THE CUTTY SARK, AFTER THE FIRE

One of the things I like about London is the great number of monuments and landmarks that remind of the days when British culture was all about ruling the waves, instead of today's pathetic attempts to source food locally. I have always wanted to visit the Cutty Sark, the famous 19th-century ship that was used to commit the imperialistic atrocity of importing tea from China. But the ship has been closed for renovation--and now, it has been damaged by a fire.

21st May 2007 - A fire broke out this morning at 4.45am this morning at the Cutty Sark in Greenwich, which was put out by the London Fire Brigade by 06.28am.

I went to the site today to see what the fire has left:

 

But it's not as bad as it seems:

around 50 per cent of the ship was not at the site because it had been taken away for repair.

Chairman of Cutty Sark Enterprises, Chris Livett, believes she can be fully restored, saying: "It will be the old ship. The ship has been through many things in its lifetime. It has sailed the oceans of the world, it has battled with nature through its life.

"This is going to make us even more determined to get this ship back up and running and keep her as original as possible."

He continued: "The mast, much of the planking, the coach housing and all of the artefacts were not there. We're very, very fortunate... It could have been a lot worse."

[...]

He said: "This ship has been through many things. She's over 100 years old. She's been through recessions, storms, hurricanes. She's been battling all her life. She's not dead yet, far from it."

That spirit, now, is still worthy of the great old days of Britannia!