Mountbatten Medallic History of Great Britain and the Sea Medal: Cutty Sark, Most celebrated Br…

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Mountbatten Medallic History of Great Britain and the Sea Medal: Cutty Sark, Most celebrated British Clipper Ship

AssociatedAssociated with Lord Mountbatten of Burma (Frogmore House, Windsor, England, 1900 - 1979)

Medallist John Pinches, Medallists

DateMay 2004

Object NameMedal

MediumSterling Silver

ClassificationsMedals

LocationView by Appointment - Aberdeen Treasure Hub

Object numberABDMS072500.63

Keywords

Commemorative

About MeThe sailing ship Cutty Sark was probably the most famous merchant ship ever built, noted for the perfection of her design, her great speed, and her long life. She remains today a vivid reminder of the great days of the cIipper ship which form an exciting chapter in Bntain's proud maritime history.

Cutty Sark was a full-rigged ship, designed by Hercules Linton, a partner in the newly established shipbuilding firm of Linton and Scott at Dumbarton on the River Clyde, in 1868. The ship was of composite construction, having an iron frame and wooden planking, her decks being laid in teak to provide durability and strength. She had a gross tonnage of 963. With exceptionally heavy spars and a huge sail area, she was designed for speed rather than carrying capacity, her intended employment being the tea trade between China and Britain-a trade in which speed commanded premium freight-weights.

The vessel was ordered by the well-known shipowner John Willis of London, whose say- ing is displayed on the stern of the ship: 'Where there's a Willis away' and the contract price was £16,150. But during the course of building, various minor modifications delayed completion and hastened the financial crisis which led to the bankruptcy of her builders, who were forced to abandon work on her. No expense had been spared in her construction, however, and she was classified to Lloyd's Register's highest class as 16 years A.1 when completed in the neighbouring Dumbarton shipyard of William Denny and Brothers in 1869.

Although Cutty Sark was intended for the carrying of China tea, the employment of sailing ships in that trade was already threatened when she first put to sea, by the competition of steamships that were aided by the construction of the Suez Canal, which challenged the supremacy of sail. Cutty Sark's tea trade passages were not particularly remarkable: she established her enduring reputation as an exceptionally fast vessel in the Australian wool trade, into which John Willis placed her with the collapse in the demand for sailing ships in China seas.

It was the wool trade which brought out the clipper's magnificent sailing qualities, particularly during the years when Captain R. Woodget was her master. Her maximum speed was about 17 Y2 knots, and her best day's run something over 350 miles. Her races with her great rival Thermopylae are justly famous: no less outstanding was her performance against the steamships - the Pacific Steam Navigation's Garonne and Peninsular and Oriental's Britannia.

Sold to the Portuguese in 1895 for £2,100 and renamed Ferreira, the clipper was reduced to barquentine rig in 1918. After the First World War a great British sail-training enthusiast, Captain Wilfrid Downman of Falmouth, restored her to the British flag when he purchased her for £3,750 in 1922. Captain Downman lovingly restored her to her original rig and she was subsequently presented to the Thames Nautical College and berthed at Greenhithe. After the Second World War, an appeal for funds by the Cutty Sark Preservation Society secured her future, arid the clipper was re-rigged and restored and placed in a permanent berth at Greenwich, within sight of the National Maritime Museum. Now managed by The Maritime trust, she has many thousands of appreciative visitors every year from all over the world.

The Mountbatten Medallic History of Great Britain and the Sea, John Pinches Medallists Ltd.