Cutty Sark Burns

The dreaded, unthinkable, shocking news is going out; the most famous sailing ship of all time, the extreme clipper ship Cutty Sark, has burned in her drydock at the British National Maritime Museum.

Of course the Cutty Sark Fire is the center of discussion here at the Vasa Museum, dominating the coffee and lunch beaks. What happened? How did it happen? How did one of the most incredible preserved historic ships (albeit with severe preservation problems), a keystone artifact in one of the world's largest museums, literally go up in smoke?......How?........and of course, 'Have we done all we can to protect the historic ships under our care and the cultural history thuy embody from such a dismal fate?

Encouragingly, representatives from the Cutty Sark Restoration Project are reporting that most of the original timber survived as large amounts of it--including the beautifully panelled cabins--had been temporarily removed for restoration. Moreover, the Cutty Sark's frame was iron, and thus was spared in the blaze. The project leaders have already pledged to rebuild and the ship's global reputation will likely enable them to raise the funds needed, but many of the losses of this fire simply cannot be reclaimed.

Of course, the original wood that did burn is a total loss. It is gone forever. Gone with it are the knicks and cuts of the builders' tools, the last extant impressions of the long-dead craftsmen who labored to build the history-making Cutty Sark. This is without doubt the greatest loss in this tragic fire. The loss of legacy....

Naturally, the maritime museum world networks have been buzzing, relaying updates and now the grim scuttlebutt that Cutty Sark's iron framing suffered more warping and cracking in the hot fire than initially thought. It may be impossible to restore some of these brittle frames to their original shape. More irreplaceable, original material lost. Indeed, many parts of the ship are showing severe heat damage.

Lastly, this fire hurts not just Cutty Sark and her history, but the entirety of British maritime history. Funds that might otherwise have been available for preserving the countless other precious bits of British seafaring history now must be reverted to Cutty Sark to repair the damage and get the star attraction generating funds for the museum again.

This incident remains a stark wake-up call to all the museums that have skimped on fire suppression systems for their irreplaceable collections...Vasa included. It just isn't worth the risk.