Saving Cutty Sark - or not?

by Orla Chennaoui, Sky News on 25 Nov 2007 Six months after she was almost destroyed by fire, the historic Cutty Sark still faces potential ruin due to a severe funding crisis.

Trustees of the world's sole surviving tea clipper need to drum up an extra £14m towards her restoration and are desperately appealing to big business to come to the rescue.

The symbol of the great age of sail, the Greenwich-based vessel is also a war memorial in part, a tribute to the merchant navy sailors who perished in the world wars. But the memorial too will go out of existence, unless the extra cash is found.

'We need corporate sponsorship as soon as possible,' said Stephen Archer, the communications director of the Cutty Sark Trust. 'Fourteen million pounds is a lot of money and that shortfall is definitely focusing our minds.'

The financial crisis was sparked by a huge fire in May, which was feared to have destroyed the world's most famous ship. Remarkably, only a small percentage of the original clipper was lost in the fire, since much of it had already been taken away for restoration work.

However, the decks were completely destroyed, and much of the metal framework damaged.

The blaze added an extra £9m to restoration costs, taking the total bill to £35m. So far, a public appeal which was launched after the fire has fallen well short - raising £1m.

'One million pounds from the public is great, that might be two million by the end of the project,' said Mr Archer, but the Trustees know, though public donations are still very much welcome, their best hope rests wich corporate funding.

One option being suggested is for businesses to sponsor entertainment space in and around the ship which would then be used for private meetings and functions. However, traditionalists will be relieved to know the Trust has ruled out the possibility of re-naming the Cutty Sark itself.

Mr Archer is also quick to dismiss speculation that the ship could be re-painted with the company logo of possibly donors, as has been suggested.

He said: 'The whole mission is to conserve and restore the ship to as close to the 1869 version as possible. Are we ruling out repainting the ship in company colours? Yes, yes, yes!'

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