was definitely worth a visit although actually in reality there wasn't much to see if the truth be told. The SS Great Britain Collection at Bristol is far more interesting but then I may well be very unfair to the Cutty Sark here. It is an extremely impressive restoration but I was expecting more......some artefacts; more about the tea trade; perhaps it just hasn't survived.
The ship was however extremely impressive and I had a pleasant hour wandering and having a bite to eat in the café beneath her hull (yep - I think probably the best placed café in the whole of London - where else could you eat cakes beneath a 280' long clipper?)
The ship was however extremely impressive and I had a pleasant hour wandering and having a bite to eat in the café beneath her hull (yep - I think probably the best placed café in the whole of London - where else could you eat cakes beneath a 280' long clipper?)
the bow end with a rather impressive bowsprit
this isn't the original rudder - its a jury rigged rudder
one of the few displays
this is how the iron work looks - skeleton style
these were the only sort of artefacts on board
a model of what she would have looked like
she didn't only carry coal; wool from Australia was another cargo
up towards her bow, port side
exterior gunnel's
the ship's bell
Cutty Sark is a Scottish girl's short nightdress style undergarment
just one of the many, many......many blocks in the rigging
way off in the distance....Nando's and across the river, Canary Wharf
three masts, miles of rigging and loads of spars
how did they remember which rope did what?
the door to the port heads
lovely varnish work
I need to learn how to do this in Arwen!
ship shape and Bristol fashion
that wood is beautiful
over there is the Shard, the latest addition to the London skyline
we mused on what it must have been like up there during the morning gusts of 70 mph!!!!
crew quarters
all that hemp
I wonder how many miles of rigging are on board?
a mind boggling array of spars
the stern end with lifeboats
on the left are the captain's and crew quarters
whipping that is exemplary
the chicken coop
on the mizzen mast
the ship's wheel and the stern rudder gears
ship's binnacle compass
the captain's quarters
mess area
ship's pantry
the ship's fire buckets
underneath - the gallery and cafe
hey I remember these tins as a kid.........
a treat was mum allowing us to dip a spoon into the treacle
looking along the keel to the bow
a collection of ship's figures
the copper clad hull, only it is a mixture of copper and something else which I forget!
a decent latte
when you have a huge yummy choice of cakes and you cannot decide which to have, do the sensible thing, buy them all!
above the hull of the old ships; below the hull of the new clippers
no wonder they were faster!
more of the impressive collection of ships figurines
all come from ships from the 1800's
I was rather taken with this one
looking along the keel from the bow
some rudder strap!
It's 40 odd years since I've been on cutty sark, but I can still recall that figerhead with the fez, they used to be displayed down in the lower hold, finny what sticks in your mind.
ReplyDeleteI'd have liked to have known more about the ship head figures but here was scant information on them
ReplyDeleteSteve