I steered the Cutty Sark down the Tames River when I was in England (I was an exchange student for the summer in 1968)🚣♀...the Captain asked if I wanted to steer as I watched and I grabed that moment!!! I still see that river in front of me...as I did when I was 18 and now at 76 years old ❤-Sheila Wolk ⚓🛟.....The ship was named after the witch in Robert Burns‘ 1791 poem Tam o’ Shanter. The ship’s figurehead, the original of which has been attributed to carver Fredrick Hellyer of Blackwall, is a stark white carving of the bare-breasted witch with long black hair holding Tam’s horse’s tail in her hand. In the poem she wore a linen sark (Scots for a short chemise or undergarment), that she had been given as a child, which explains why it was cutty, or in other words far too short. Tam sees the witch dancing and shouts out ‘Weel done Cutty Sark’, at this point she gives chase to Tom on his grey horse. they did a great job with her!!!!
It's wonderful and great that conservation is going on to carry the infamous ship thru the 21st century, but I personally would have tried to maintain the figure's contours, abet with just the newer face replaced(agree the older was a fright!). I notice the new figure has scant drapery over her breast, which still doesn't leave much to the imagination as the original's bare breasts. All to satisfy the big chief of operations whims I suppose...
I steered the Cutty Sark down the Tames River when I was in England (I was an exchange student for the summer in 1968)🚣♀...the Captain asked if I wanted to steer as I watched and I grabed that moment!!! I still see that river in front of me...as I did when I was 18 and now at 76 years old ❤-Sheila Wolk
⚓🛟.....The ship was named after the witch in Robert Burns‘ 1791 poem Tam o’ Shanter. The ship’s figurehead, the original of which has been attributed to carver Fredrick Hellyer of Blackwall, is a stark white carving of the bare-breasted witch with long black hair holding Tam’s horse’s tail in her hand. In the poem she wore a linen sark (Scots for a short chemise or undergarment), that she had been given as a child, which explains why it was cutty, or in other words far too short. Tam sees the witch dancing and shouts out ‘Weel done Cutty Sark’, at this point she gives chase to Tom on his grey horse.
they did a great job with her!!!!
It's wonderful and great that conservation is going on to carry the infamous ship thru the 21st century, but I personally would have tried to maintain the figure's contours, abet with just the newer face replaced(agree the older was a fright!). I notice the new figure has scant drapery over her breast, which still doesn't leave much to the imagination as the original's bare breasts. All to satisfy the big chief of operations whims I suppose...