The Cutty Sark
The Cutty Sark
One of
the most famous sailing ships of the nineteenth century, the Cutty Sark, can
still be seen at Greenwich. She stands on dry land and is visited by thousands
of people each year. She serves as an impressive reminder of the great ships of the past. Before they were replaced by steamships, sailing vessels like the Cutty
Sark was used to carry tea from China and wool from Australia. The Cutty Sark
was one of the fastest sailing ships that have ever been built. The only other ship
to match her was the Thermopylae. Both these ships set out from Shanghai on
June 18th, 1872 on an exciting race to England. This race, which went on for
exactly four months, was the last of its kind. It marked the end
of the great tradition of ships with sails and the beginning of a new era.
The first
of the two ships to reach Java after the race had begun was the Thermopylae,
but on the Indian Ocean, the Cutty Sark took lead. It seemed certain that she
would be the first ship home, but during the race, she had a lot of bad luck. In
August, she was struck by a very heavy storm during which her rudder was torn
away. The Cutty Sark rolled from side to side and it became impossible to steer
her. A temporary rudder was made on board from spare planks and it was fitted
with great difficulty. This greatly reduced the speed of the ship, for there
was a danger that if she traveled too quickly, this rudder would be torn away
as well. Because of this, the Cutty Sark lost her lead. After crossing The Equator, the captain called in at a port to have a new rudder fitted, but by
now the Thermopylae was over five hundred miles ahead. Though the new rudder
was fitted at tremendous speed, it was impossible for the Cutty Sark to win.
She arrived in England a week after the Thermopylae. Even this was remarkable,
considering that she had had so many delays. There is no doubt that if she had
not lost her rudder she would have won the race easily.
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