Pirates & Privateers: Arron Hewett's & Louise Macfarlane's Books

Cutty Sark enters the world when tea is a vital commodity in British trade; England imports 63,000,000 pounds that year. With her sharp bow, streamlined hull, and 32,000 square feet of sails, she is built for speed in the middle of the Victorian Era. She has outlived both other extreme clippers and many steamships that ply the seas when she does. When tea ceases to be profitable, she transports other cargo until she earns her place in history as the fastest ship in the Australian wool trade. Later, navy sailors and merchant seamen train aboard her, and today she teaches visitors about wooden ships and their role in maritime history despite the destructive fire that sweeps through her in 2007. Although this book discusses her entire history, the authors focus on her first twenty-six years when steamships are gaining importance in maritime trade. And who better to share her story than her general manager and her curator?

They set the stage with their introduction to the tea trade and the emergence of clipper ships, as well as world events – the Opium Wars and Suez Canal, for example – that impact maritime trade and shipping. Their goal in writing this pocket manual is to explain why Cutty Sark survives when her contemporaries are long since relegated to history books or forgotten entirely.

Subsequent chapters discuss her construction, her voyages, how ships work, her captains and crew, life on board, her cargoes, and her history once she ceases to be a British merchant ship. Launched on 22 November 1869, Cutty Sark has a wooden hull affixed to an iron frame. She is built by Scott & Linton, who goes bankrupt as a result of her construction, and owned by John Willis, Jr., who is wily, ruthless, and known as “White Hat Willis” because of his white top hat. She sets sail on her maiden voyage to China in February the following year, and when she returns to London, she holds the fourth fastest record for the year. But her travels are not without problems. Like all ships, she encounters Mother Nature and endures her wrath. On Cutty Sark’s maiden journey one of the crew dies of dysentery. On the “Hell-Ship Voyage” (1880) a seaman is murdered, another becomes a fugitive, and the master commits suicide. Richard Woodget serves as her seventh and last master as a British vessel. During his decade-long tenure, he provides a photographic record of life aboard the clipper. He resurrects her reputation and even overhauls a steamer to reach Sydney before Britannia does in 1889.

In addition to an index, the authors include black-&-white illustrations (including some of Woodget’s photographs), tables, maps, diagrams, and entries from logbooks to enrich the reading experience. Despite its size, this small, thin book brims with fascinating history about this famous ship. Most readers know of Cutty Sark, but few know what she and her crews endure. The authors correct this oversight and enlighten us so even those who are unable to actually visit her come to understand why she has left such an indelible mark on our memories.

Meet the ship
Meet the curator