Cutty Sark Fire

I checked the news this morning and was shocked and saddened to read that the Cutty Sark (the boat, not the pub) has been on fire.

You can read about it here.

I feel quite sick that there's now a susipiscion that it was done deliberately.

However there is some light at the end of the tunnel. After getting the boat to Greenwich over the weekend I took some friends up to see the Cutty Sark. There's some gaps in the fencing around it through which you can peek inside. For those that don't know the ship is being renovated, they've taken away the masts and a lot of the hull. Therefore pretty much all you could see was a corroded iron skeleton, there didn't appear to be much for the fire to damage. The news report above seems to confirm that, the fire looked a lot worse than it was.

I hope that initial assessment is right and that no serious lasting damage has been done. I miss not seeing her masts towering over Greenwich and it would be a true loss if they were to never return.

Edited to add: I've just seen the reports on the BBC about this. Thankfully the team involved in the restoration didn't seem too concerned. Yes there's been damage, yes it will take time and money to repair but they reemphasised that a lot of the wood and artifacts had already been removed as a part of the process. The reporter also pointed out that the damage that you can see is mainly to the structure they'd build over the ship so it looks a lot worse than hopefully it is. My fingers are crossed.

Another Update:Click here to see an updated from the Cutty Sark Trust. They say that some of the ironwork has buckled which is worrying, they're still assessing the damage but the tone still doesn't seem too bleak. I hope that the continuing assessment doesn't throw any huge unexpected problems up.