Cutty Sark

Aidan and I went to Greenwich (short DLR ride away) and went round the Cutty Sark. I had been on her when a child, but not since then.

Lunch on the way there

Surprisingly busy at Canary Wharf at weekends

Inside the Cutty Sark

Tween decks. She started off as a tea clipper, but when steam made that uneconomic she was used to transport wool from Austrailia. She set new records for the trip even against steam ships (I guess they couldn't carry enough fuel and had to stop on the way?) 

The Cutty Sark (which is a Scottish word for short shirt or nightdress) which used to hang on the mast. It was once covered in gold. Apparently it was lost overboard and then recovered in the 1970s at auction, but noone knows how it was found and got there. They were only recently able to put it on display because the insurance on it is so high (despite lack of gold!)

The kitchen

Lots of ropes

The bunks were mighty small

The officers salon. The round things are for putting drinks in so they don't spill. There is a coal fire too which was apparently not lit ehen the boat was under way

Under the ship. No Weatherill outing is complete without at least one trip to the cafe!

There is a steel structure inside the ship allowing it to be supported like this. Feels slightly worrying it might crash down on one.

Nannie the figurehead. She is a beautiful witch from the Robert Burns poem Tam O'Shanter who is dancing in a short (maybe tight?) cutty sark causing Tam to shout out 'weel done cutty-sark' (he is calling her cutty-sark not congatulating her night dress!). It is not known why they called the ship this, but allegedly other ships called out 'weel done cutty sark' as she over took them (she was the fastest ship for a long time carrying many different cargoes). 

At the end of the poem Tam escapes by crossing a river (witches can't cross water), Nannie nearly catches him, but his horse Meg's tail comes off in Nannie's hand when she grabs it, and he escapes. The figurehead has its arm outstretched and a horses tail made from rope in it.

One of the onboard guides told us about the name and the story about the other ships shouting it, and it was very exciting that our Scottish education allowed Aidan to come out with the 'weel done cutty-sark' line when he asked us if we knew the Tam O'Shanter poem - he obviously normally gets people saying no they haven't heard of it rather than shouting triumphantly 'weel done cutty sark!'

Lots of building of snazzing new glass towers on Isle of Dogs. I recently read a book called High Rise by J.G Ballard (1975), there is a film out with Tom Hiddlestone in it. I cannot recommend the book. Film sounds as bad!