Constructed on the Clyde in 1869 for the Jock Willis Shipping Line, Cutty Sark was one of the last tea clippers to be built and one of the fastest. Cutty Sark spent just a few years on the tea routes before the opening of the Suez Canal and the increasing use of steamships made clippers unprofitable on shorter routes. It was turned to the trade in wool from Australia, where for ten years she held the record time for a journey to Britain. After finishing her time in service as cargo ship, and then a training and cadet ship, it was transferred to permanent dry dock at Greenwich, London, for public display. This handy and illuminating pocket manual collates original documents to tell the fascinating story of how the legendary Cutty Sark was commissioned, her design and building, life on board and her notable journeys.

Constructed on the Clyde in 1869 for the Jock Willis Shipping Line, Cutty Sark was one of the last tea clippers to be built and one of the fastest. Cutty Sark spent just a few years on the tea routes before the opening of the Suez Canal and the increasing use of steamships made clippers unprofitable on shorter routes. It was turned to the trade in wool from Australia, where for ten years she held the record time for a journey to Britain. After finishing her time in service as cargo ship, and then a training and cadet ship, it was transferred to permanent dry dock at Greenwich, London, for public display. This handy and illuminating pocket manual collates original documents to tell the fascinating story of how the legendary Cutty Sark was commissioned, her design and building, life on board and her notable journeys.

"The last survivor of this extraordinary breed of commercial vessels designed to race from tne other side of the earth with a precious cargo of fresh tea, Cutty Sark was famous during her working life as one of the fastest of all clippers ... completed despite her builders' bankruptcy, sailing rudderless in the Indian Ocean. losing her trade to steamships (thwice) and coming close to being wrecked several times. Even after 'retiring' from commercial trade in the 1920s, she narrowly missed being broken up on a number of occasions. Only since being berthed at Greenwich and after two major preservation projects has her future been secured ... This book has been developed ... in close conjunction with the Cutty Sark Trust and takes the form of a chronological building and career narratiove but also presents detailed crew accounts, log entries, feature sections on seamanship, ports and cargoes and broader tall ship culture"--Publisher's description.

This scarce antiquarian book is a facsimile reprint of the original. Due to its age, it may contain imperfections such as marks, notations, marginalia and flawed pages. Because we believe this work is culturally important, we have made it available as part of our commitment for protecting, preserving, and promoting the world's literature in affordable, high quality, modern editions that are true to the original work.