Unspecified/General

Cutty Sark, preserved in a dry dock at Greenwich on the bank of the River Thames, is the last surviving tea clipper of the great age of sail and one of the most celebrated ships in British maritime history. Built on the Clyde in Scotland and launched in 1869, she was designed for speed, racing to bring the first and most valuable cargoes of tea from China to Britain in an era when the swiftest ships commanded the highest prices. The opening of the Suez Canal in the same year soon allowed steamships to dominate the tea trade, and the clipper found a new role carrying wool from Australia, on which run she set record passages that confirmed her reputation as one of the fastest vessels of her kind. After a long working life under British and later Portuguese ownership, she was eventually preserved as a memorial to the merchant navy and the sailors who served on the clippers. Now the centrepiece of a museum, the ship has been raised above her dry berth so that visitors can walk beneath her sleek copper-sheathed hull as well as explore the decks, the holds and the cabins above, learning about the cargoes she carried, the lives of her crew and the engineering that made her so fast. A serious fire during restoration was overcome, and the ship reopened with new displays. The combination of a genuine historic vessel and an evocative setting beside the river makes for a memorable visit. Tickets can be booked online in advance, often combined with other Greenwich attractions, and the ship welcomes visitors throughout the year across every season of the calendar. The ability to walk beneath the hull, an unusual feature made possible by raising the ship in her dock, allows visitors to appreciate the elegant lines that gave the clipper her speed and to understand the engineering of her construction in a way few preserved ships permit. Displays on the decks recount the rigours of life at sea, the dangers of the long voyages and the fierce competition of the tea and wool races. As the sole survivor of a once-numerous class of vessel and a monument to an age when Britain's prosperity depended on the sea, the ship carries genuine historical weight, and its position beside the river in the historic maritime quarter makes it a natural part of any exploration of the area.

Type: Tourist Attraction

Address: King William Walk, London, United Kingdom

Telephone: +44 20 8312 6608

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

Opening Date: 22/11/1869