Cutty Sark, a ship perfect for carrying tea, re-opens to the public on 26 April 2012.
For almost two centuries the magnificent Cutty Sark sailed across all seas of the world. Cutty Sark was built with iron frames, wooden planks and brass sheathing and was considered perfect for carrying tea by ship owners like John Willis. She made eight tea voyages, loading tea at Shanghai and Hankou and each time she picked up a cargo of around 600,000 kg of tea. On Cutty Sark’s first voyage she carried 10,335 chests, 1,790 half chests, 621 boxes and 2,256 packages. Her fastest journey to China was to Shanghai in 89 days, and her fastest journey home was 109 days from Hankou.
Cutty Sark used to spent at least one month in China and the whole voyage from London and back again could be 10 months or more. After sailing three times to China, Cutty Sark changed her route and she started to sail first to Sydney. The typical cargo in Australia was a 1,000 tons of coal.After picking the coal up in Sydney, she usually sailed to Shanghai, where tons of green tea where waiting to be traded. Cutty Sark unloaded her tea at the East India Dock, on the north bank of the Thames, about two miles downstream from where she is now. In 1869, the opening of the Suez Canal shortened the route from China by 3,000 miles and steamships could now reach London in only 60 days. The unfavorable winds in the Red Sea and the Mediterranean sea, made the Canal impracticable for sailing ships and they were gradually pushed out of the tea trade. In 1870 steamships started to dominate the tea trade. In 1895 the Cutty Sark was sadly sold to a Portuguese firm.
In 1938, after being restored, the Cutty Sark returned to the Greenhite and in 1957 she formerly opened to the public and became a memorial to the merchant service. In 2007, a terrible fire destroyed the fastest and greatest tea clipper of her time, but a long and complex work of restoration has now fully cancelled all the traces of the disastrous event occurred in 2007. Thus, on 25 April 2012 Her Majesty The Queen, accompanied by His Royal Highness The Duke of Edinburgh, returned and re-launched the Cutty Sark, which is officially re-opened as an extraordinary monument to those that lost their lives in the merchant service.
Entirely rebuilt and at her best splendor than every time, the world’s most famous ship welcomes visitors who venture aboard and beneath. Tourists and local families with children can now walk along the decks in the footsteps of the merchant seamen who sailed her over a century ago. The decks offer gorgeous views and opportunities for taking groovy pictures in all directions, while an exploration of the hold let imagine how the precious cargo was stored on those epic voyages.
