In 1869 John Willis, a shipowner and ship’s captain from London, commissioned the building of the clipper CUTTY SARK in order to beat the THERMOPYLAE (built one year before) in the “tea race”. The name CUTTY SARK is of Scottish origin and means “short shirt”. The figurehead is a witch called Nannie.

Under 1877 the full-rig ship sailed almost exclusively as a tea dipper on the China route and she frequently achieved speeds of up to 17 knots. Then from 1877 onwards the CUTTY SARK served mainly in the Australian wool trade.

In 1895 she was sold to a Lisbon based company called J.A. Ferreira and her name was also changed to FERREIRA. However, she was more often referred to as EL PEQUINA CAMISOLA, the Portuguese for “short shirt”.

In 1916, the ship lost her masts in a storm. She put into harbour at Cape Town for emergency repairs and was newly rigged as a barquentine.

In 1922 she was purchased by Captain Wilfred Dowmann from England and was given back her original name of CUTTY SARK. In June 1938 she departed from London under tow – her last voyage on open water. Then, in 1951 she underwent a thorough examination in Millwall dry dock and was found to be in perfect condition.

She ended her career in 1953 as a training ship and the “Cutty Sark Preservation Society” was founded. She was given the necessary overhaul in the East India Dock and on 10th July 1954 the CUTTY SARK was towed to her dry-berth in Greenwich.

On June 25th of 1957 the Queen opened the CUTTY SARK to the public. The CUTTY SARK now become one of the most famous tourist attractions at Greenwich. On this walk you won’t hear about the history of the ship because this is no ordinary walk. Instead you will hear from Louis Dore whose grandfather actually worked on the Cutty Sark.

This HUGE, ONE-OF-A-KIND, 6+ foot long museum-grade CUTTY SARK model required more than a year and 2000 working hours of master craftsmen to build. A true masterpiece that is perfect cetnerpiece for any office, business or luxuy home. Nothing but the finest, most carefully selected woods and other materials, along with historical photographs, drawings or original plans were used to meticulously handcraft this highly detailed ship from scratch. The ship is 100% hand built using a plank-on-frame construction method and similar to that used when building the actual ships.

The model includes so many high quality details... In addition to those noted above, this model's details include, but is not limited to:

• It features plank on frame
• Three decks including interior details and lighting
• Scale metal fittings throughout the ship.
• The front bowsprit and three large masts are connected securely using advanced rigging and lines painstakingly knotted and fastened by hand.
• Each yardarm contains attached, hand-stitched, rolled-up sails, made of fine linen.
• Metal anchors and other hardware throughout.
• Copper clad, wooden rudder
• Main deck and sides contain authentic hand-built lifeboats with ribs and planks
• Metal steering wheels
• Wooden crane
• Numerous handcrafted ornaments and historic details throughout.

NOTE:  This model ship was specially commissioned and only one was built.  The pictures are of the actual model. Sold as-is. Due to the size of this model, it is too large to ship via normal shipping methods, such as UPS or FedEx freight.  This model requires special handling and is shipped via applicable freight forwarding. This method may not be as expeditious and may not arrive as fast as smaller shipping methods do. A SPECIAL REBATE OF $300 A FOR LOCAL PICK UP OF THIS MODEL.