Cutty Sark...what the hell went wrong?

[Hard-Drive]

So the website says...

" By raising the ship three metres above her dry dock, it is now possible to view the elegant lines of her hull which enabled her to glide speedily through the water and made her so successful..."

OK, but why have you buggered up what's going on above the "water"? Why does she look like she is either overloaded, or sinking? Could it have been that hard to make the glass appear flat, or even at waterline height? The copper sheathing is the giveaway if you are struggling to work that one out. It's a crying shame IMHO and totally destroys the lines of such a beautiful clipper.

So it was supposed to look like this, which is fine...



...and instead we get this monstrosity.



So sad.

[rhinochopig]

Looks like an inflatable buoyancy aid/life jacket that's gone off.

Agreed it looks dreadful.

[fatboy69]

It looks as though someone has planted it in a greenhouse at Kew Gardens. It is awful.

[tank slapper]

From what I've seen of the restoration work, they have done a fantastic job. That greenhouse arrangement does look a bit strange - why they didn't do something similar to the SS Great Britain, that looks like it is actually afloat, I don't know:

[Hooli]

Hard-Drive said:

So the website says...

" By raising the ship three metres above her dry dock, it is now possible to view the elegant lines of her hull which enabled her to glide speedily through the water and made her so successful..."

OK, but why have you buggered up what's going on above the "water"? Why does she look like she is either overloaded, or sinking? Could it have been that hard to make the glass appear flat, or even at waterline height? The copper sheathing is the giveaway if you are struggling to work that one out. It's a crying shame IMHO and totally destroys the lines of such a beautiful clipper.

So it was supposed to look like this, which is fine...



...and instead we get this monstrosity.



So sad.

My word that is rather ste

[williamp]

Aparently Q is considering legal action....

[Huntsman]

My grandfather is turning in his grave, he loved that ship, adored it, took me to see it as a young boy many times, its part of my fascination of all things floating.

What they have done to it, and the amount of money that has been spent is a travesty.

£50 fking million, they could have got her back in the water for that. £50 million!! Kinell.

[Yertis]

Cutty Sark was screwed the moment she was put in dry dock in (I think) 1951. Her timbers, which would have remained permanently watertight and sound if kept in the water, dried out, letting in the rain and damp air of the Thames. Consequently her inner structure, which is iron, has rusted very, very badly - down by the keel it's almost lacy. The whole thing is a terrible shame. This doesn't make it any better.

[IforB]

Oh dear. That's pretty awful...

[UnderTheRadar]

That's grim. As a young teenager I went around it about 30 years ago. It was really atmospheric - I got the message about the tea clippers. The glass thing is completly out of character (and I like the gherkin and the British Museum roof) The pics I've seen of literally tens of computer screens (and I work in computers) completely miss the point.

[tank slapper]

Huntsman said:

My grandfather is turning in his grave, he loved that ship, adored it, took me to see it as a young boy many times, its part of my fascination of all things floating.

What they have done to it, and the amount of money that has been spent is a travesty.

£50 fking million, they could have got her back in the water for that. £50 million!! Kinell.

They would never have put it back in the water - it would require too much ongoing maintenance, and for very little purpose. It would never go to sea again with today's safety regulations, and to make it comply would have made it a different ship.

As it is, the actual restoration job is probably as good as they could have done. By suspending it, the loads are distributed more naturally through her frames, which means distortion shouldn't be a problem in future. Internally they have installed new structural members to reinforce and suspend the ship, and they have been made to be obviously different from the original members which as has been said were very corroded in places.

[DamienB]

tank slapper said:

By suspending it, the loads are distributed more naturally through her frames, which means distortion shouldn't be a problem in future. Internally they have installed new structural members to reinforce and suspend the ship...

That's what I would have thought but the experts seem to disagree:

Telegraph said:

But what is worst of all is that for many experts, including the Cutty Sark's own former chief engineer, Professor Peter Mason, the new Disney Sark actually puts the very survival of the ship in danger. Professor Mason resigned from the project in 2009 after computer simulations showed that hanging it from the steel girders would put unacceptable strains on the vessel. "The lifting support system will do damage to the fabric of the ship," he said. "It will have quite an impact on it. They should not lift up the ship."

From http://blogs.telegraph.co.uk/news/andrewgilligan/1...

And I have to say reading about the amount of holes they have cut into the ship is pretty saddening. Parking her in a greenhouse just finishes the job in a visually repellent manner too.

[thinfourth2]

drunk man drops ship on commercial greenhouse

[perdu]

I want to visit the old beauty some time this year and the guv'ner and I are looking forwards to it

But the greenhouse does look truly stty

I suppose the "concept glass cover" was yet another expensive pipe dream, impractical to bring to fruition

Shame

Cutting holes in her, well there are unusual holes in many museum exhibits to enable their displaying adequately. Better by far if they'd not been there though.

I will enjoy seeing her though, far rather this than her gone up for ever in those horrible flames a few years ago.

[MitchT]

Restoration sponsored by Dave's Conservatories

[Legmaster]

I was on board her yesterday for for the official opening. I was one of the freezing cold wet blokes up the masts

I'm not keen on the 'greenhouse' either but it's no where near as offensive in the flesh as the above pics (sorry for st mobile pic):



And the whole reason for the greenhouse is for this, which is stunning:

[Mojocvh]

Wow!

[rhinochopig]

Personally I think it still looks bloody awful looking from the bottom up. Cutty Sark' hull looks smashing but the glazed area is just too heavy; especially the frame-work. A flat glazed area with minimal frame-work would have looked SO much better IMHO.

[Dogwatch]

There was a very critical review in the Telegraph last week which I thought was sad as I too was visualising something like the SS Great Britain having seen partial shots of the hull and supports under glass on various TV programmes.

Was quite a shock to see what was actually there in aerial shots of the London Marathon and from then on I agreed with the reviewer.

'Boat lands on conservatory' rather sums it up.

[Simpo Two]

A hull is one form from top to bottom. Cutty Sark has a particularly beautiful hull and to appreciate it you need to be able to see it all in one go, not cut in half.