Cutty Sark
Introduction and classroom activities
What is Cutty Sark?
• Cutty Sark is the world’s last
surviving tea clipper (a very
fast sailing ship)
© Cutty Sark Trust
• She was a cargo ship, built
in 1869 to bring back tea
China
from ______
•She was famous for her
speed and shape
‘In the tea trade’, painting by S. Wassell
John (Jock) Willis
• John ‘white hat’ Willis was the ship’s first
owner, he paid for her to be built
Can you
design a
new hat for
Jock?
© Cutty Sark Trust
• He was famous for wearing a white top
hat
Cutty Sark’s figurehead
• Figureheads were believed to
bring good luck to a voyage
© National Maritime Museum
• They may be a famous
personality or character
• On the front of the ship you
will see Nannie, a witch,
wearing a ‘cutty sark’
(short nightdress)
•Nannie is a character in a
poem by Robert Burns. Find out
more here
Who would
you choose
as the
figurehead for
your ship?
Why was Cutty Sark built?
• Cutty Sark was a cargo ship, built to
carry tea from China to London
• Tea was very popular in the UK and
people from all classes would drink it
• Cutty Sark raced other ships to get
back to London first. A lot of money
could be made by selling tea. The first
ship back could sell their cargo for the
highest price
Why was she so fast?
• Cutty Sark was a ‘clipper’ ship
• She has a strong iron frame, long
narrow hull, wooden hull planks,
raking masts and a very large sail
area
• Her hull is covered in metal
(copper mixed with zinc) to stop
barnacles growing and make her
more streamlined
© Cutty Sark Trust
• The word ‘clipper’ means to move
quickly across the waves
Top: model of an East Indiaman ship’s hull
Bottom: model of Cutty Sark’s streamlined
hull (not to scale)
After John Willis waved good-bye to Cutty Sark,
how long was it before he saw his ship again?
Sail to China =
_____
105 days
Total number of
days? =
_____
240 days
Find and load
the tea =
_____
25 days
Sail to back to
England =
_____
110 days
Design your own ship
- which will sail the fastest?
• Choose a material
to test
© National Maritime Museum
• Fold your chosen
material to make a
ship shape
•Add masts and sails
Click here to see how to make an
origami boat on You Tube
• Test it out on water
• Which material
works best?
Materials to test:
• Paper
• Card
• Foil
What else did Cutty Sark trade?
• In 1869 the Suez Canal was built which meant that steam
ships could get to China a lot quicker than sailing ships
• By 1877 steam ships had taken over the tea trade and Cutty
Sark stopped trading tea
• Cutty Sark continued to work as a cargo ship until 1922, sailing
to many countries and carrying a variety of different cargoes
Which of these cargoes do you think Cutty Sark traded?
Wool
Coal
Televisions
Beer
Spices
Where else did Cutty Sark travel to?
Match the cargoes to the continents:
Cocoa
Beans
Japan
Thailand
Rice
Ghana
Australia
Life on board the ship
•There were about 25 sailors on
board Cutty Sark
• The youngest crew member was 14
• Life on board was tough. Many left
home for the first time and they
would encounter all types of
weather. They had to be incredibly
hard-working and brave.
CREW NEEDED
Are you:
• brave in a storm?
• good at tying knots?
• quick at climbing
the rigging?
Send applications to
Jock Willis, Cutty Sark
The crew
Can you match the crew members to their jobs?
Master
I am the
captain of
the ship.
Cook
I am 14. I am
learning to be
a seaman.
Sailmaker
I produce
meals for
the crew.
Apprentice
Images © Cutty Sark Trust and National Maritime Museum
I mend
torn sails or
pennants.
Ship’s biscuits
• Ship’s biscuits were an important
part of a sailor’s diet
• They were made from stone
ground flour, water and salt
• They lasted a long time, so were
perfect for long voyages
Click here
for a recipe
Cutty Sark today
•Cutty Sark was moved to her
dry dock Greenwich, London in
1954
•Thankfully, very little of the ship
was lost in the fire. Cutty Sark
was reopened to the public in
April 2012 to begin a new
chapter in her extraordinary life
•Come and see for yourselves!
© National Maritime Museum
•During a conservation project
in 2007, she sadly caught fire