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In brief: the story of Cutty Sark

When was Cutty Sark built? 

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Cutty Sark was built in Dumbarton in 1869. Cutty Sark’s first voyage departed London on 15 February 1870, bound for Shanghai. On this outward voyage, the ship carried a general cargo, including wine, spirits and beer and manufactured goods. After successfully reaching China on 31 May, the ship was loaded with 1,305,812 lbs of tea. Following only 25 days in port in Shanghai, the ship sped back to London arriving on 13 October the same year.

Why did Cutty Sark stop trading tea?

With the arrival of steam ships and the opening of the Suez Canal, Cutty Sark had to find other goods to transport. Cutty Sark collected its last Chinese tea cargo in 1877. From this point on, Cutty Sark crew was thrown into turmoil.

A new captain, James Wallace, took over command of the ship. His first mate Sidney Smith was a bully which led to unhappiness amongst the crew. The ship took different cargoes around the world, from coal to Australian mail.

Sidney Smith killed seaman John Francis and was confined but the captain helped him escape. The crew went on strike in anger, and a lack of winds found the crew becalmed in the Java Sea for three days.

Before long, Captain Wallace realised his career was finished. He jumped overboard, and his body was lost. Despite this period of turmoil, it resulted in a new captain and first mate, who would bring the ship into its most successful period of working life.

What records did Cutty Sark break?

As Cutty Sark moved into its teenage years, it was the most successful period as a cargo ship. Transporting wool from Australia saw it sail faster than every ship at the time by 25 days to a month.

In 1885 Captain Woodget became the Master. In order to catch the 'Roaring Forties' trade winds and make the ship travel faster, Woodget travelled further south than any previous commander, tackling the most violent gales and seas on earth. Woodget was also a keen photographer and he has left many striking images of the ship passing icebergs as well as shots of the ship in Sydney harbour. 

In the 1890s Cutty Sark began to make less money, as more steam ships moved into the wool trade. Eventually the ship was sold to a Portuguese firm.

What happened after Cutty Sark was sold?

During this period Cutty Sark was renamed Ferreira. It was used as a cargo ship, transporting goods between Portugal and its empire.

When Portugal declared war on Germany, the ship was in constant danger of being sunk. Despite surviving this unscathed, the ship suffered damage during particularly bad weather. As a result it was converted into a sailing ship. Retired captain Wilfred Dowman became determined to buy the ship.

He was so determined that he offered a price of £3,750 – more than what the ship was worth even in 1895. The old name was restored in 1923, and Cutty Sark returned to British ownership.

Why has Cutty Sark survived?

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Dowman restored the ship to its state as a tea and wool clipper, an expensive and impressive feat. The ship was used as a training ship for cadets during these years.

When Dowman died his wife gifted it to the Thames Nautical Training College. Cutty Sark was used as a training ship in Greenhithe until the 1950s. The Cutty Sark Society was formed in order to save the ship, supported by HRH the Duke of Edinburgh.

Cutty Sark at Greenwich

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In 1954 the ship was towed into Greenwich. Extensive restoration work followed, and Cutty Sark was finally opened to the public in 1957.

In 2007 a fire damaged three of Cutty Sark’s decks. Thanks to an outpouring of public support and the Heritage Lottery Fund, the ship was restored and reopened in 2012.

https://www.rmg.co.uk/cutty-sark/history

 

Edited by CaaC (John)
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The most powerful nuclear-powered ice breaker in the world, 50 Let Pobedy (50 Years of Victory).  Arktika-class vessel with two nuclear reactors, 75000 HP, 160m long, 11m max draught, can break through 3 meter thick ice, cruising speed of 20 knots in open water. Has a dining room, sauna, library, auditorium, passenger lounge, volleyball court, gym, swimming pool (indoor, heated), infirmary, elevator, helipad (helicopter deck) with a Mi-2 transport helicopter.

What a ship; looks so majestic and ominous.

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800px-Olympias.1.jpeg

Olympias is a reconstruction of an ancient Athenian trireme and an important example of experimental archaeology. It is also a commissioned ship in the Hellenic Navy of Greece, the only commissioned vessel of its kind in any of the world's navies.

History

Olympias was constructed from 1985 to 1987 by a shipbuilder in Piraeus. She was built to drawings by the naval architect John F. Coates which he developed through long discussions with the historian J. S. Morrison following the longest correspondence on any subject in The Times of London in the early 1980s. The work was also advised by the classics teacher Charles Willink and drew on evidence gained from Greek literature, history of art and archaeology above and below water. Finance came from the Hellenic Navy and donors such as Frank Welsh (a banker, writer and trireme enthusiast). Morrison, Coates and Willink founded the Trireme Trust together with Welsh. The Trireme Trust is now chaired by professor Boris Rankov.

The bronze bow ram weighs 200 kg. It is a copy of an original ram now in the Piraeus archaeological museum. The ship was built from Douglas fir and Virginia oak. The keel is of iroko hardwood.

The important hypozomata (bracing ropes) had to be replaced by a steel rope because no natural fibre or synthetic fibre ropes with about the same elastic modulus as hemp could be obtained for economic reasons. The steel cables' tension varied as the hull bent on the waves, rather than exerting constant tension like a natural fibre rope. This caused the alarming possibility of the rope breaking and endangering the crew, so protective measures had to be taken.

She underwent sea trials in 1987, 1990, 1992 and 1994, but one of the most informative was a 1987 exercise crewed by 170 volunteer oarsmen and oarswomen. Olympias achieved a speed of 9 knots (17 km/h) and was able to perform 180 degree turns within one minute, in an arc no wider than two and a half (2.5) ship-lengths. These results, achieved with an inexperienced, mixed crew, suggest that ancient historians like Thucydides were not exaggerating about the capabilities of triremes.

Olympias was transported to Britain in 1993, to take part in events celebrating the 2,500 years since the beginning of democracy. In 2004 she was used to transport the Olympic Flame ceremonially from the port of Keratsini to the main port of Piraeus, as the Olympic Torch Relay approached Athens for the 2004 Summer Olympics.

Olympias is now an exhibit in a dry dock at the Naval Tradition Park in Palaio Faliro, Athens, Greece.

In the years 2016 to 2018, a number of trips in the Saronic Gulf were organized, with amateur rowers and passengers.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Olympias_(trireme)

 

 

 

Edited by CaaC (John)
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Top 10 Historic Ships of All Time

Ships have been an essential constituent of human history for a long. The maritime history has provided us with many historic vessels from hollowed-out logs to Roman Triremes, wind-driven ships to nuclear-powered supercarriers that have changed the course of time.

Their participation in both military and civilian services has inevitably made them constituting an undiminished entirety in the history of ships but not all of these have been able to have left a lasting impact for centuries and secured a permanent place in the list of famous ships in history.

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Representation image

Here in this article, we present you with the top 10 historic ships of all time.

 

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3 minutes ago, Bluewolf said:

Amazing really... I wonder how long it would have taken to build something that big??? 

Only two years, apparently... From 1626 to 1628. But then it sank just over 1 km into its first journey, so they obviously didn't do a great job xD

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1 hour ago, nudge said:

Only two years, apparently... From 1626 to 1628. But then it sank just over 1 km into its first journey, so they obviously didn't do a great job xD

Blame King Gustavus Adolphus of Sweeden for that. O.o

The ship was built on the orders of the King of Sweden Gustavus Adolphus as part of the military expansion he initiated in a war with Poland-Lithuania (1621–1629). She was constructed at the navy yard in Stockholm under a contract with private entrepreneurs in 1626–1627 and armed primarily with bronze cannons cast in Stockholm specifically for the ship. Richly decorated as a symbol of the king's ambitions for Sweden and himself, upon completion she was one of the most powerfully armed vessels in the world. However, Vasa was dangerously unstable, with too much weight in the upper structure of the hull. Despite this lack of stability, she was ordered to sea and foundered only a few minutes after encountering a wind stronger than a breeze.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vasa_(ship)

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There was a ship RMS Empress, ocean liner much bigger than Titanic but sank in 14 minutes, a coal frigate collided with it after a thick fog came out of nowhere.

The ship's captain had earlier helped captured Dr.Crippins a doctor who killed his wife a famous opera singer and was on the run to US with his girlfriend. He recognised them through the newspaper ad and used wireless communication to contact with Scotland Yard, first case of wireless tech used in criminal cases.

Legend has it Crippins when realised he had trapped him said 'Thank God the suspense is over ' and cursed the captain for his treachery, spitting three times. 

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Syracusia

 
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Syracusia as imagined in 1798.

Syracusia (GreekΣυρακουσίαsyrakousía, literally "of Syracuse") was an ancient Greek ship sometimes claimed to be the largest transport ship of antiquity. She was reportedly too big for any port in Sicily, and thus only sailed once from Syracuse in Sicily to Alexandria in the Ptolemaic Kingdom of Egypt, whereupon she was given as a present to Ptolemy III Euergetes. The exact dimension of Syracusia is unknown;  Michael Lahanas put it at 55 m long, 14 m wide, and 13 m high.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Syracusia#/media/File:The_Syracusia.png

 

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On 09/09/2021 at 17:26, Bluewolf said:

I have always had a love for the old galleys of Greece and Rome back in the day.. 

See the source image

See the source image

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We should bring them back and we can put all the criminals in them doing continuous round the UK cruises as a form of hard labour.. You keep going round until either you pass away or complete how ever many years it is you get... :ph34r:

 

 

And the only place you stop in is Morecambe...

 

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10 hours ago, Aladdin said:

How fast do modern passenger ships go ? like a 3 hr flight will take how much on the seas

They're quite quick now, I wouldn't know the absolute breakdown but when I used to holiday by cruise ship, you'd normally set sail in the evening (perhaps around 20:00) to dock at around 05:00-06:00 in the morning.

Of course the speed is purposely set to the minimum, in order to keep the ship as smooth as can be and in all my years holidaying have only been seasick once (while sailing through Messina).

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