European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - June 28, 1968, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Sark lbs Boyer is . Bureau chief the British mail Steamer Britan ii Nia crack ship of the Pacific audit line was making a steady 14% nod toward Sydney when the hights  sail ship were seen on i of answer to the Challenge the Britan Liia watch officer ordered flank Speed Iii 16 knots. But the Best the Britanni Alid do was not enough. I her log records sailing ship Over Liau led and passed  later the sail i vessel was identified As the Cutty which blew by the Britannia at i full 17 knots to Anchor inside the australian Harbor an hour ahead of the  year was 1888. Two decades had used since steam started the clippers slow but certain decline. Yet a sail ship with a Good Crew and am wind could still outrun the Best Ilithe new  Britannia was in her first year i it sea when the 18-year-old Cutty Sarki left her in the lurch outside Sydney. If Ere were other occasions when the loppers their sails spread full to the Llad outraged steamers but even thei romantics knew it was Only a matter to time until the last of the sailing vessels were chased into retirement. By 1900 the inevitable had  bulk of the world s Commerce was being hauled in  the Cutty Sark continued to defy the Odds. For another 22 years the old Clipper sailing for a portuguese firm continued to ply the seas in Campeti Kon with the steam driven freighters. Then after a half Century of service in 1922she was returned to Britai nand placed in retirement. In 1957 this last and most famous of the clippers was hoisted to her final berth at Green wich where today gaping school boys Clipper ships were built for Speed. With their slim bulls and great sails they were the fastest sailing vessels in Marine history. The Cutty Sark exemplified his design. Her Hull 212 feet Long and just 36 feet wide was topped by 29 sails which covered an area of 32,000 Square feet or three fourths of an acre. The sail Power developed at Lank Speed of just Over 17 Ujj was the equivalent of a h horsepower. Although the Cutty Sark never won the China Tea race she a become the most famous in on the australian Wool ill and there Are Marine sex pens who insist she was theist Cost sailing vessel of All time. Her Speed was clocked by log a a number of occasions at be Wen 17 and 17%  was capable of averaging knots for sustained periods Jated by a six Day run � .1m Miles. Or another cruise the Cutty made 3,457 Miles in u even today there Are slug a steamers that Don t do As Well As the clippers. Advent of steam took the wind from sails of Gallant Clipper Cutty Sark now in final berth near London. And tourists can Only wonder what i must have been like in the Golden age of sail. It was in the 1860s that the British Tea clippers sailing out of China reached their Zenith. Impetus for the design of these unrivalled ships was provided with the repeal of the British navigation Laws in 1849. Sleek trim of Keeland with High masts and great sails they were the thoroughbreds of the  was their reason for existence. And like fast horses they demanded Tough and knowing hands at the Tiller. Object of the clippers was to Raeback to the London markets with the season s first shipment of Tea for which a handsome Bonus was paid. In 1866, the most famous year of the Terrace five ships fought a stirring Duel for first place Money. In the end Thearie and the tapping arrived in port just 10 minutes apart. But just three years later with the opening of the Suez canal nov. 16, 1869 the demise of the clippers was sealed. For even the slow steamers of that period now could make the Tup from China to England in less time than the clippers which had to take Thelong route around Africa and the Cape of Good  the time few ship owners recognized the imminence of the threat. Wit High Hopes the Cutty Sark was launched a week after the opening of the canal and on feb. 15, 1870, the new ship set sail on her Maiden voyage from Lon Don to  owner of the Cutty Sark John Jock Willis jr., a former ship master living in London had two motives n i d when he had the Cutty Sark built on the Clyde in his native Scotland. He wanted to win the China Tea race and wanted to beat the thermopylae famous Clipper built in Aberdeen Scot land in 1868. The steamers rapid monopoly in Theta Trade the failure of the Cutty Sark s Early captains to get the most out of the ship and a stroke of bad Luck prevented Willis from achieving his first goal. The Cutty Sark failed to win the Tea race but in 1872 she was Lead ing the thermopylae by 400 Miles when she lost her rudder in a heavy Gale in the Indian Ocean. In 1875 the Cutty Sark made her first run from London to Sydney in 73 Days the fastest trip to Australia that  years later the Clipper carried its last Tea cargo from China. From then until 1895, when Willis sol the Cutty Sark to a portuguese firm she built her reputation on the Wool run. Richard Woodget who took Over the Cutty Sark in 1881, was the ship s most Able Seaman and its strongest Leader. It was under his firm and driving hand that she became the world most famous Wool Clipper. Year in and year out the Cutty Sark beat old and new rivals. In 1881, Woodget s first year As Captain the Cutty Sark returned from Sydney to the English Channel in 67 days12 clays ahead of the thermopylae. Wood get tried for a final cargo often in 1887, but by this time the steam ers had completely dominated the Trade and he had to sail empty to Australia where he picked up the usual haul of  dec. 9, 1894, the Cutty Sark left Brisbane Australia with her last cargo Fri Foy june 28, 1968 the stars and stripes or. The Wool run a record 5,304  docked in London March 26, 1895 25 years and 40 Days after the Start other Maiden voyage. It was the Cutty Sark s last haul under the British Flag. Willis sold his famous Clipper to the Ferriera Brothers who renamed it the Ferriera. Running out of Lisbon the Cutty Sark continued to haul cargo until 1922 when the Ferriera could no longer compete with the steamers. Sold to a new portuguese owner the Ferriera now became the Maria do Amparo but not for Long. A few month Slater Wilfred Dowman of Trevi some near Falmouth bought the Cutty Markand sailed it Back to Britain. Dowman had an admiration for the Cutty Sark Ever since she had passed the Hawks Dale on which Dowman was serving As an apprentice. This incident occurred on the return from Sydney in 1894.he had the old ship Rerig cd and re fitted just As it had been in the Clipper  died in 1936, but his Wilt presented the Cutty Sark to the shame nautical training College. For the last time the ship was pre pared for a voyage at sea and with lie Aid of a tug and her own sails the Cutty arrived at the Green Lutalie  non june 25, 1957, the Cutty s re no safely cradled at its filial Bor Greenwich was opened to the Public us the  perilous Mayth it Las ant reads the old sea  All her adventures t pleasant and fitting to inspec1 the Cut Tsark and to try to  Vila was like on a a Pih of a us " y a Century ago. Page 11