FAMOUS CLIPPER

Evening Star, Issue 18392, 28 September 1923, Page 7

FAMOUS CLIPPER

CUTTY SARK AS TRAINING SHIP,

Press Association —By Telegraph—Copyright,

LONDON, September 26. The Cutty Sark, the famous Australian clipper, ■which is now lying at Falmouth, is being re-rigged as a three-masted ship for the’ training of merchant mariners. The condition of the hull is excellent. A. and N.Z. Cable.

[‘ The Times ’ of June 13, 1919, stated: additional interest is lent to the arrival in the Thames from the west coast of Africa of the famous old Clyde-built clipper the Ferreira —formerly the Gutty Sark—by the fact that half a century has elapsed since she was launched from the Dumbarton yard of Messrs Scott and Linton. To-day the vessel is berthed in the West India Docks, discharging a cargo of cocoa beans. Tdie eye of even an inexperienced landsman is immediately attracted to the ship. The furled sails on the foremast and the quaint figurehead rivet attention, and vividly recall those romantic stories of the sea in" which schoolboys of the_ seventies revelled. The Jovial mate —leaning easily over the vessel’s side as only a Portuguese seaman can —smiled approvingly when reminded of the early voyages of the Cutty Sark, when her wonderful speed gained her such an enviable notoriety. After discharging the cargo from her spacious holds, the ship is to bo drydocked for refitting prior to resuming her West African trading. Now in the hands of Portuguese owners, the Ferreira in her early days was one of if not the best known of the “fliers ” in tho mercantile marine. Originally intended for the China tea trade, she accomplished some remarkable runs on long voyages, and even so recently as 1892 covered 353 nautical miles in twenty-four hours. Indeed, at one time she had very substantial grounds for her claim to bo the fastest sailing ship in the world. Her first voyage was from London to Shanghai. She reached 111© Equator in seventeen days, and Shanghai in ninety-seven and a-quarter days. The return trip was also accomplished in splendid time. Less than two years ago, in recalling that particular run, her old master referred gleefully to the way in which tho Cutty Sark made her fifteen knots, passing steamers hand over hand. A speedy rival of those old days was an Aberdeenbuilt ship, the Thermopyke; but tho Cutty Sark beat h er in a homeward run from China by two days. Her appearance ii) the Thames drew enormous crowds of sightseers in those days, and she certainly had a fair title to her former master’s description of her as the “ finest ship that ever sailed.”

Although some eight months have passed since she was overhauled, she looks to-day thoroughly staunch and seaworthy. Her tonnage is comparatively small in these days of ocean monsters; but ■ her cargo capacity is very considerable, and the proposed refit will no doubt again speedily see the famous little Clyde clipper ready for a further term of useful service.]