TOP TEAM
The Cutty Sark is surrounded by a 'sea' of glass and steel
Diamond Jubilee year, the Queen and the Duke of Edinburgh (the ship’s patron since 1951) returned in April to the vessel’s per- manent home in Greenwich to re-open her as a painstakingly-preserved yet thor- oughly updated 21st century attraction (see Attractions Management Q2 p60). While the original conservation project
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for the world’s last surviving tea clip- per fi rst started in 2006, a huge fi re that ripped through the vessel while work was in progress in 2007 (the exact cause of which has never been fully determined) was to change the course of the ship’s recent history. Although the damage turned out to be less invasive than the dramatic news footage fi rst led people to believe, the conservation project’s origi- nal budget of £5m rocketed to £50m as
n June 1957, fi ve years into her reign, a young Queen Elizabeth II offi cially opened the historic 19th century clipper the Cutty Sark as a visitor attraction to the pub- lic. Fifty-fi ve years later, in her
SHIP SHAPE
After a six-year conservation project that had to overcome the devastation of a major fi re, the historic tea clipper Cutty Sark has risen from the ashes to become a visitor experience for the 21st century. Julie Cramer talks to some of the people who’ve helped
a more ambitious plan to preserve the Grade I-listed treasure had to be hatched. The Heritage Lottery Fund provided £25m, with the rest from local and central gov- ernment, and as a result of fundraising efforts in the private sector worldwide. In a bold feat of engineering, the ‘new’ Cutty Sark has now been raised 3.3 m in the air, creating an extensive glass canopy- covered basement where visitors can walk underneath her hull to view the unique design that allowed her to sail at a record- breaking speed of 17.5 knots (32km p/h). The solar-coated canopy meets the hull at
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its highest water level – precisely where the Cutty Sark would have settled in the water when carrying its heaviest cargo. The light-fi lled lower space also houses the ship’s collection of 80 fi gureheads, a café and an events space. Meanwhile a range of interactive exhibits through the interior of the hull tell the story of the ship’s journeys around the world, carrying cargo as diverse as fi ne teas, gunpowder, whisky and buffalo horns. The attraction sits within the newly-landscaped Cutty Sark Gardens, which provide a riverfront gateway to the Maritime Greenwich World Heritage Site.
ISSUE 3 2012 © cybertrek 2012
PHOTOS OF THE CUTTY SARK: JIM STEPHENSON
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