Cutty Sark

Cutty Sark stands as one of Britain’s iconic clipper ships, and you’re about to step into a very particular slice of maritime speed. Built in 1869 on the River Leven at Dumbarton for the Jock Willis Shipping Line, Cutty Sark was designed to chase the tea trade but soon turned to wool from Australia, setting the Britain-to-Australia pace for about a decade. The ship’s name comes from a character in Robert Burns’s Tam o’ Shanter—a witch known for her speed, a fitting association for this fast, late-clipper design. Her life at sea spanned several shifts in technology: the rise of steam ships reshaped routes after 1866, and by the 1880s steam power dominated long voyages, leading to Cutty Sark’s sale in 1895 and a later career as Ferreira under Portuguese ownership. …

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