the Cutty Sark

The famous Montague Dawson painting.

The Cutty Sark is the most famous of the 19th century British clipper ships, built in 1869, and the last clipper ship to be built as a merchant vessel. She was then used as a training ship until put on public display in 1954 in a dry dock in Greenwich, London. Badly damaged by fire on 21 May 2007 while undergoing conservation, the vessel is being restored and is expected to reopen in 2012.

Cutty Sark is one of only three ships in London on the Core Collection of the National Historic Ships Register (the nautical equivalent of a Grade 1 Listed Building) – alongside HMS Belfast and SS Robin.

The Cutty Sark is also one of only three remaining original clipper ships from the 19th century in part or whole, the others being the City of Adelaide, awaiting transportation to Australia for preservation, and the beached skeleton of Ambassador of 1869 near Punta Arenas, Chile.