# The Old Lady Revisited....



## WereBo (Apr 5, 2008)

I finally managed to get along to see the finished Cutty Sark yesterday, after waiting for a shower-free afternoon and no Olympic events at Greenwich....

Here she is looking resplendent in her colours, looking as if she's about to sail off at a moment's notice.... The twin domes in the background are the old Naval College (Now part of Greenwich University), the smaller single dome in the foreground is the foot-tunnel under the Thames, to the Northern side (I used to cycle through it years ago, but now they have CCTV and the staff (lift-operators) now shout at folks cos it's a foot-tunnel only, not a cycle-tunnel.... :sigh











From the little side-road that leads to the gardens, this is the 1st view of the ship - Can anyone see the crewman working?....











Look at the bottom Port-side rail of the main-mast (centre).... :grin:


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## WereBo (Apr 5, 2008)

This time I managed to get in to see the insides and the hull underneath - This is the view that greets you from the entrance to the 'Visitors Centre' - Even with the widest angle lens-stetting, it's just too huge to fit......




















The entrance onto the ship takes you into the lower-deck, at the bottom of the Hold.....




















There's lots of 'Visitor-Interaction' along the way....


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## WereBo (Apr 5, 2008)

From there, it's up to the 'Tween-Deck'.... (Note the warning sign :grin











More Visitor-Interaction....





























Apparently, this is the actual camera that Captain Woodget owned and took one of the very few *photos* of the ship under sail (Somewhere in the back of one of our cupboards, I've got a Kodak camera very similar to this one, mine's dated 1909 and, when I tried it years ago in the college-darkroom, still works beautifully, though I can't get '120' sized film-rolls, or afford to get them developed :sigh


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## Basementgeek (Feb 7, 2005)

Actually 120 B&W flim was still available in bulk but hard to find. That camera was either 116 or 122. What is surprising these old camera are not worth much. I have three from that era.

BG


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## WereBo (Apr 5, 2008)

From there, it's up to the Main-Deck', the steps up to the Wheel at the stern, the slats behind the steps are cages for pigs and chickens, so fresh food for the crew. The cages had rough-carved wooden animals, along with their grunts/clucks coming from small speakers inside - Nowadays, Health & Safety would throw a fit at having food/animals kept next to the loo :grin:










The Stern.....











The view from the steering wheel.... (Note the 'Ship's Monkey' and that guy still up in the rigging:grin











One of the winches used to haul the cargo in/out of the Hold, along with one of many 'confusion-of-ropes'....











The Main-Mast....


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## WereBo (Apr 5, 2008)

The detail on-board is superb, even the tread-protectors on the steps are beautiful....











Amongst the 'Deck-Furniture' are the crews cabins, each bunk is only 5' 4"-5' 6"!!!











The Carpenter's workshop and the Galley - Both are the same size and the back wall of the workshop is the wall of the galley, you can work out just how tiny they actually are...




















Another Crews bunk-house....


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## WereBo (Apr 5, 2008)

This guy is the same height as me, to show just how low the cabins are.... 











After that, it's down to the dry-dock and the most impressive bit of the afternoon, seeing this literally took my breath away with just one '*WOW!!!*' - 920(ish) tons suspended in mid-air.....





























Part of the display is this plank from the lower hull, one of the original timbers that has now been replaced - It's 1 of 2 longest planks on the hull....#


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## WereBo (Apr 5, 2008)

A beautiful dedication set in the floor....











The collection of ships Figureheads, at the front of the dock





























Looking straight up at the Bow.... If you look carefully where the glass meets the hull, that's where the 'Magic' happens - The steel band the holds the glass is also the main support that holds the ship up in the air. The engineers discovered that having the ship sat on the ground was collapsing the sides, a ship's hull is meant to 'hang' in the water, not sit on it's hull. Now, with the ship 'hanging' as it should, it won't suffer from squashing itself any more...











Back to the Stern...


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## WereBo (Apr 5, 2008)

Finally, the 'Sea of Glass' at the ship's waterline, it really seems to work from here (The gangway to leave the ship)





























That guy still stuck up there and now looking a bit peeved.... :grin:











Lastly, whilst I was wandering around on deck, there were a couple of sailing-ships' sailing past - The 'Loth Lorien'....











I couldn't see what this one was named....


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## joeten (Dec 4, 2008)

They did some magnificent engineering to get up there I watched a show a few weeks back about it truly amazing and it's funny to think it was named after a witch from Tam O'Shanter "Tam o' Shanter" the Poem by Robert Burns


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## WereBo (Apr 5, 2008)

It was quite eerie as I was walking around 'tween-decks, cos one of the audio-displays was the origin of the ship's name - There was a recording of the poem being read and, every so often, a woman's voice would shriek out 'Tam O' Shanter', making quite a few people jump :grin:


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## joeten (Dec 4, 2008)

LOL you should visit Dumfries or Ayr when they do their festivals Burns an' a' that Festival - Week long tribute to Scotland's internationally acclaimed poet Robert Burns


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## WereBo (Apr 5, 2008)

Basementgeek said:


> Actually 120 B&W flim was still available in bulk but hard to find. That camera was either 116 or 122. What is surprising these old camera are not worth much. I have three from that era.
> 
> BG


Sorry BG, I didn't notice your post 'tween my lot









It's 116/122? Thanks for that cos the 120-size was mostly guesswork, being older than 127-size :grin:

It really surprised me when I found just how little my camera was worth, especially in good working condition - I managed to test it by cutting a bit of 'sheet-film' to size, then taping it to the insides, around the frame. It was jut a '1-shot' arrangement, but I was amazed just how crisp the results were.


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## WereBo (Apr 5, 2008)

*NOTE:* - Pics now resized for sensible loading times :grin:


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## zuluclayman (Dec 16, 2005)

Thanks WereBo for a fascinating look at not only an engineering marvel but a beautiful old lady - would love to visit her, partly cos I love sailing ships of old but also cos of her connection with Australia - as I think I said in a previous post, she is one of the prominent ships we learnt about at school in my day ... ah well, one day


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## WereBo (Apr 5, 2008)

zuluclayman said:


> Thanks WereBo for a fascinating look at not only an engineering marvel but a beautiful old lady - would love to visit her, partly cos I love sailing ships of old but also cos of her connection with Australia - as I think I said in a previous post, she is one of the prominent ships we learnt about at school in my day ... ah well, one day


I must admit, I was thinking of you when I was snapping the wool-bales from Australia :grin:


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## Basementgeek (Feb 7, 2005)

Great pics

BG


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## Done_Fishin (Oct 10, 2006)

Thanks for the memories .. beautifully shot :wave:


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## DonaldG (Aug 23, 2007)

A great pictorial story, WB. Your FinePix camera is doing you a cracking service!


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## dm01 (Oct 10, 2006)

Loth Lorien 

Nice pictures, that is a good camera.


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## WereBo (Apr 5, 2008)

Thanks folks, having a camera is a never ending learning-experience, as well as great fun :grin:



dm01 said:


> Loth Lorien
> 
> Nice pictures, that is a good camera.


I did a little bit of research and discovered the 'Loth Lorien' was built in Norway 1907, probably as a herring lugger, but now refitted as a 3-masted barquentine-schooner :smile:


A couple of extra pics from the day, a view out of the (tiny) porthole....











The 'Ship's Monkey'....












I did have some fun with a couple of young kids by mentioning that steering the ship meant standing with your back to the front and not being able to see the 'Binnacle' (ship's compass) - The 'steering-gear/box' is in the way to stand looking forward and turn the wheel.....










A guide later explained that the usual method was to have 1-2 steersmen (depending on the weather) standing either side of the box and turning 1/2 a wheel each :grin:


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## zuluclayman (Dec 16, 2005)

came across this on Vimeo today - an interesting promo for the Cutty Sark:

https://vimeo.com/41345446


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## WereBo (Apr 5, 2008)

I gotta admit, I'd really love to see the Cutty Sark sailing, as she was intended to. Back in 1989 London hosted the 'Tall Ships Race' from London to (I think) Hamburg-Germany. They started at London Bridge and sailed past my flat a few miles down-river, on their way to the sea. My biggest regret is that I didn't have a camera to record it, approx 3-4 hours of sailing ships drifting past in full sail was an absolutely beautiful sight.

Sadly, we can't host it any more cos a new bridge was built across the Thames at Dartford, quite a few miles down-river from me, and there's not enough safe clearance for the ships to pass under it :sigh:

Oh, one little thing wrong with that video-clip, the person caressing the keel is either very tall or standing on something - I'm 5' 11" and when I tried to reach the keel, on my visit, I was about 4"-6" too short to reach :grin:


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## joeten (Dec 4, 2008)

Stilts anyone lol


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