The Cutty Sark

On Tuesday the children and their aunt and I visited the Cutty Sark in Greenwich. Baby Superdragon was cared for by my mum to give her mum a moment off.

The Cutty Sark is an English Clipper ship first builty in 1869 and used to transport tea and wool and other cargot before a brief life as a cadet ship. In 1954 she was first put on display at Greenwich in a dry dock. She's undergone significant conservation work (during which time there was a dreadful damaging fire in 2007) before re-opening to the public this year.

I have a vague memory of visiting the ship before the more recent conservation work, but not enough of a memory to compare really. I know there have been some objections to the raising of the ship and of enclosing it in glass, but I personally liked the effect of the glass, as if it is riding on waves, and loved being able to look underneath the ship.

The whole exhibition surrounding the ship is very well done, with a lot of information about her history as a clipper and wonderful details such as interactive sailing games, tilting benches to give the feel of being at sea, and even the smell of tea!

Papaya's favourite part was on the top deck where they had recreated the accommodation (she decided the Fist Mate's room was nicest!) and all other aspects of life aboard the ship.

The Cutty Sark is off course named for her figurehead, "Nannie", who wears the ill-fitting "Cutty Sark", an old Scots name for a petticoat or undergarment.

Nannie herself was taken from a Robert Burn poem called Tam O'shanter in which she is a witch chasing the drunken eponymous anti-hero. The lines are here.....

Her cutty-sark, o' Paisley harn
That while a lassie she had worn,
In longitude tho' sorely scanty,
It was her best, and she was vauntie,-
Ah! little ken'd thy reverend grannie,
That sark she coft for he wee Nannie,
Wi' twa pund Scots, ('twas a' her riches),
Wad ever grac'd a dance of witches!
But here my Muse her wing maun cour;
Sic flights are far beyond her pow'r;
To sing how Nannie lap and flang,
(A souple jade she was, and strang),
And how Tam stood, like ane bewitch'd,
And thought his very een enrich'd;
Even Satan glowr'd, and fidg'd fu' fain,
And hotch'd and blew wi' might and main;
Till first ae caper, syne anither,
Tam tint his reason ' thegither,
And roars out, "Weel done, Cutty-sark!"

It needs the Scots accent to appreciate it fully though, so I found a wonderful version of the poem (complete with images) on Youtube I also wanted to share....

We enjoyed ourselves and learnt a lot.We plan to head to London every other week from now on to take advantage of visiting all the museums and other educational venues.