NavList:
A Community Devoted to the Preservation and Practice of Celestial Navigation and Other Methods of Traditional Wayfinding
Cutty Sark gutted by fire!
From: Frank Reed
Date: 2007 May 21, 06:45 -0400
From: Frank Reed
Date: 2007 May 21, 06:45 -0400
It is a rare day when a 19th century sailing ship is the lead story in the news. And today's news is very sad. The clipper ship "Cutty Sark" which has been located in Greenwich for some fifty years, within sight of the prime meridian and the Greenwich Observatory, was gutted by fire earlier today. Fortunately, significant portions of the ship's structure had been removed as part of an on-going restoration project, but the fire was clearly large and consuming, and the basic structure of this historic vessel may have been destroyed. Here's a link to a BBC story about the fire: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/england/london/6675915.stm Some key quotes: "The fire swept through the entire remaining hull of the ship, which had been covered by a temporary roof, and the skeleton has suffered substantial damage. "The boat was built for the China tea service - to be able to smell the burning timber and rope is extremely sad," Richard Doughty, project director and chief executive of the Cutty Sark Trust, told the BBC News website. "The tragedy is you can't remake the fabric of the boat - these are timbers that were growing during the Battle of Agincourt [in 1415]. History itself has been lost." -FER --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ To post to this group, send email to NavList@fer3.com To , send email to NavList-@fer3.com -~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---