One of the most famous sailing ships of the nineteenth century, the Cutty Sark,
can still be seen at Greewich. She stands on dry land and is visited by thousands
of people each year. She serves as an impressive reminder of the
great ships of past. Before they were replaced by steamships,
sailing vessels like the Cutty Sark were used to carry tea from China and
wool from Australia. The Cutty Sark was one the fastest sailing ships that
has ever been built. The only other ship to match her was the Thermopylae.
Both these ships set out from Shanghai on June 18th, 1872 on an
exciting race to England. This race, which went on for exactly four exactly
four months, was the last of its kind. It marked the end of the great
tradition of ships with sails and the beginning of a new era.
The first of the two ships
to reach Java after the race had begun was the Thermopylae, but on
the Indian Ocean, the
Cutty Sark took lead. It seemed certain that she would be the first ship
home, but during
the race she had a lot of bad luck. In August, she was struck by a very
heavy storm during
which her rudder was torn away. The Cutty Sark rolled from side to
side and it became impossible to steer her.
A temporary rudder was made on board from
spare planks and it was fitted with great difficulty.
This greatly reduced the speed of the ship, for there was a danger
that if she traveled too quickly, this rudder would be torn away as well. Because of
this, the Cutty Sark lost her lead. After crossing the Equator, the captain called in at a
port to have a new rudder fitted, but by now the Thermopylae was over five
hundred miles ahead. Though the new rudder was fitted at tremendous speed,
it was impossible for the Cutty Sark to win. She arrived in England a week after
the Thermopylae. Even this was remarkable, considering that she had had
so many delays.
These is no doubt that if she had not lost her rudder she
would have won the race easily.