- Cutty Sark
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a famous British sailing ship, built in 1869, which carried tea from China and then, after 1879, wool from Australia. From 1895 until 1922, the Cutty Sark was owned by the Portuguese, and then she became a training ship for British sailors. Since 1957 she has been open to visitors at Greenwich. Her name comes from the ‘cutty sark’ (short shirt) worn by one of the witches in the poem Tam o’ Shanter by Robert Burns.
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▪ British shipthree-masted British clipper ship, launched at Dumbarton, Dunbarton, Scot., in 1869. It was 212 feet 5 inches (64.7 metres) long, 36 feet (11 metres) wide, and had a net tonnage of 921; the name (meaning “short shirt”) came from the garment worn by the witch Nannie in Robert Burns's poem Tam o'Shanter. On Feb. 16, 1870, the Cutty Sark left London on its maiden voyage, sailing to Shanghai by way of the Cape of Good Hope. The vessel served in the English-Chinese tea trade through the 1870s, later in the Australian wool trade, and finally as a training ship. In 1957, fully restored, the ship was installed in a concrete dry berth near the Thames at Greenwich, London, and was opened to the public by Queen Elizabeth II as a maritime relic and sailing museum. In 2006 the Cutty Sark was closed for extensive renovations. The following year it was severely damaged by fire.* * *
Universalium. 2010.
