Cutty Sark ablaze

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Posted: Mon May 21, 2007 11:43 am

One of the last sailing clippers to be built, the 138 year old Cutty Sark, has been set on fire. Fire Brigade are treating it as 'suspicious'.

Read more here: Linky

Posted: Mon May 21, 2007 12:00 pm

Quote:

The ship, which was undergoing a �25m restoration project, is kept in a dry dock at Greenwich in south-east London.

They should have kept it in a wet dock instead....

I'll get me coat..

Posted: Mon May 21, 2007 12:02 pm

Very sad. Saw it on the news this morning. I've got a piccy of me stood in front of it....many years ago, I might add. Shocked

If it is arson, I hope they throw the book at the scumbags who did it. I really wonder what goes through the minds of some people in this country. Crying or Very sad

Luckily they'd removed 50% of the ship - all the masts and rigging, some decking and the artifacts, for restoration elsewhere, otherwise it could have been a lot worse.

Posted: Mon May 21, 2007 12:24 pm

Quote:

Cutty Sark ablaze

arson.....

scumbags.....

Grrrrrrrr

I hope they can get it fully restored one day. The pictures look really bad. I'm very familiar with its history and it would be something I'd want to see if the authorities ever let me visit the UK.

Posted: Mon May 21, 2007 12:30 pm

rockaway wrote:

... it would be something I'd want to see if the authorities ever let me visit the UK.

Greenwich, where the CS is displayed (sorry, was displayed Crying or Very sad

) is well worth a visit. The Observatory and Meridian are great, if you can muscle the Japanese tourists out of the way. Some nice traditional British pubs there as well.

Baiting Guru Joined: 08 Jul 2004 Posts: 11856 Location: UK

@ Tommo, my family used to run a pub in Greenwich, about 2 minute walk from the Cutty Sark, pub had about 4 floors, and on the roof there was a big box housing some air vents or something, we put up a tent on top of the box, all the tourist were taking photos of us Very Happy

Shame about the fire, lovely boat Mad

Posted: Mon May 21, 2007 12:47 pm

^^^What was the name of the pub? We popped in one near the CS when we were there, but can't remember its name though.

Baiting Guru Joined: 08 Jul 2004 Posts: 11856 Location: UK

^^^^^ It was the Coach & Horses, it's part of what used to be a covered fruit market just near the Cutty Sark, don't know if the pub is still there or not, I'm talking 30 years ago, probably is.

[edit]

Yes, it's still there:

http://www.fancyapint.com/main_site/thepubs/pub715.html

http://www.beerintheevening.com/pubs/s/10/1079/Coach_and_Horses/Greenwich

Posted: Mon May 21, 2007 1:19 pm

The title of this thread led me to believe someone was drinking flaming shots of scotch.

Posted: Mon May 21, 2007 2:15 pm

We've got the other one like it. Unfortunately Scotland doesn't get �25 mil (or even the 10 needed) handed to it from Dahn Sarf. I wonder what one "actually" needed the money for restoration more though.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/scotland/glasgow_and_west/6676245.stm

No doubt someone in London will decide to take this hull as a replacement. The added irony is that both of them were built within 5 miles of me (Clydebuilt).

Still a real shame though Sad

BS

Posted: Mon May 21, 2007 2:18 pm

I seem to recall that arson in HM dockyards is covered under the treason act.

Posted: Mon May 21, 2007 2:53 pm

^^^^Used to be a capital offence, not any more though I believe. Sadly the CS wasn't in one,but i would gladly swing the b*gger that set fire to it if it was deliberate.

Posted: Mon May 21, 2007 3:06 pm

This is sickening. As a sailor I hold Great Britain's naval heritage very close to my heart and I have always enjoyed visiting Greenwich just because of the naval history.

The people who did this (if deliberately) should be clapped in irons and flogged.

AlexS

Baiting Guru Joined: 08 Jul 2004 Posts: 11856 Location: UK

This is bloody ridiculous:

Leaving a ship like that, one of only 2 in the world, to rot away for 15 years on a Scottish river bank, at least put scaffolding around it with a covered roof/sides to keep the worst of the weather off, if they had done that 15 years ago, it wouldn't be in such a worse state now, damn fools Evil or Very Mad

Posted: Mon May 21, 2007 4:11 pm

NOOOOOOOO! I can't believe it! I was there in 2001! What a shame, what a crying shame! Crying or Very sad

Posted: Mon May 21, 2007 6:49 pm

@SP - the Carrick was also the victim of a fire. Personally, I think the owners/whoever is responsible for the wreck were hoping that she would have fallen to bits by now. Just goes to show how well we used to build things, when you see how much of her is left. Interestingly, that boat was much loved in Glasgow - but most people assumed that when she burned, she was destroyed. Her whereabouts have only recently been made public. People are not happy. Evil or Very Mad

Posted: Mon May 21, 2007 7:03 pm

From what I've heard, most of the good bits had been removed for restauration before the fire. They'll fix up the rest, I'm sure.

Of course, there's always the USS Constitution:

Not a clipper and not as fast as the Cutty Sark, but lots of cannon!!

Posted: Tue May 22, 2007 8:41 am

My father-in-law, who taught me to sail and taught me coastal navigation, did his Naval College training on the Cutty Sark.

What a pity. My wife and I went and saw her when we did our OE back in the late 70s.

Now the Star of India, which is moored in San Diego, was captained by someone who had my surname - which is a pretty unusual name. She brought immigrants out to Australia and New Zealand too.

Put me down for the pre-hanging rib kicking if they catch the bastard who set her alight.

Posted: Tue May 22, 2007 9:04 am

I'm gonna hate myself for saying this.

Kids these days have got no respect.

Posted: Tue May 22, 2007 12:29 pm

AlexS wrote:

This is sickening. As a sailor I hold Great Britain's naval heritage very close to my heart and I have always enjoyed visiting Greenwich just because of the naval history.

The people who did this (if deliberately) should be clapped in irons and flogged.

AlexS

This is spot on. I'm a British sailor (and Greenwich is a good run for starters), and if they find who did this there should be an orderly queue to kick them in the bollocks.

Posted: Tue May 22, 2007 1:33 pm

kleindoofy wrote:

From what I've heard, most of the good bits had been removed for restauration before the fire. They'll fix up the rest, I'm sure.

Read the same in "Freie Presse" (!) this morning.

Baiting Guru Joined: 08 Jul 2004 Posts: 11856 Location: UK

Talking about ships, this ship is currently outside my window in the English Channel, it just scared the life out of me when it fired it's cannons a few times Mad

:, it's a replica called the Grand Turk, it was the ship used in the TV serices called Hornblower, it's been here in our harbour for about a week, it often comes here with other non replica tall ships:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grand_Turk_(frigate)

I did take a photo, but this camera is only a tiny fun camera for indoors, only any good for close up shots, anyway, here it is if you can make it out Laughing

, there are a couple of Spitfire type planes doing figure 8's and rolls, along with flying towards the ship at just above the sea level and then going up before getting to the ship, looks great.

Remind me to order a cheap digital camera from the catalogue!

[edit]

Just remembered, my new laptop has a webcam that can take snapshots and capture vidoe of what it is aimed at, will try that in a minute.

[edit]

The laptop cam can't handle the bright sunshine Mad

Posted: Tue May 22, 2007 6:51 pm

Tsk, SP, you might be a Mod, but that's just NOT GOOD ENOUGH!

What is it about sailing ships. They're soooooo beautiful!?

Posted: Tue May 22, 2007 8:45 pm

On an aside about sailing ships ...

Many Australasians will be familiar with the Bounty replica which sails on Sydney Harbour. It was built for the film "Mutiny on the Bounty" which starred Anthony Hopkins and Mel Gibson.

Anyway the Bounty is the sister ship of the Sirius. The Sirius was the lead and largest ship in the great fleet which colonised Australia, landing in what is now Sydney in 1788. I think she carried about 140 people half way round the world in about six months, with a stop off in Cape Town on the way.

Just imagine 140 people living on that little sailing ship for six months in the storms you get in the southern ocean. Bet there was a lot of this going on puke

Posted: Tue May 22, 2007 9:18 pm

^^It's a wooden ship too. It'll bounce around on the surface like a cork compared to todays steel ships.