothing relating to her stay except a single photograph. 

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16 Training ship at Greenhithe: As at Falmouth, there is no known 

association with figures of national significance, and there is no 

commemoration whatsoever of her time at Greenhithe. Despite 

the proximity (in time and space) to Greenwich, there appears 

to have been no effort by the Worcester old boys to add any 

kind of memorial to the ship to celebrate the connection. 

Key Conclusions The top four significances are intimately combined: she would not be a 

clipper unless she was a sailing ship and all her aesthetic appeal is 

derived from her being a sailing ship and a clipper. It is the combination 

of sail and hull form that define Cutty Sark. Her sails have long been 

lost, but she is a preserved ship which uniquely has running as well as 

standing rigging, which gives a more realistic idea of her sailing 

appearance. 

The ship’s hull shape is unchanged from the date she left the builders at 

Dumbarton. This shape is determined principally by her framework and 

therefore the composite construction has a significance beyond an 

interesting 19th century building technique. It is fundamental to 

creating the shape of the ship and therefore key to her overall 

significance. 

It is the view of the Cutty Sark Trust that not everything that happened 

to the ship is of equal significance. In particular, her periods as a 

training ship in both Falmouth and Greenhithe are regarded as of 

relatively little significance to the vessel’s current and potential 

audiences.

Significance of the Collection 


The figurehead collection, as the world’s largest collection, is of 

considerable importance as a reference for this form of maritime folk 

art. 

However, the only direct historic link the collection has with Cutty Sark is 

that the ship is from the era when figureheads were the norm. 

The display of the collection onboard is not intrinsic to the ship: its 

presence neither enhances or detracts from the significance of the 

vessel. 

Therefore the figurehead collection will be the subject of a separate 


The remainder of the Cutty Sark Trust’s Collection is being shaped as an 

aid to interpreting the ship, and has no significance beyond this. 

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8. Statement of Significance 

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The evidence presented in this document leads to the conclusion that 

not only is Cutty Sark significant, she is significant in a number of ways. 

However, it has also been argued that, although her career gave her 

certain roles, they are not all of equal significance. In summary 

therefore, it is concluded that the ship’s significance – that which we 

wish to preserve – can be summarised thus: 

• She is the world’s sole surviving extreme clipper, a type of vessel 

that was the highest development of the fast commercial sailing 

ship, with the majority of her hull fabric surviving from her 

original construction. 

• She is internationally appreciated for her beauty and is one of the 

most famous ships in the world. 

• Her fine lines – a considerable part of her appeal – are defined by 

her frames which form part of the vessel’s composite 

construction, a construction technique of which she is the best 

surviving example and of which she is of exceptional quality. 

• She has captured the imagination of millions of people, 14 million 

of whom have come on board to learn the stories she has to tell. 

• She is a gateway to the World Heritage Site at Greenwich and is a 

key asset to both the World Heritage Site and the Borough of 

Greenwich. 

• As a tea clipper, she is tangible evidence of the importance of tea 

in 19th century trade and cultural life.

9. Vulnerability of Significance 

Fabric 


As argued above, Cutty Sark is significant in several ways, but many of 

these overlap. To discuss the vulnerability of these significances it is 

therefore convenient to consider them under broad headings, as for 

example, many of the potential threats to her significance as a tea 

clipper are identical to those that may threaten the beauty of her lines. 

The threats are to, in broad terms, her fabric, her appearance, her 

appeal and her sustainability. 

As described in the Cutty Sark Conservation Plan volume 2: Condition 

Report, the ship’s fabric has some severe problems: 

• Continuing corrosion in the frames, floors, butt plates, stringer 

plates, bulkheads, keelplates, keelsons, box keelson, keelplate. The 

condition of some of the wrought iron is becoming so critical that 

the integrity of the structure is being compromised. 

• Degradation in the wood planking. 

• Weakening of the bolts, most notably in the bilges. 

• Leaking of the main deck, causing a build up of water in the bilges 

and aft peak and promoting corrosion in the upper parts of the 

frames. 

• The timber false keel is rotting: maintenance being made 

particularly difficult due to the concrete plinth. 

• The exterior support for the ship provides only spot loading to the 

structure and not the all-round support which the ship would have 

in water. The downward pressure from the hull is causing sagging, 

which will eventually cause major distortions in the shape and 

breakage in the structure. 

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Appearance 

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• Environmental conditions in the ship are not generally conducive to 

retarding the degradation of the iron and wood. 

If these are not addressed, the integrity of the ship is threatened in the 

next 2-3 years. It is, of course, the Trust’s primary objective to avoid this 

happening. However, it is clear that whatever conservation treatment is 

selected, some loss of original fabric is inevitable. With any loss of fabric 

from the ship’s working life, her significance as a 19 th -century tea clipper 

is diminished, no matter how little. Yet without this work, the ship will at 

worst cease to exist and at best no longer be an accessible public 

attraction. 

Externally, the ship has the appearance of Cutty Sark in 1872. Internally, 

however, intrusions of the 1950s give a misleading impression of what 

the ship looked like. These include the entrance, which is cut in the side 

of the ship below what would have been the waterline, companionways 

inserted through the forward and aft hatches and a false deck below 

the ‘tween deck. These intrusions were made for understandable 

reasons of improving access to the ship, and it is unlikely that any new 

proposed configuration could dispense with these altogether. Although 

they would have been apparent at the time, the patina of the last 50 

years has made these intrusions indistinguishable to the average visitor 

from the original fabric of the ship. Furthermore, all the ‘visitor 

servicing’ activities – ticketing, orientation and retail – must all take 

place on the ship itself: reducing the area available for interpretation 

and learning activities.

Appeal 

Sustainability 


As has been shown in the graph on page 22, Cutty Sark has seen a 

considerable decline in visitor numbers. It is believe that much of this has 

been due to external factors – specifically the loss of coach parking in 

Cutty Sark Gardens. It has worsened recently by the subsidised public 

sector attractions in the area removing their admission charges. 

However, it is widely acknowledged in the maritime heritage sector that 

public interest in ships and the sea has declined as the UK population 

has less and less contact with this environment. It is unlikely that this can 

be reverse as a trend. Nevertheless, the product that the ship offers is 

likely to be a contributory factor: the interpretation relies on text-rich 

information panels and a short film presentation to convey the 

significance of Cutty Sark – technology of the 1950s. Although the ship 

has the benefit of skilled and engaging volunteer guides bring the ship 

to life, the core offering is a passive, non-interactive experience which 

fails to convey the significance of the ship. Furthermore, lacking specific 

spaces for conducted learning, the ship is not able to exploit its 

educational potential to the full. 

In order to preserve all the ship’s significances – as a surviving tea 

clipper, as an example of naval architecture, and as learning resource, 

the ship must generate enough income to be self-sustaining. The Cutty 

Sark Trust is confident that, if the corrosion problems can be arrested, 

the ship is a sustainable business. The reasoning is set out in full in the 

Cutty Sark Trust Business Plan, but in brief the grounds for this assertion 

are partly: 

• location in one of London’s premier tourist attractions 

• supportive relationships with other World Heritage Site partners 

and the London Borough of Greenwich 

• highly skilled in-house maintenance team 

• track record of profitability 

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There are however a number of potential threats, the most important of 

which are considered to be: 8 

• the Conservation Project itself: this is likely to require covering the 

ship for up to three years. Full public access will not be possible, 

and it will certainly result in a reduced income from visitors 

• developments in Cutty Sark Gardens: it is the intention of the 

London Borough of Greenwich that any developments in the 

Gardens should be for the benefit of the ship’s long term 

sustainability. The threat is however to short term sustainability: any 

development works in the Gardens are likely to have an adverse 

effect on visitor income on the ship herself. 

• tourism: in the current climate, all visitor attractions are vulnerable 

to perceptions of the threat of terrorism. 

Clearly, the major threats to sustainability all revolve around visitor 

income. Therefore, it is strategically essential that the Cutty Sark Trust 

ensures that there are other income streams. Principal among these is 

corporate hire. Although the ship has for many years been available for 

evening hire, there are a number of factors that keep it from realising its 

full potential: 

Requirements for Keeping Significance 

• lack of food preparation areas 

• lack of storage areas for tables and chairs 

To minimise the threats on the vulnerability of the ship’s significance, 

the Cutty Sark Trust will therefore seek to ensure the following are in 

place: 

• conservation treatments which stop or significantly retard the 

corrosion 

• conservation treatments which cause the least loss of original fabric


• means of supporting the ship so that her shape will be retained and 

will be visible to the public 

• replacement of the concrete plinth with keel blocks 

• 21 st century intrusions that are clearly distinguishable from the 

original fabric 

• defined learning spaces 

• 21 st century interpretation 

• relocated ticketing, orientation and retail spaces 

• facilities for developing corporate hire 

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10. Conservation Principles 

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Original fabric is defined as that fabric which survives from the ship’s 

working life. This working life is defined as the period up to Cutty Sark’s 

departure from Portugal in September 1922 under tow to Falmouth. 

This marked the end of her life as a functioning sailing ship and the 

beginning of a new life as a demonstration vessel, a role which she 

continues to use to this day. 

By taking this stance, we are declaring material introduced into the ship 

by Captain Dowman, the Thames Nautical Training College, the Cutty 

Sark Society and the Cutty Sark Trust are of lesser merit and indeed 

replaceable or removable if they detract from the significance of the 

vessel. 

This is not to denigrate the efforts of Dowman and others – without his 

efforts in particular, the ship would almost certainly not have survived. 

Restorations are by nature quite different from repairs – at best they are 

attempts to recreate the appearance at a particular moment in time; at 

worst they mislead. Moreover, new information and interpretation 

methods may prove a reconstruction incorrect and it is therefore 

justifiable to remove and replace a previous reconstruction. However, a 

reconstruction would only be replaced if sufficient information has come 

to light to provide precise evidence of materials, dimensions and surface 

finishes, although it would be removed if proven to be incorrect. It is our 

intention to present the ship in a form recognisably that of her as a 

working vessel – it is not our intention to present the ship as a history of 

reconstructions. We do not intend to preserve fabric from earlier 

restorations for its own sake – although any removals and alterations 

would be fully recorded in accordance with best practice.


The case with the works undertaken by the Incorporated Thames 

Nautical Training College is of a different nature because the 

appearance of the ship was altered by the addition of 36 portholes on 

the ‘tween deck towards the bow on both starboard and port side, to 

improve the vessel as a facility for cadets. Although a number have 

already been removed, the remainder – in the office accommodation – 

are at odds with the ship’s appearance as a tea clipper. In this case the 

intention is to block up the holes, but to preserve the brass portholes 

themselves within the Cutty Sark collection for future interpretation. 

Thus, as a conclusion of the Statement of Significance, the Cutty Sark 

Trust has adopted the following as its conservation principles: 

1. The top priorities are preserving the hull form and maximising 

public access. It is acknowledged that it may be necessary to 

sacrifice some original fabric to achieve these priorities. 

2. The ship’s appearance will be as close to that of a fully rigged tea 

clipper as can be practically achieved within the constraints of the 

dry berth in Greenwich. 

3. The ship is inextricably anchored in Greenwich – only an 

unforeseeable environmental or financial disaster would cause 

this to be questioned. 

4. Its is the presumption is that original fabric will be repaired and 

restored rather than replaced where this is compatible with 

Principle 1. 

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11. Interpretation Principles 

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From the Statement of Significance the following principles for 

interpretation of the ship, when fully open to the public, are concluded: 

1. Interpretation should first and foremost be based on conveying an 

appreciation of the ship’s aesthetic qualities and capturing the 

magic of the sailing ship. 

2. An understanding of present-day perceptions of sailing ships should 

inform the interpretation. 

3. The historical integrity of the ship must be respected. 

Reconstructions not based on the appearance of the ship during her 

working life 1 will not be undertaken. Intrusions (a structure or 

member which did not form part of the ship during her working life 

but which has been installed to aid the operation of the vessel as 

either a training ship or a visitor attraction) should be 

distinguishable from original fabric by an observant member of the 

public. 10 

4. As much of the appearance of the configuration of the working 

ship, as is compatible with best practice for accessibility and 

sustainability, will be retained. 

5. Of the various roles the ship has undertaken, the priorities in 

interpretation will be those relating to the sailing ship, the tea 

clipper and the wool clipper.


6. The interpretation of the ship must take account of its location in 

the Maritime Greenwich World Heritage Site and must take into 

account the interpretation schemes for the wider site. 

7. The ship’s structure, once conserved, should be exposed and 

viewable as an example of the composite construction method. 

The practical application of these principles is complemented by the 

following guidelines: 

1. All visits should result in a memorable experience of being on board 

an historic ship. 

2. The whole ship is a learning resource and interpretation should seek 

to maximise the area seen by visitors. However the design of 

interpretation must be reconciled with commercial needs for 

sustainability, and displays should be easily maintainable and 

adaptable. 

3. Learning spaces should be created within the ship but which do not 

become ‘dead’ spaces when formal learning is not being 

undertaken. 

4. Interpretation should seek to use text as little as possible and 

incorporate a range of sensory experiences, including ‘hands on’. 

5. Information should be targeted at a maximum reading age of 13 

years. Visitors should be free to choose the depth of information 

they access, irrespective of the media used, and information should 

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6. therefore be provided in the equivalent of headline, primary text 

and secondary text. The National Curriculum should be used as a 

basis for interpretation but not as a defining framework. 

7. At the end of a visit, visitors should have been given the 

opportunities to learn why and how the ship was built, what she 

did, how she was worked, who worked her, what she looked like 

under sail, what her name means and what the world in which she 

operated was like. Stories should be communicated which illustrate 

the human aspect of life on and off board Cutty Sark.

11. The Vision for Cutty Sark 


As custodians of the ship, the Cutty Sark Trust seeks to: 

• reinforce Cutty Sark’s national and international position as the 

most famous and iconic of merchant sailing ships 

• inspire learning and promote opportunities which support 

diversity to widen audience participation 

• work towards overcoming barriers to access 

• ensure that the ship, its collection and services, and their 

historical and cultural relevance are accessible to people 

regardless of ability, gender, age and social, ethnic and religious 

background 

• use the ship as a vehicle for training and skills development 

among the local workforce 

• embed Cutty Sark within the local community as part of its 

history and culture 

• achieve audience growth 

• ensure that the ship makes its full contribution to the 

Greenwich World Heritage Site key stakeholders and partners 

and that her position as Greenwich’s ‘Statue of Liberty’ – a 

symbol of maritime Greenwich, the Thames and the London 

Docklands – is maintained 

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• champion the ship, sailing ships, 19 th century trade and the 

ethos of the ship’s construction, especially through creative 

interpretation 

• set the 21 st century standard for the presentation of historic 

vessels

12. Realising the Vision 

The Trust will achieve the vision by: 

1. developing a sustainable business plan 


2. revising the existing Conservation Plan and using it to inform all 

decisions on conservation and interpretation 

3. selecting and applying conservation treatments that will preserve 

the significance of the vessel for 50 years without further major 

works 

4. embark on a major fundraising strategy, including an application to 

* 

the Heritage Lottery Fund 

5. developing learning opportunities for new and existing audiences 

6. improving access and the interpretation of the ship 

7. developing the ‘social’ use of the ship, particularly for local and 

minority communities 

8. keeping the ship open so far as possible during the conservation 

phase 

9. working with the World Heritage Site partners to improve the 

setting of the ship 

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13. Conservation Policies 

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1. The existing fabric 

1.1. Systems will be investigated and applied to provide a more even support 

for the hull of the ship. These should be as unobtrusive as practicable. 

1.2. As much of the fabric from the period 1869 to 1922 will be retained as 

possible. Remedial treatment, where possible and where the safety of the 

structure is not compromised, will be presumed preferable to 

replacement. 

1.3. Any changes to the fabric made in the period 1922– 1953 which do not 

significantly detract from the ship’s overall appearance as a tea clipper will 

be retained. 

1.4. Changes made to the saloon area during the Portuguese period, will be 

retained, as these improve visitor access. 

1.5. Intrusions and additions of the 1950s will be removed wherever possible. 

If this not possible, a method will be developed to explain to visitors that 

these are not part of the ship’s structure during her working life. 

2. Preservation, restoration, repair and replacement of fabric 

2.1. All conservation work will refer to the ship’s specifications and known 

structural alterations during the ship’s working life.


2.2. Treatments will be investigated and selected that will reduce the 

deterioration of the iron framework to a level that can be controlled by 

routine maintenance for a minimum of 25 years without further major 

works. 

2.3. All conservation treatments should have a minimal effect on the ship’s 

fabric. If a choice can be made, preference will be given to treatments 

that have the minimum effect on the existing fabric of the ship. 

2.4. All treatments will be subjected to an experimental period off the ship 

and pilot period onboard before wide-scale application. 

2.5. If a conservation treatment is not reversible, it must be approved by the 

Chief Executive before Listed Building Consent is applied for. 

2.6. Conservation materials and techniques will be approved and if necessary 

tested by a qualified conservator or consultant with the necessary 

knowledge and experience. 

2.7. Preservation will be carried out using preventative techniques, traditional 

techniques and modern materials where reversible and where proven to 

be non-detrimental to the structure. 

2.8. It will always be ascertained that any treatment to one material is not be 

detrimental to the preservation of surrounding similar or dissimilar 

materials. 

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2.9. Conservation materials and techniques will be approved and if necessary 

tested by an approved conservator or consultant with the necessary 

knowledge and experience. 

2.10. Reconstruction is appropriate only where there is precise evidence of the 

fabric, dimensions and the surface finish, and will only be undertaken to 

enhance the understanding, social and working conditions and cultural 

significance of the ship. 

2.11. Restoration and reconstruction will be subject to discussion and approval 

by relevant authorities including the chief executive, necessary consultants 

and English Heritage, and the local planning authority. 

3. Maintenance 

3.1. The hull will be monitored continually for dimensional changes. 

3.2. Indicators and monitoring systems will be developed to determine 

environmental thresholds for the ship. These indicators will include 

relative humidity and temperature monitoring; moisture content in the 

wood and the materials in enclosed areas and visitor numbers and visitor 

flow, which may affect the wear and tear on the fabric (and need to be 

considered in the maintenance programme). 

3.3. Maintenance, including good housekeeping, will provide systematic care 

for the ship and her contents in order to prevent degradation and the 

need for major intervention at some later stage. 

3.4. A costed rolling programme for the maintenance of the ship’s 

superstructure and rigging will be prepared and reviewed annually.


3.5. Along with the written maintenance cycle for the fabric (including rigging) 

a ‘Housekeeping’ Manual will be prepared which will outline procedures, 

processes, materials and frequency of work. 

3.6. The whole ship will be subject to a professional survey by a qualified 

surveyor at least every five years. This will inform a review of the rolling 

maintenance programme and the conservation and housekeeping 

procedures. 

3.7. The treatment techniques and the methods used in maintenance will be 

reviewed regularly and during ongoing work. 

3.8. Like with like replacement is the ideal, except in circumstances where the 

use of a more durable modern material has no or minimal visual impact 

on the appearance of the vessel. 

3.9. If a part of the fabric cannot be adequately and safely conserved, subject 

to Listed Building Consent, it will be removed, recorded, and replaced. 

3.10. If fabric is removed, recording will include photography and a measured 

drawing in sufficient detail to enable replication. 

3.11. If removed fabric is sold, the income will be set aside specifically for 

preservation. 

4. Access and Interpretation 

4.1. So far as can be realised in a dry dock, the ship will have the appearance 

of a tea clipper of around 1872. 

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4.2. Cutty Sark will be open to the public for 362 days a year, unless safety 

issues intervene. 

4.3. Any conservation works, large or small, will take into account the need to 

provide public access and the conservation works will be interpreted 

wherever practical. This should include specific educational and public 

programmes as well as information panels. 

4.4. If physical access to the ship is not possible due to conservation works, 

other means for public viewing will be provided wherever possible. 

4.5. Any commercial activities undertaken will not restrict access to the ship 

for substantial periods. 

4.6. Any commercial activities undertaken will be appropriate to the ship’s 

ethos and status as a memorial to the men of the Merchant Navy and not 

disturb local residents unduly. 

5. Record Keeping 

5.1. A written and photographic record will be kept on a standard data sheet 

to record all conservation and restoration work and maintenance work 

both on the rolling maintenance programme and any which may become 

necessary through visitor wear and tear. This will be in addition to the 

current computer database (MODES).

14. Bibliography 

Bailey, S.F., 1992. Cutty Sark Figureheads, Ian Allen. 


Carr, Frank G. G.,1966 'The Restoration of the Cutty Sark', Royal 

Institution of Naval Architects July 1966 Quarterly Transactions. 

Clark, Kate (ed.), 1999. Conservation Plans in Action: proceedings of the 

Oxford Conference. English Heritage. 

Costa, Giancarlo, 1981, Figureheads, United Nautical Publishers. 

Cox, J. 1999. Conservation Plan for the Great Western Steamship 

Company Dockyard and the Great Britain, 2 volumes. 

English Heritage, 1993, Time for Action. Greenwich Town Centre: a 

conservation strategy. 

English Heritage/Greenwich Council, 2003. Maritime Greenwich: World 

Heritage Site Management Plan, First Review December 2003. 

European Maritime Heritage Working Group, 2002, The Barcelona 

Charter: European Charter for the Conservation and Restoration 

of Traditional Ships in Operation 

Hansen, 1979, Gallionsfiguren 

Heritage Lottery Fund, 2002. Conservation Plans for Historic Places. 

Hume, Cyril L. & Armstrong, Malcolm C., 1987. The Cutty Sark and 

Thermopylae Era of Sail, Glasgow. 

Kerr, James Semple, 1982. The Conservation Plan. Sydney: The National 

Trust of Australia. 

Kerr, James Semple, 1985. ‘The Assessment of Cultural Significance’, in 

P. Freeman et al., Building Conservation in Australia, Canberra: 

Royal Australian Institute of Architects. 

Littlewood, K. and Butler, B. 1998. Of Ships and Stars: Maritime 

Heritage and the Founding of the NMM, London. 

Longridge, C. N.,1949.The Cutty Sark, 2 vols, London. 

Lubbock, B., 1924. The Log of the Cutty Sark, Glasgow. 

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MacGregor, David R., 1979. Clipper Ships, Argus. 

MacGregor, David R., 1973. Fast Sailing Ships 1775-1875: Their design 

and construction, Nautical Publishing. 

MacGregor, David R., 1984. The Tea Clippers: an account of the China 

Tea Trade and of some of the British sailing ships engaged in it 

from 1849 to 1869, Conway. 

Scott, J. L., 'A Survey of the Cutty Sark in 1937', in The Mariner's Mirror 

27: 3 (1941). 

Smith, C. F., The Return of the Cutty Sark, London 1924. 

Steel, G., The Story of the Worcester, London 1962.

15. Acknowledgements 


The Cutty Sark Trust wishes to express its thanks to the following 

organisations and individuals who commented on earlier versions of this 

plan: 

Roy Clare, Director, National 

Maritime Museum 

Stephen Riley, Director of Maritime 

Heritage, National Maritime 

Museum 

Dr Pieter van der Merwe, National 

Maritime Museum 

Kate Clark, Heritage Lottery Fund 

Stephen Merryfield, London 

Borough of Greenwich 

David Quarmby, Maritime 

Greenwich World Heritage 

Site Management 

Duncan Wilson, Greenwich 

Foundation for the Old Royal 

Naval College 

Peter Kent 

John Paton, National Historic Ships 

Committee 

Richard Goodman, National Historic 

Ships Committee 

Executive Committee of the World 

Heritage Site 

Members of the Maritime Curators Group 

Simon Waite, former Master of 

Cutty Sark 

George Monger, conservation consultant 

Wyn Davies, engineering consultant 

Dr Sheelagh Campbell, Portsmouth 

University 

Peter Lawton, Hampshire Museums Service 

Paul Calvocorressi, English Heritage 

Simon Cane, Birmingham Museum 

Tim Parr, maritime heritage consultant 

Colin Mudie, naval architect 

Matthew Tanner, Director, SS Great Britain 

Nick Antram, English Heritage 

Rob Chapman, Steve Washington & Jason 

Waddy, Hornagold & Hills 

David Geddes, Locum Destination 

Cover design: Marcos Quinn 

Special photography: Phillip Springthorpe 

John Willis Hercules Linton Wilfred Dowman Frank Carr Sidney Cumbers 

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Appendix I. Summary of Visitor & Non-Visitor Profiles, 2001-03 

Sex 

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Visitors Nonvisitors 



2001 2002 2003 

• Male 48% 45% 54% 48% 49% 49% 

• Female 52% 53% 46% 52% 51% 51% 

Social Group 

• A 3% 1% 3% 5% 2% 2% 

• B 47% 41% 38% 31% 29% 16% 

• C1 31% 36% 28% 26% 42% 52% 

• C2 9% 10% 12% 11% 26% 12% 

• D 6% 6% 2% 5% 2% 7% 

• E 0% 1% 0% 5% 3% 4% 

• Unknown 4% 5% 17% 16% 6% 7% 

Ethnicity 

• White British 54% 70% 56% 60% 56% 58% 

• White Irish 2% 3% 0% 4% 3% 2% 

• White Other White 34% 13% 33% 21% 28% 23% 

• Black or Black British/ Black 

African 

1% 1% 3% 3% 4% 1% 

• Black or Black British/ Other 

Black 

0% 1% 0% 0% 2% 2% 

• Black or Black British/ Black 

Caribbean 

1% 2% 0% 2% 1% 0% 

• Mixed White & Black 

Caribbean 

1% 0% 0% 0% 1% 2% 

• Mixed White and Black 

African 

0% 0% 0% 0% 1% 1% 

• Mixed White and Asian 0% 0% 0% 0% 1% 0% 

• Mixed Other Mixed 0% 1% 0% 0% 0% 2% 

• Asian/ Asian British Indian 2% 3% 2% 2% 1% 1% 

• Asian/Asian British Pakistani 0% 0% 0% 0% 0% 1% 

• Asian/Asian British 

Bangladeshi 

0% 1% 0% 0% 0% 0% 

• Asian/Asian-British/Other 

Asian 

1% 1% 0% 1% 1% 1% 

• Chinese 1% 3% 2% 3% 0% 2% 

• Other Ethnic Group 2% 3% 2% 3% 2% 4% 

Residence 

• London Borough 25% 63% 25% 54% 32 62 

Greenwich 0.85% 16.07% 1.75% 12.42% 10 30 

Lewisham 0.43% 6.87% 0.25% 4.86% 5 15 

Southwark 0.15% 3.47% 0% 1.08% 4 1 

Tower Hamlets 0.7% 4.03% 0.25% 1.08% 1 4 

Bromley 0.23% 0% 0.25% 1.08% 1 0


Bexley 0.38% 3.47% 0% 0% 1 3 

Croydon 0.1% 1.13% 0% 0% - - 

Kensington & Chelsea 0.38% 0.57% 0.25% 0% - - 

Kingston 0.36% 0% 0% 0% - - 

Lambeth 0.15% 0.57% 0% 0% - - 

Wandsworth 0.1% 0% 0% 0% - - 

Westminster 0.05% 0% 0.25% 0% - - 

Other 2.3% 1.13% 2% 7% - - 

• South East 9% 6% 14% 10% 21 11 

• Rest of UK 31% 16% 22% 13% 17 8 

• Outside of UK 34% 16% 39% 23% 28 19 

Age 

16-24 9% 16% 11% 18% 10% 17% 

25-44 47% 47% 42% 40% 39% 46% 

45-64 36% 25% 35% 30% 37% 30% 

65+ 8% 13% 12% 13% 13% 7% 

Source: The Cutty Sark Trust User & Non-User Surveys, 2001, 2002, 2003 

16-24 25-44 45-64 65+ All adults 

National Average 14% 37% 30% 20% 100% 

Cutty Sark Visitors 2001 9% 47% 36% 8% 100% 



Source: Cutty Sark Trust 2001, 2002, 2003, Office for National Statistics 2001 Census. 

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Appendix II. The Figurehead Collection 

Golden Cherubs, 1660 

Lady of the Rose, unknown 

date 

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The Cutty Sark Trust holds an extensive collection of maritime objects 

relating to the history of the ship itself, her designers, builders and 

owners as well as any objects generally associated with the clipper ship 

genre. This includes the Sydney Cumbers Collection (also known as the 

Long John Silver Collection, in recognition of the maritime pseudonym), 

donated to the Cutty Sark Trust on 29 th July 1953. Sydney Cumbers was 

an avid collector of artefacts connected to the sea and the merchant 

marine and housed his collection at his own private museum, the Look- 

Out, at Gravesend. He also dedicated his collection to the merchant 

seamen of Britain, a tangible link to the Cutty Sark which serves as a 

memorial to the sailing merchantman. 

The Cumbers Collection includes the world’s largest collection of 

figureheads—104 in total – all of which are from merchant vessels. The 

earliest figurehead dates from around 1660, with the majority of the 

other figureheads being carved during the 19 th century. 

In light of its international significance, it was decided that the 

collection of figureheads was to be accessioned first when the 

retrospective documentation of artefacts began in December 2003. As 

part of the process of documentation, each figurehead has been 

labelled and marked (in situ) and fully catalogued, photographed, and 

condition reports completed. 

The nature, however, of these objects – and the method by which they 

were collected by Cumbers – means that often very little is known 

about their provenance as the figureheads are perhaps the sole 

survivors of shipwrecked vessels. Information about the ships and the 

people with whom they are associated can in many cases never be 

retrieved. Cumbers undertook extensive research into the background 

of his figureheads, but in several instances, he was unable failed to 

trace the history of the object in question. At present, the most of the 

information known about the figureheads is collated in S.F. Bailey’s 

Cutty Sark Figureheads, but this deals only with those on display on the 

ship’s false deck. Bailey evidently thoroughly researched the archives 

that accompanied the Cumbers donation, which includes numerous

Boadicea in Cumber’s 

‘Look-Out’ 


photographs, newspaper cuttings, scrapbooks and Cumbers’ research 

notes into the history of these objects. Sydney Cumbers’ archive has 

never been properly organised and currently awaits formal cataloguing 

(due to take place mid-2004). However, in order to research the history 

of the figureheads, Cumbers’ notes and papers have been consulted 

and provisionally re-organised. This exercise has yielded further 

information. 

In order to build upon this and previous research into the history of the 

figureheads, Trust archives (including annual reports, council meeting 

minutes, and miscellaneous correspondence regarding the figureheads) 

are also being consulted, and present and former members of staff are 

being interviewed in an attempt to collate all the available information 

on the collection. 

The information uncovered has served to confirm our existing 

knowledge of the details provided and the names allocated to individual 

figureheads. 

Moreover, we have been able to rectify some errors in the light of this 

research. For example, a figurehead which has been referred to as 

Sophie Kirk has been identified as Rose of Torridge and the real Sophie 

Kirk revealed. 

Sophie Kirk and Rose of Torridge on display in 

Cumbers’ Lookout 

The most significant discoveries have been the identification of a 

number of figureheads which were previously believed to be un-named. 

Cumbers’ inventory was a simple list with no descriptions or additional 

information, and a significant number were listed as ‘unknown’. As a 

result of the in-depth research undertaken, we have been able to 

identify a number of figureheads in the Trust’s care and uncover the 

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Unknown female 

(LDCST:2003.1.27) at the 

Look-Out (above) and today 

on board Cutty Sark 

(below) 

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provenance of several pieces. The majority of the names listed by 

Cumbers have now been confidently allocated to individual 

figureheads, and research continues into the remaining un-named 

items. Although the provenances of Cumbers’ ‘unknown’ figureheads 

may never come to light, the Trust has, over the years, received letters 

from visitors to the ship providing additional information, passed on 

first- or second- hand from those who perhaps worked on or saw the 

original vessels in service. 

The figureheads themselves have also undergone considerable changes. 

Sydney Cumbers had many of his figureheads restored before he 

displayed them, and he kept some photographic records of their 

appearance prior to restoration. 

Some of the figureheads have evidently deteriorated since being housed 

at the Look-Out when we compare Cumbers’ pictures with those of 

today. For example, the female figure pictured left has lost her right 

arm. Indeed, although the majority of figureheads have been on board 

the ship for nearly 50 years without ever having been moved, they 

appear to have undergone certain changes in colour and form. 

However, with our records we can trace the various stages in the 

appearance of these objects, greatly aided by published references to 

the collection. 11 Most, if not all, of the objects were restored before 

being displayed on board the Cutty Sark, several by the well-known 

figurehead restorer, Jack Whitehead. 

Research is also being carried out into the hereabouts of a number of 

‘missing’ pieces. The National Maritime Museum has stored a number of 

figureheads from this collection for several years. A few others are 

currently on long-term loan to the Sir Max Aitkin Trust Museum in 

Cowes (Isle of Wight), and Cutty Sark Trust figureheads have been the 

subject of numerous temporary exhibitions in different international 

museums and galleries over the years. Contact, liaison and collaboration 

with the staff at these museums has contributed considerably to our 

knowledge.

Exhibition in the New South Wales Government Offices, 1971 


For the first time, this information has been collated and organised into 

comprehensive collection management files for each individual 

figurehead. The data has been entered onto the MODES system which 

also includes any references (literary and pictorial) to individual 

figureheads in published works, and any exhibitions in which they were 

known to have been displayed. This research results will serve as a basis 

for any future projects undertaken into this form of folk art and the 

Cumbers Collection in particular. It will also be of use for future 

enquiries the Trust may receive into this subject area, which is especially 

important given the particular significance of this collection from an 

international perspective. 

It is hoped that students in paint and wood conservation undertaking 

City & Guilds qualifications will be working on the collection of 

figureheads on the Cutty Sark in the near future. The research 

undertaken will provide useful background information on each object, 

and help set out guiding principles before any conservation work 

begins. In addition to this research, the students will have access to the 

condition reports for each accessioned figurehead, a recent 

conservation assessment from an independent conservator and the 

environmental monitoring data that has been recorded on board the 

ship and in the storage areas. 

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The accessioning of these figureheads has led to the accumulation of a 

considerable amount of related information, much of which was 

previously dispersed, un-confirmed, or unknown prior to the start of 

retrospective documentation. Given the considerable importance of this 

particular collection due to its unique nature, size, aesthetic appeal and 

the personality of the collector, the research work necessary for this 

part of the documentation project has revealed new and exciting details 

about these artefacts in the Cutty Sark Trust’s collection.

Appendix III. Oral History Project 


Interview 2003.1: Sidney and Martin Woodgett, Grandson and Great- 

(03.07.2003) Grandson of Richard Woodget, Captain of the Cutty Sark 

1885-1895 

Sidney Woodget 

Martin Woodget 

Sidney and Martin talk openly of their relationship with the Cutty Sark, talking about their pride 

at the family’s connection with the vessel. The discussion moves on to cover Sidney’s father 

(Richard Woodget Jnr, an apprentice and officer on the Cutty Sark) and career, the life of his 

grandfather (Richard Woodget Snr.) and anecdotes about the family, using photographs and 

personal papers. This is rounded off with a chat about their views on the future preservation of 

the ship. 

Interview 2003.2: Jeanette Hope, Fan Museum, Greenwich 

(14.07.2003) 

Jeanette talks about her childhood visits to the Cutty Sark 

from Chislehurst in the 1950s/60s and the excitement it 

engendered, the distinctive sight and smells, her father’s 

naval career, growing up with the ship and how it 

symbolises Greenwich, how she perceives the ship today, 

and her opinion of the preservation and interpretation of 

the ship in the future. 

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Interview 2003.3: Karen Scadeng, Divisional Administrator for Collections, 

(14.07.2003) National Maritime Museum 

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Karen talks about her grandmother repeatedly taking her 

on-board the Cutty Sark as a girl in the late 1950s/early 

1960s and the wonderful smell of tar, the romance of the 

ship, how her grandmother’s uncle could have been an 

officer on a tea clipper, how she played with China dolls 

dating from the 1870s and 1880s possibly brought to the 

UK by her ancestor and her opinion on the future of the 

ship. 

Interview 2003.4: Simon Waite, Master of the Cutty Sark 1989-2002; Hon. 

(11.08.2003) Master 2002-present day 

Simon talks about his career in the Merchant Service, how it 

was influenced by the Cutty Sark, his visit to the ship in 

1960, significant events that happened on board during his 

time in charge (including Royal visits), past preservation 

work on the ship, his romantic feelings about the unique 

nature of the ship, his family’s viewpoint and how the ship 

is rooted in Greenwich 

Interview 2003.5: Peter Cole, agent for McAlpine’s during the construction of 

(29.10.2003) the dry-dock for the Cutty Sark in the early 1950s 

Peter talks about work done in constructing the dry-dock, his 

memories of the foundation-stone laying ceremony by HRH 

Prince Philip, the involvement of Frank Carr, the numbers of 

people who watched the event (and who these people were), 

and witnessing the complicated entry of the ship into the dock 

in December 1954. Peter goes on to explain how the water 

was pumped out of the dock, how it was sealed and his 

emotions at going back on board the ship, fully restored, as a 

visitor in the late 1960s.


Interview 2003.6: David Mudd, whose grandfather and father towed the ship 

(19.11.2003) into and out of Falmouth harbour 1922 and 1938 respectively 

David talks about his grandfather and father’s work, his 

emotions and connection to the Cutty Sark. His grandfather 

was a master mariner and a friend of Captain Wilfred Dowman 

who was despatched to pick up the recently purchased Maria 

do Amparo (the Cutty Sark) from Portuguese waters. He was 

also a regular visitor on board the ship in Falmouth harbour. 

His father was a Trinity House pilot who took her out of 

Falmouth in 1938. 

David also comments on the local craftsmanship that went into 

the ship, with regard repairs and restoration. He witnessed the 

departure of the ship in 1938 and refers to how the people of 

Falmouth regard the vessel, both now and in the 1930s. 

Interview 2003.7: Ken Trowbridge and George Wilcox, cadets at the 

(06.12.2003) Incorporated Thames Nautical Training College, (1942-July 

1944 and January 1944-December 1945 respectively) 

Ken Trowbridge 

George Wilcox 

Ken and George talk about their time as cadets at the College in general, life during the Second 

World War, how they interacted with the Cutty Sark during the war (Ken spent 2 weeks one 

summer living on-board the ship and did maintenance work), the appearance of the ship, how it 

was regarded by cadets, their careers after college and how they perceive the ship today 

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Interview 2004.1: Bryan Pearson, 15 year old crew member on the tug Kenia 

(12.01.2004) which towed the Cutty Sark into her current dock at 

Greenwich, 10 th December 1954 

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Bryan talks about his career and background, his role on the 

Kenia, life working as a tugboatman and on the river, the 

experience of towing the Cutty Sark, how he regarded the ship 

and her appearance at that time. Bryan also expands upon his 

career after this time, and how he feels today about his role in 

the Cutty Sark’s preservation 

Interview 2004.2: Richard Hamilton, Trustee of The Cutty Sark Trust and an 

(09.02.2004) employee of The Maritime Trust in the 1970s 

Richard talks about his role with The Maritime Trust and The 

Cutty Sark Society/ Trust, how he was involved with fundraising, 

the role of the two organisations, how they were 

similar/different, major personalities involved and how the two 

institutions have helped preserve British maritime heritage over 

the last 30 years. 

Interview 2004.3: Wing Commander Ken Lucas, Director of The Maritime 

(09.02.2004) Trust 1988-1990 

Ken chats about the role of the two organisations, how they 

were related to each other, how they were separate, how the 

admissions revenue from the Cutty Sark helped fund The 

Maritime Trust fleet and the relationship with other, 

independent, big historic ships.


Interview 2004.4: Old Worcesters George Wilcox (Cadet January 1944- 

(25.02.2004) December 1945), Ken Trowbridge (1942-July 1944, spent a 

fortnight living and working on the CS in 1943) and Colin Steere 

(September 1945-1947, Third Officer HMS Worcester 1953) 

Ken Trowbridge, Colin Steere Colin Steere 

and George Wilcox 

Interview video-taped by the BBC, contains interruptions by the production team. 

George, Ken and Colin talk about their time as cadets at the Thames Nautical Training College, 

Greenhithe and how they interacted with the Cutty Sark, how the ship was used, how she was 

perceived and for Colin, how he felt about being in HRH The Duke of Edinburgh’s Guard of 

Honour when he came to take over the ship for The Cutty Sark Preservation Society in 1953. 

Interview 2004.5: Brian M.S. Beale, cadet at the Incorporated Thames 

(08.03.04) Nautical Training College (1952-1954) 

Brian comments about his time at the college as a 15 to 17 year 

old, daily life on board HMS Worcester, the experience of being 

part of the Duke of Edinburgh’s Guard of Honour when he took 

possession of the Cutty Sark on behalf of the Cutty Sark 

Preservation Society in May 1953, as well as the appearance of 

the ship, going on board with its distinctive smell, how she was 

used (seamanship familiarisation classes) and his career after 

leaving the college. 

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Interview 2004.6: George Folkes, who went aboard the Cutty Sark at Falmouth 

(09.03.04) in the 1920s and 1930s, and whose father ran the training 

ship Foudroyant in Falmouth harbour 

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George chats about his time aboard the Cutty Sark when he 

worked for the Royal Cornwall Yacht Club, the positive feelings 

for her in Falmouth, its role as a tourist attraction (attracting 

many international visitors and VIPs, including Amy Johnson), 

other ships moored around her and described her departure in 

1938 and the feeling of sadness in the town. 

Interview 2004.7: Peggy Sothcott, grand-daughter of James Gilbert, cadet 

(09.03.04) instructor on board the Cutty Sark at Falmouth 

Peggy talks about her family’s connection to the ship, her 

grandfather and his role, her visits to the Cutty Sark as a girl, 

how it was used for tea dances and the feeling for the ship in 

Falmouth both in the early twentieth century and today. 

Interview 2004.8: Jim Morrison and Ken Peterson, both of whom boarded the 

(09.03.04) ship in the 1930s, and lived and worked around Falmouth 

Docks 

Ken Peterson 

Jim Morrison 

Ken and Jim chat about their lives around the docks in Falmouth during the 1920s and 1930s, 

how a visitor could go on-board the ship, the appearance of the ship internally and externally, 

the football competition between the cadets of the Cutty Sark and the Foudroyant, Falmouth 

shipping, the characters involved with the Cutty Sark (including Capt. Dowman), and how the 

ship was regarded then and now.


Interview 2004.9: John Dyer, who went aboard the Cutty Sark as a boy in the 

(10.03.04) early 1930s and witnessed the ship leaving Falmouth 

harbour in 1938 

John comments about his childhood, growing up with the Cutty 

Sark and how he was taught about it at school, its role as a 

Falmouth landmark, going aboard with his father, how it was 

kitted out as a training establishment (remembering the cadets’ 

shiny shoe buckles and hammocks!) and the ship’s use during 

Falmouth Regatta days, when boats raced around her. 

Interview 2004.10: Douglas Robinson, who played on board and around the 

(10.03.04) Cutty Sark (with Dudley Vincent) as a child in Falmouth 

during the 1920s-1930s 

Douglas reminiscences about his childhood, growing up in 

Falmouth, boarding the Cutty Sark and rowing around the ship 

in a dinghy, catching fish. He also comments about how he 

was taught about the ship at school, what the ship was used 

for, how visitors could take trips out to her and go on-board 

Interview 2004.11: Barbara Lorentzen, who played on board the Cutty Sark as a 

(10.03.04) child at Falmouth during the 1930s 

Barbara talks about going on board the ship as a girl, climbing 

the main mast, doing seamanship classes with the cadets, when 

the cadets came on board the ship and how long they stayed, 

fishing around the ship, her grandfather taking visitors out to 

the Cutty Sark, how the ship was regarded in the town of 

Falmouth, how she was taught about the ship at school and the 

farewell the ship received as she left the harbour in 1938. 

Interview 2004.12: Lesley Kendall, whose family worked for Capt. Dowman and 

(11.03.04) spent time on the ship as a child at Falmouth 

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Lesley chats about his visits to the ship with his mother and 

father, playing games on an evening, his feelings and emotions 

when he stepped on board, the activities of the Dowman family 

(for example, they owned a dock-yard that facilitated repairs on 

the ship), maintenance work, how the ship symbolised 

Falmouth, his mother and father’s work for the Dowmans, a 

description of the day she left in 1938 and how the town 

perceived the ship and views on whether she is still 

remembered today. 

Interview 2004.13: Dudley Vincent, who grew up in Falmouth with Douglas 

(11.03.04) Robinson and went on board the ship as a child in the 1920s- 

1930s 

Dudley comments about his days spent on and in boats around 

the ship, when he took tea on board and talked with the 

cadets, how the ship was a focal point for the town, growing 

up with Douglas Robinson, how the Cutty Sark influenced him 

to go to sea, his career working in Falmouth docks and his sea 

going career. 

Interview 2004.14: Lou Kendall (with comments by her son David Kendall), 

(12.03.04) whose family knew and worked for the Dowmans, and is the 

great-niece of James Gilbert (cadet instructor onboard the ship at 

Falmouth). 

Lou (with David), talk about their family connections to the ship 

and with the Dowmans, having grown up in Flushing. Lou 

reminisces about the experience of going aboard the ship, its 

sparkling appearance, how important the ship was to the town, 

her husband’s maintenance work on her as an apprentice in 

Dowman’s yard (Ponsarden Yard with replacement yards and 

spars made at Falmouth Docks sawmills) and 

the mood in the town of Falmouth 

when the ship left in 1938.


Interview 2004.15: Jeffrey Rayner, from Star Clippers, who visited Sydney 

(23.04.04) Cumbers’ (“Captain Long John Silver) private museum 

(the “Look-Out”) at Gravesend as a boy in the 1950s 

Jeffrey, who was born and brought up in Gravesend, 

remembers visiting the “Look-Out” and meeting Sydney 

Cumbers. He describes the appearance of the collection and 

the house, of “Long John Silver” himself, his renown in the 

locality and why he disposed of the collection. 

107 of 107

Conservation Plan 3 Significance.pdf - National Maritime Museum

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