“Cutty Sark” – the British tea clipper

The “Cutty Sark” is the best-known and only surviving three-masted composite 19th-century sailing ship. Built in 1869. The cliper was designed by Hercules Linton, built and lowered into the Clyde River on 23 November 1869 at the “Scott & Linton shipyard” in Dumbarton, Scotland, according to order one of London's largest 19th-century second half tea merchants - John ("Jock") Willis, nicknamed "White Hat". For them needed the fastest ship in the world to transport tea from China. The construction of the ship was mixed - iron set, wooden cladding. In the above-mentioned part, the body of the clipper is lined with teak, in the underwater part - from a special kind of elm - Ulmus thomasii. The underwater part was still covered with munc-metal plates. “Cutty Sark” was used to deliver tea from China to London, which at the time looked like a deadly clippers race from China to Britain around Africa. The prize in this race was a huge profit margin for those, who were the first to bring the new vintage tea to England. “Cutty Sark” didn't stand out in this race. He became famous for his racing with the “Thermophylae” clipper in 1872. But the development of steamers put an end to this race. The clipper was pushed out by the steamers, although they were slower at the time, but the traffic was more stable and much shorter, as the steamers sailed through the Suez Canal, dug at the time. Later, “Cutty Sark” made a great effort to transport wool from Australia to England, which it reached in 77 days on one of its trips. It is claimed, that the ship's best daily range was 363 nautical miles, which is still a record for sailing ships of this size. In 1895, John Willis sold the ship for £ 1,250 to the Portuguese company “Fereira”. Kliper's sailing equipment was changed to a barkentine type, which was easier to operate, and named "Ferreira" in honor of the company. Converted to barkentine, the clipper was used by the Portuguese to transport coal. The “Cutty Sark” was then sold and rebuilt several times before it was bought in 1922 by the merchant navy captain Wilfred Dowman, who rebuilt the ship and restored it to its original appearance and used it as a training ship. In honor of the clipper, a type of whiskey with the image of "Cutty Sark" on the label was named. The producer of this whiskey, “Berry Brothers and Rudd”, became the main sponsor of the “Cutty Sark” Tall Ships' Race” from 1973 to 2003. From the 20th century the mid-clipper stands as a ship-museum on the Greenwich embankment. The ship was badly hit by a fire on the night of March 21, 2007, and the reconstruction required considerable effort and expense. After restoration, the ship was reopened in April 2012.

A very sophisticated and large sail ship model for intermediate and experienced modelers. In model details everything, as in real clipper. The sails are printed on both sides with thin paper. The publication is completed with laser-cut 1 mm thick cardboard parts.