"World's last tea clipper" no more.

May 20, 2007 10:58 PM

The Cutty Sark burns. Nineteenth century tea clipper, preserved as a museum-ship in Greenwich since the fifties, is currently ablaze.
posted by hydatius (48 comments total)

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

This makes me sad. I need a drink.
posted by potsmokinghippieoverlord at 11:01 PM on May 20, 2007

.
posted by conch soup at 11:04 PM on May 20, 2007

bummmmmer.
posted by mwhybark at 11:10 PM on May 20, 2007

Amusing editorializing, soon to be expurgated, from Wikipedia:

"The conservation work was due to finish in 2009, but due to the fire, they may as well let the whole thing just burn on the dockside."
posted by mwhybark at 11:14 PM on May 20, 2007

This is really sad
posted by ob at 11:19 PM on May 20, 2007

Damn.
Possibly not the place for a Cutty Sark/Burns joke.
Whoops.
posted by Abiezer at 11:21 PM on May 20, 2007

This sucks. I liked that boat.
posted by armoured-ant at 11:24 PM on May 20, 2007

Disney hits a low for their Pirates 3 promotions.
posted by vagabond at 11:30 PM on May 20, 2007 [2 favorites]

First the longboat, now the Cutty Sark. Where will it end?
posted by Cranberry at 11:37 PM on May 20, 2007

Damn. That's sad. :(

It wasn't a tea clipper, but at least the Star of India is still around. Knock on my laptop, I don't want to jinx anything. I love that ship.
posted by miss lynnster at 11:39 PM on May 20, 2007

:(
posted by -t at 11:45 PM on May 20, 2007

the bbc article repeatedly refers to the cutty sark as a tea clipper. setting aside the teabagging jokes, here's a tutorial on how to make a rocket out of a tea bag and a book of matches.
posted by phaedon at 11:45 PM on May 20, 2007

The BBC is reporting the fire has been extinguished and appears to have been confined to the center section of the ship and not as serious as originally thought.
posted by fandango_matt at 11:53 PM on May 20, 2007

did johnny walker set this fire?
posted by bruce at 12:08 AM on May 21, 2007

And here I was expecting a bartending joke or a recipe to make my scotch taste shitty.

Instead, I feel shitty.
posted by OrangeDrink at 12:33 AM on May 21, 2007

Oh noes! I remember walking around this ship when my parents clubbed together their savings and went on the World Trip. I was 9 years old and fascinated by it. I particularly remember how low the ceilings were and loved how I had no problems but all the adults on the tour kept bopping their heads. The smell of wax, oil, hemp, leather and much sweat was amazing.

Fare thee well, Cutty Sark. A Viking end for a proud ship.
posted by ninazer0 at 12:42 AM on May 21, 2007

Endless supply of Cuddy snark here. What's that? Not the same thing? Oh...
posted by Rhomboid at 1:13 AM on May 21, 2007

It sounds like the fire may have been started deliberately. I just can't get my head around that.
posted by MrMustard at 1:16 AM on May 21, 2007

I watched the morning news and it sounds like it just isn't that big of a deal. Perhaps the 30 million quid refurb would have replaced much of what was burned anyway?

Mind you I think that 30 Million should buy a couple of those boats...
posted by srboisvert at 1:50 AM on May 21, 2007

Seeing things like this just adds to my state of despair about humanity, I can't imagine the reasoning behind doing something like this.

What exactly is wrong with people?

and yes, I know that worse things happen all the time... but this just seems so pointless
posted by knapah at 2:09 AM on May 21, 2007

It sounds like the fire may have been started deliberately. I just can't get my head around that.

The fire saddens me. The idea that some idiots started it does not surprise me in the slightest. Fuck this piece of shit country.
posted by chrismear at 2:19 AM on May 21, 2007

I watched the morning news and it sounds like it just isn't that big of a deal. Perhaps the 30 million quid refurb would have replaced much of what was burned anyway?

And the fact half of the ship was coincidently safely stored elsewhere. It's all just a little too... convenient.
posted by cillit bang at 2:26 AM on May 21, 2007

Dreadful.

If it's a clipper and it carried tea, it's a tea clipper as far as I'm concerned.
posted by Phanx at 3:30 AM on May 21, 2007

cillit bang writes "And the fact half of the ship was coincidently safely stored elsewhere. It's all just a little too... convenient."

What about the fact the other half of the ship WASN'T conveniently stored elsewhere ? That's all just a little too..convenient too !

chrismear writes "Fuck this piece of shit country."

Nah fuck the arsonists. Wanna see fire ? Lookie at what I am about to set under yer harse !
posted by elpapacito at 3:32 AM on May 21, 2007

This sucks. I liked that boat.

It's a ship not a boat god damn it.
posted by public at 3:46 AM on May 21, 2007

Not all boats are ships, but all ships are boats as far as I'm concerned.
posted by Phanx at 4:10 AM on May 21, 2007

fucking republicans. surely this...
posted by quonsar at 4:18 AM on May 21, 2007

people are fucked
posted by mattoxic at 4:28 AM on May 21, 2007

This is horrible. What a downer. A wonderful sample of 19th century craftmanship -- destroyed.

Good thing they had half the ship elsewhere, for the restoration process. I will admit that this does raise a wonderful example of the problem of identity outlined in the classic question: The Ship of Theseus
posted by honest knave at 4:37 AM on May 21, 2007

Some image galleries: Guardian; BBC.
posted by hydatius at 5:28 AM on May 21, 2007

DO NOT WANT :(
posted by East Manitoba Regional Junior Kabaddi Champion '94 at 6:35 AM on May 21, 2007

It would have been fine if quonsar hadn't been in there with his tank.
posted by mr_crash_davis at 7:01 AM on May 21, 2007

She's not destroyed, yet -- but given the money it'll take to restore the hull and lower decks now, it may well lead to her being scrapped.

Damn. She was a pretty ship.
posted by eriko at 7:13 AM on May 21, 2007

posted by mecran01 at 7:20 AM on May 21, 2007

Sorry, above image showed up in preview.

infographic of ship and damage
posted by mecran01 at 7:20 AM on May 21, 2007

I blame Falwell. Damn him.
posted by miss lynnster at 7:59 AM on May 21, 2007

images show up in preview despite being banned sitewide for months? well, THAT's typical.
posted by quonsar at 8:17 AM on May 21, 2007

(from mecran01's infographic:

"The Cutty Sark after Vandals set her ablaze last night"

-- no word on the Visigioths, but lookouts have been doubled.
posted by mwhybark at 8:18 AM on May 21, 2007

er

)

and Visigoths, dammit! When will co-workers learn to not interrupt me whilst metabrowsing at work!
posted by mwhybark at 8:22 AM on May 21, 2007

Wasn't there a mefi meetup round that way last night.....
posted by oh pollo! at 9:34 AM on May 21, 2007

This is from an English textbook called "New Concept English" - widely used in China in early 90s:
"The Cutty SarkOne 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 steam-ships, sailing vessels like the Cutty Sark were used to carry tea from China and wool from Australia.
The Cutty Sark was one of the fastest sailing ships that has 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 the 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 danger that if she travelled 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."
posted by of strange foe at 9:39 AM on May 21, 2007

Wasn't there a mefi meetup round that way last night.....

No, and anyway we only set hearts on fire.
posted by chrismear at 10:40 AM on May 21, 2007

*cries*
posted by jokeefe at 1:23 PM on May 21, 2007

It sounds like the fire may have been started deliberately. I just can't get my head around that.

*shakes head*
Well, they had to invent the word yob for some reason.
posted by dhartung at 1:44 PM on May 21, 2007

honest knave writes 'I will admit that this does raise a wonderful example of the problem of identity outlined in the classic question: The Ship of Theseus'

Absolutely. I was rather shocked to hear that one of the decks destroyed dated to the 1920s, 'for they took away the old planks as they decayed'.

Still, I'm surprised at how upset I was to see the headlines this morning. While it was burning I was having a lovely time drinking wine with my cousins, aunty and uncle in Greenwich - twenty-odd years ago we would've been having a lovely time scampering around the Cutty Sark, or asking if we could go and visit it for the umpteenth time.
posted by jack_mo at 5:43 PM on May 21, 2007

There's still Charlestown.
posted by adamvasco at 12:39 AM on May 22, 2007

The new restoration fund:

http://www.justgiving.com/cuttysarkfire
posted by vbfg at 5:34 AM on May 22, 2007

Or here if you like your links clickable
posted by vbfg at 5:34 AM on May 22, 2007