„Cutty Sark” – the British tea clipper

The "Cutty Sark" is the best known and only surviving three-masted composite sailing ship of the 19th century. Built in 1869. The clipper was designed by Hercules Linton, built and launched into the Clyde River on November 23, 1869 in the Scottish city of Dumbarton in the "Scott & Linton" shipyard according to one of the largest London XIX century. the order of John (Jock) Willis, nicknamed 'White Hat', of the second half of the tea merchants. Willis 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 water part, the clipper hull is sheathed with teak boards, in the underwater part - from a special type of elm - Ulmus thomasii. The underwater part was still covered with munc-metal plates. The "Cutty Sark" was used to transport tea from China to London in what at the time looked like a deadly clipper race from China to Great Britain around Africa. The prize in this race was a huge profit margin for those, who were the first to bring the new crop of tea to England. "Cutty Sark" was no different in this race. He became famous by racing the clipper "Thermophylae" in 1872. But the development of steamboats put an end to this race. Clippers were replaced by steamships, although they were slower in those days, but communication was more stable and much shorter, as steamships sailed through the then-dug Suez Canal. Later, the "Cutty Sark" distinguished itself by transporting wool from Australia to England, which it reached in 77 days on one of its voyages. The ship's best daily range is claimed to have been 363 nautical miles, still a record for a sailing vessel of this size. In 1895, John Willis sold the ship for £1,250 to the Portuguese company "Fereira". The clipper's sail equipment was changed to a barquetine type, which was easier to operate, and it was named "Ferreira" in honor of the company. A clipper, converted into a barquentine, was used by the Portuguese for transporting coal. The "Cutty Sark" was subsequently sold and rebuilt a number of times, until she was purchased in 1922 by a merchant marine captain, Wilfred Dowman, who rebuilt the ship to its original appearance and used it as a training vessel. A type of whiskey, bearing the image of the "Cutty Sark" on the label, was named after the clipper. The producer of this whiskey - the company "Berry Brothers and Rudd" became the main sponsor of the Tall Ships Regatta, which was called the "Cutty Sark' Tall Ships' Race" from 1973 to 2003. Since the 20th century the middle clipper stands as a museum ship on Greenwich Quay. The ship was badly damaged in a fire on the night of March 21, 2007, and the reconstruction required great efforts and costs. After restoration, the ship was reopened for visits in April 2012.

A very complex, albeit small, sailboat model for intermediate to advanced modellers. It details everything that is in a real clipper. The sails are double-sided printed on thin paper. Antiquarian publication.