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From: (no name) (no email)
Date: Sat May 19 2007 - 09:46:52 EDT
In a message dated 5/19/07 12:01:03 AM, Randy writes:
> was in London this past January and took a day-trip to Greenwich. Was I
> bummed out when I saw that the Cutty Sark was closed for renovation! But
> all
> was not lost. We still got to tour the museums and take the obligatory
> tourist pictures straddling the Prime Meridian.
>
Well, you could always visit Boston and see the Constitution. I believe it is
still considered to be in "active service."
But for a commercial boat, the Cutty Sark is remarkably long lived. The
clipper ship era lasted only three to four decades. The boats were built for
speed,
not longevity. An owner would be more than satisfied if his ship lasted ten
years or made three successful and profitable voyages to the Far East. Built
at
the end of the clipper ship era, the Cutty Sark was the one of the last
attempts of sail to defy the emerging steamship technology. Sailing vessels
were
still built until the early 1900s but only for carrying bulk cargo in less
developed areas where time was not critical.
Or, if you want to see a couple of really well preserved wooden boats with
far greater historic significance than the Cutty Sark, visit the Fram Museum
in
Oslo. Outside the museum sits the Geoa, the trawler sized converted wooden
fishing boat that Amundsen used to make the first Northwest passage. Inside
the
museum is the fully restored Fram, allegedly the strongest wooden boat ever
built. Nansen used it on his North Pole quest, and Amundsen used it to reach
the
South Pole. It was also in the Fram that Sverdup sailed further north than any
ship to that time. (Until the Nautilus surfaced at the North Pole in 1958.)
The museum next door holds the Kon Tiki, the antithesis of a well designed
wooden boat.
Larry Z
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