Cutty Sark - Reopening

Not good news - but not unexpected, either.  Conservation projects like this invariably run into unpredictable problems and expenses.

The bottom line is that the conservators are doing an extremely professional job, in accordance with the highest technical and ethical standards of the field.  I'm confident that the result will be spectacular. 

My wife and I have been talking vaguely about a trip to London for our 20th anniversary in the summer of 2111.  Maybe, just maybe....

How much of the original vessel is left above the waterline?

I understand sailing ships had frequent changes to spars/masts/s-r rigging so OEM is not an issue. That fire appeared devastating on video.  

 

Professor Tilley, I hope you are planning on staying on the forum until you go on that maybe vacation "in the summer of 2111". That would mean that we would have the pleasure of your company, and wealth of knowledge, for a very, very long time. I'll try to hang in there with you.

Jim

Ouch!  I do hope my wife doesn't discover that I said we'd be celebrating our 20th anniversary in 2111....

One of the great things about web forums like this is that they let you correct typographical errors in such a way that nobody reading your corrected posts is any the wiser.  (I'm not going to admit how many stupid mistakes in my posts I've caught, and fixed, upon reading them over.)  But I think I'd better leave this one intact, as a reminder to myself of my poor old fingers' ineptitude - and the advisability of PROOFREADING before hitting the "Post" button.... 

Felix - actually a surprisingly high percentage of the Cutty Sark is still original.  Virtually all of the deck furniture and equipment (including the deckhouses), and much of the hull and deck planking, had already been removed from the ship as part of the restoration process before the fire started.  And research had already established that the majority of the hull fabric (including planking) was still original. 

The ship's website ( http://www.cuttysark.org.uk/ ) contains some most interesting information about the restoration project.  Unfortunately the content of the site seems to change periodically.  Some months back it included a link to a very detailed description of the survey that was done before the restoration started; a series of diagrams showed the surviving original components of the hull in one color and post-1870 replacements in another.  I can't find that link now, but clicking on "The Project" and "Photo Diary" will bring up lots of interesting stuff.

It looks like, in the long run, that fire, awful as it was, may have worked to the great old ship's benefit.  So many parts of her had already been removed that the fire apparently didn't actually do much damage, and it attracted a great deal of public attention - and attention from financial supporters who might otherwise have sent their money someplace else.  Five million pounds is, by any reasonable definition, a lot of money, but I suspect it will materialize from somewhere.  And maybe the ship will indeed be open to the public by the time my wife and I get there in 2011 (for our 200th anniversary).

I am so glad to hear about the restoration, and the info given here that much of the original was not aboard during the fire. I had visited Greenwich just a few days before the fire, and was delighted by the Maritime Museum and Observatory. I plan to visit again in a couple of years, and will probably spend at least two days in that vicinity. Also, the Science Musem in London (near Kensington/Albert memorial) has a very large section of ship models and gear that is less popular with the hands-on crowd, so it is wonderful. I spent half a day there a couple of years ago and highly recommend it