The clippers, especially those built in the second half of the nineteenth century, were perhaps the most beautiful ships ever built and represented the pinnacle of maritime engineering in the "golden age of sails". The best known of them is undoubtedly "Cutty Sark". This sailing ship was built in 1869 at the special request of the famous Scottish shipowner, Captain John Willis at the Clyde shipyard. The assumption of the project was to build a ship capable of defeating the then fastest clipper "Thermopylae", launched just a year earlier. To achieve the intended goal, the latest technologies and the highest quality materials were used. Paradoxically, it was the costs of materials and highly skilled labor that caused the original contractor to go bankrupt and the construction had to be completed by another, neighboring shipyard. When the operation was finally successfully completed, the fastest ship of that time was obtained, which, thanks to the enormous sail area, achieved a speed of over 17 knots. Of course, such an exaggerated performance was not only intended to serve propaganda purposes, but also to be used in practice. Cutty Sark's job was to transport tea from China to Great Britain. Time played a big role here because the faster the fresh harvest was delivered to the London market, the more they got the price. Each year, the journey from China was a real race and at the same time a torment for the crew, mercilessly urged by the captain, who, in the hope of rewarding money and prestige, was once again trying to break the speed record. The good times for clippers ended at the end of the 19th century, when they were no longer able to cope with the competition from modern steam ships. The Cutty Sark met the fate of many other tall ships. In 1895, it was sold to a Portuguese company, where it served as a tramp for many years, and then a barge with no sails. In June 1922, a retired sea wolf, Captain Dowman, bought the dilapidated ship and towed it to England. There, after many years of work, the Cutty Sark was restored to its former glory, primarily by installing new, although in accordance with the original sails, and in 1938 the Thames Nautical Training College in Greenhithe was presented as a training ship. In 1952, an association working for the Cutty Sark was established and it was on his initiative that five years later the legendary sailing ship finally ended its colorful career and permanently anchored at the Greenwich quay. Technical data: Displacement: 2,100 t, length: 85.1 m, width: 10.9 m, draft: 6 m, speed: up to 17.5 knots, crew: 28-35 people.
