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| Monday, 21 May 2007 |
| The flag which braved the battle and the breeze |
There has been a fire on board the Cutty Sark. I visited the ship almost exactly four years ago, out of nothing-to-do on a Sunday afternoon, and fell in love. The ship itself was beautiful: small and graceful, even knowing nothing about ships, I could see speed in her lines. Below stairs, there was a long row of figureheads standing somewhat sadly in the half-light. An exhibition had photographs and film of tea clippers working, and I found it almost incredible that such modernity could have co-existed with sailing ships. Ironically, the Cutty Sark was launched in the same year that the Suez Canal opened, shortening the sea route to China, but inaccessible to sailing ships: the day of the tea clipper was over.
Will fire do for her what changing times couldn't? Though it's being treated as suspicious, this *could* have happened at a worse time. The ship was midway through a major restoration, so around half of its material had been removed from the site. Damage to the iron hull is not as bad as it could have been. Fingers crossed, wallets open. |
| posted @ 11:30 |
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