0:00:09 > 0:00:12Cutty Sark was launched in 1869.
0:00:12 > 0:00:14She is the last remaining ship of her type
0:00:14 > 0:00:18and so has been preserved for the nation.
0:00:18 > 0:00:22This is the end of a chapter. There won't be any more of her kind.
0:00:22 > 0:00:26But in the late 1990s, it was discovered that this iconic ship
0:00:26 > 0:00:29was in danger of collapse.
0:00:29 > 0:00:36A ship is not built to sit in a dry dock, it's built to be in water.
0:00:36 > 0:00:40So the weight of the ship was bursting it more and more at the seams.
0:00:40 > 0:00:46Nobody wanted a pile of matchwood at the bottom of the dry berth.
0:00:46 > 0:00:50And so a revolutionary vision to save this national treasure
0:00:50 > 0:00:54for future generations was put into action.
0:00:54 > 0:00:57We're going to lift her about three metres from where she currently is.
0:00:57 > 0:01:02We can actually sit the Cutty Sark in its own new sea of glass.
0:01:02 > 0:01:06Subliminally, we were saying to each other, "They've gone mad!"
0:01:06 > 0:01:09I know Eric and I sort of looked at each other
0:01:09 > 0:01:11and thought, "This is absolutely crazy!"
0:01:11 > 0:01:16It was a project that was going to be incredibly ambitious
0:01:16 > 0:01:19but no-one could have predicted what lay ahead.
0:01:19 > 0:01:23What's your reaction to hearing that the Cutty Sark's on fire?
0:01:23 > 0:01:25It's just unbelievable.
0:01:25 > 0:01:29The thought that it had just gone up in smoke, on my watch,
0:01:29 > 0:01:31was unbearable, really.
0:01:31 > 0:01:33Yes.
0:01:33 > 0:01:38It was very clear that costs were escalating.
0:01:38 > 0:01:43We were very concerned about how we could keep the show on the road.
0:01:43 > 0:01:47Well, after a year of planning, a year of design,
0:01:47 > 0:01:51a year of manufacture, we're now ready to raise the ship
0:01:51 > 0:01:53up to its new three metre in-the-air position.
0:01:58 > 0:02:02It took over six years to prepare Cutty Sark for her final voyage,
0:02:02 > 0:02:06and this is that story.
0:02:21 > 0:02:25It's the day before Cutty Sark will be reopened to the public
0:02:25 > 0:02:28by the Queen and the Duke of Edinburgh.
0:02:29 > 0:02:31And for Richard Doughty,
0:02:31 > 0:02:33Director of the Cutty Sark Trust,
0:02:33 > 0:02:35it's time to make his final inspection.
0:02:36 > 0:02:39We're that close now to the Queen coming,
0:02:39 > 0:02:41and inevitably there are all those things that you have to do
0:02:41 > 0:02:44last minute. So it's the final push
0:02:44 > 0:02:47to get everything ready for Her Majesty.
0:02:49 > 0:02:52One thing he can't control is the weather.
0:02:52 > 0:02:54I've seen the ship in all sorts of conditions.
0:02:54 > 0:02:59Rain, sun, sleet, snow, and, of course, fire.
0:02:59 > 0:03:02But it pales into insignificance compared to some of the elements
0:03:02 > 0:03:06that have been thrown at her in her working life.
0:03:06 > 0:03:08Yeah, I mean, she's been through a lot.
0:03:08 > 0:03:12She's an inspiration for me, just coming to look at Cutty Sark.
0:03:12 > 0:03:16Seeing Cutty Sark conserved for future generations
0:03:16 > 0:03:20resonates with Richard's own childhood memories.
0:03:20 > 0:03:26'I did visit Cutty Sark as a boy. I was born not very far away,
0:03:26 > 0:03:30'and I can remember coming as a child, both with my grandparents
0:03:30 > 0:03:36'and with my parents, and that was an awe-inspiring experience.'
0:03:36 > 0:03:40Obviously never imagining that it was going to play
0:03:40 > 0:03:45such a significant part in my life later on.
0:03:45 > 0:03:49For the last ten years, Richard has been one of the driving forces
0:03:49 > 0:03:51behind the Cutty Sark project.
0:03:51 > 0:03:56And during this time, the iconic ship has taken over his life.
0:03:56 > 0:04:01I suppose, to some extent, I'm guilty of obsessing about her.
0:04:01 > 0:04:07But, um, my wife thinks of her as... er, as... um,
0:04:07 > 0:04:11the other woman in my life, I suppose.
0:04:11 > 0:04:13It's an inanimate object, I know it is,
0:04:13 > 0:04:18but there is, you know, a real magic about her.
0:04:18 > 0:04:24And, whether it's because she's had to overcome so many hardships,
0:04:24 > 0:04:26that, you know... she's a little ship,
0:04:26 > 0:04:30and she's come through everything that's been thrown at her,
0:04:30 > 0:04:33and I just think it's a remarkable story.
0:04:33 > 0:04:36A lot of people have cared about her.
0:04:38 > 0:04:43'She's been saved because people love her.'
0:04:55 > 0:04:58Cutty Sark is the last of the famous tea clippers,
0:04:58 > 0:05:02and one of the fastest sailing ships the world has ever seen.
0:05:02 > 0:05:07She was commissioned in 1869 by a Scottish businessman called John Willis.
0:05:09 > 0:05:13John Willis was a Scottish ship-owner.
0:05:13 > 0:05:16He had a small fleet.
0:05:16 > 0:05:18He was quite an eccentric old bachelor,
0:05:18 > 0:05:21and his most distinctive feature was his white top hat.
0:05:21 > 0:05:24And every time one of his ships went out to sea,
0:05:24 > 0:05:27he would go down to the East India Docks,
0:05:27 > 0:05:29doff his top hat and say, "Goodbye, my lads."
0:05:29 > 0:05:33So he was very attached to his ships and his sailors.
0:05:35 > 0:05:39There were many different designs of cargo ships,
0:05:39 > 0:05:42but the fastest were nicknamed the clippers.
0:05:42 > 0:05:45The traditional design for a ship was a very bluff bow,
0:05:45 > 0:05:50a very square ship, that would just rise and fall over the waves.
0:05:50 > 0:05:54Cutty Sark and the clipper design was very different, where it
0:05:54 > 0:05:58was meant to cut through the waves, this narrow hull cutting edge
0:05:58 > 0:06:00and that made them go terribly fast.
0:06:02 > 0:06:06Cutty Sark is just over 84 metres long, but only 11 metres wide,
0:06:06 > 0:06:11and her sleek shape and narrow hull have fascinated generations.
0:06:11 > 0:06:15Hello and welcome. Now, you've put an awful lot of work into this magnificent model.
0:06:15 > 0:06:17What was the most difficult part about building it?
0:06:17 > 0:06:20It was getting the lines of the hull.
0:06:20 > 0:06:23Actually, if I turn it around, we can see the line of the hull.
0:06:23 > 0:06:26It's got a beautiful line, actually, has the Cutty Sark,
0:06:26 > 0:06:29cos it was a beautiful ship. You can see a nice curve here.
0:06:29 > 0:06:32And the shape of her hull allowed her to travel at amazing speeds.
0:06:32 > 0:06:38The maximum speed that we know the Cutty Sark travelled at was about 17 and a half knots,
0:06:38 > 0:06:40something like 20 miles an hour,
0:06:40 > 0:06:42which is an incredible speed for a sailing ship.
0:06:42 > 0:06:45And she was covering, sometimes, 300 miles a day.
0:06:48 > 0:06:51John Willis wanted to build the fastest ship he could
0:06:51 > 0:06:55to bring back one of the most lucrative commodities of the time -
0:06:55 > 0:06:57tea from China.
0:06:57 > 0:07:02And the great thing was to get the tea crop brought from China
0:07:02 > 0:07:05to this country as quickly as possible.
0:07:05 > 0:07:08And, of course, the tea that attracted the most interest
0:07:08 > 0:07:12was the very first to arrive, so the tea merchants started to offer
0:07:12 > 0:07:15an extra ten shillings per ton for the first ship home.
0:07:15 > 0:07:19Britain's wealth was built on maritime trade,
0:07:19 > 0:07:21and having fast ships like Cutty Sark
0:07:21 > 0:07:24was vital to the country's prosperity.
0:07:24 > 0:07:28Britain had an enormous sea-faring industry.
0:07:28 > 0:07:32London was the largest port in the world.
0:07:32 > 0:07:34Dock after dock after dock was being built
0:07:34 > 0:07:37throughout the 19th century to cope with the traffic.
0:07:37 > 0:07:41In fact, I think it's unique that a city like London,
0:07:41 > 0:07:44whose wealth is founded on the merchant navy,
0:07:44 > 0:07:47the growth of industry - of prosperity, really -
0:07:47 > 0:07:50is founded on ships like Cutty Sark.
0:07:50 > 0:07:52And she is a tangible reminder
0:07:52 > 0:07:55of the importance of the sea in our lives.
0:08:01 > 0:08:03By the end of the 19th century,
0:08:03 > 0:08:06much larger steam ships were replacing clippers
0:08:06 > 0:08:07for transporting cargo,
0:08:07 > 0:08:12using the newly opened Suez Canal to cut down on passage times.
0:08:12 > 0:08:15Cutty Sark was making less money,
0:08:15 > 0:08:18and so was eventually sold to the Portuguese,
0:08:18 > 0:08:20who renamed her Ferreira.
0:08:20 > 0:08:22From being one of Britain's finest ships,
0:08:22 > 0:08:26she spent the next 30 years being a workhorse
0:08:26 > 0:08:30for the Portuguese Empire, carrying cargo all over the world.
0:08:30 > 0:08:35Almost forgotten, she was saved from being scrapped
0:08:35 > 0:08:39by a rich benefactor called Wilfred Dowman, who brought her back home
0:08:39 > 0:08:41to the UK in 1922.
0:08:41 > 0:08:46Wilfred Dowman's idea was to restore her back to her former glory -
0:08:46 > 0:08:50re-rig her and use her as a sail-training ship.
0:08:50 > 0:08:55After Dowman's death, Cutty Sark continued her career
0:08:55 > 0:08:59as a training ship up until the early 1950s,
0:08:59 > 0:09:03but, by this time, she had again started to deteriorate badly -
0:09:03 > 0:09:08so badly, in fact, that her very future hung in the balance.
0:09:08 > 0:09:12The Cutty Sark is to be examined by nautical experts.
0:09:12 > 0:09:13They will decide her fate,
0:09:13 > 0:09:17whether she is fit to survive or whether she must be broken up.
0:09:17 > 0:09:21I was a trustee of the Maritime Museum at the time,
0:09:21 > 0:09:26and the director was Frank Carr, and he was very interested in, in,
0:09:26 > 0:09:30er, well, ships, and old ships particularly,
0:09:30 > 0:09:34and he was particularly concerned to try and, er,
0:09:34 > 0:09:39keep some of the ones that were just simply disappearing.
0:09:39 > 0:09:45In order to acquire her and to build the dock, and to re-rig her,
0:09:45 > 0:09:48and everything else, somebody had to do it,
0:09:48 > 0:09:50so we established the Trust.
0:09:53 > 0:09:56The Trust raised enough money to build a permanent dry dock
0:09:56 > 0:09:58to house the ship in Greenwich.
0:09:58 > 0:10:01She will make one more trip, to a permanent mooring, where
0:10:01 > 0:10:06she will be refitted and preserved as a perfect example of her day,
0:10:06 > 0:10:09the day of the tall ships.
0:10:10 > 0:10:15She had only the stump mast. There was no rigging of any kind whatever,
0:10:15 > 0:10:18so she had to go to a dry dock to be cleaned up and her hull repaired,
0:10:18 > 0:10:20and the whole thing rigged from scratch.
0:10:20 > 0:10:23And that was quite an undertaking.
0:10:23 > 0:10:26The point was to restore her so that she looked right,
0:10:26 > 0:10:29but she couldn't have gone to sea with that rig.
0:10:29 > 0:10:33With much celebration, the Queen opened the brand new
0:10:33 > 0:10:37Cutty Sark visitor attraction in 1957.
0:10:37 > 0:10:41It gives me very great pleasure to come to Greenwich today,
0:10:41 > 0:10:45to see Cutty Sark, the last of the clippers,
0:10:45 > 0:10:48in her permanent dry berth.
0:10:48 > 0:10:52Greenwich was already famous for its Maritime Museum,
0:10:52 > 0:10:57and Cutty Sark would prove to be another great draw to the public.
0:10:57 > 0:11:00Part of the reason why Cutty Sark was preserved in the 1950s was
0:11:00 > 0:11:03to be a memorial to the men of the merchant navy.
0:11:03 > 0:11:05This was just after the Second World War,
0:11:05 > 0:11:09where the losses amongst the merchant navy were colossal.
0:11:09 > 0:11:11It was something in the order of one in five died.
0:11:11 > 0:11:14She's unique in our maritime history,
0:11:14 > 0:11:19because she's the only one of her kind that's still left,
0:11:19 > 0:11:23and she was the sort of peak of sail-driven merchant ships
0:11:23 > 0:11:26in the 19th century, I suppose.
0:11:30 > 0:11:33And it was in this dry dock that Cutty Sark sat
0:11:33 > 0:11:39for almost 50 years, attracting more than 15 million visitors.
0:11:39 > 0:11:45Then, in the late 1990s, a potentially catastrophic discovery
0:11:45 > 0:11:48revealed that time was again taking its toll.
0:11:49 > 0:11:52There was a very real sense
0:11:52 > 0:11:55that the ship itself might physically collapse,
0:11:55 > 0:11:58obviously with disastrous consequences.
0:11:58 > 0:12:00She'd been propped up
0:12:00 > 0:12:04the way you would normally prop a ship in a dockyard -
0:12:04 > 0:12:08for a ship that's going to be there for a few months, not for 50 years.
0:12:08 > 0:12:14A ship is not built to sit in a dry dock, it's built to be in water.
0:12:14 > 0:12:16So the ship actually, the weight of the ship,
0:12:16 > 0:12:18was bursting it more and more at the seams.
0:12:18 > 0:12:22And nobody wanted a pile of matchwood
0:12:22 > 0:12:24at the bottom of the dry berth.
0:12:24 > 0:12:27So that's really when the Maritime Trust,
0:12:27 > 0:12:30who were the owners of the ship at the time,
0:12:30 > 0:12:33started to give some serious thought
0:12:33 > 0:12:35as to how they should tackle the problem.
0:12:35 > 0:12:38The challenge was two-fold -
0:12:38 > 0:12:42to stop the ship's hull from possible collapse,
0:12:42 > 0:12:46and to create a visitor centre within the confines of the dry dock,
0:12:46 > 0:12:48the only land the Trust owned.
0:12:49 > 0:12:54The first thing the Trust had to do was find an architect,
0:12:54 > 0:12:57and, after putting the work out to tender,
0:12:57 > 0:13:00Christopher Nash won the contract.
0:13:00 > 0:13:02'When I visited the Cutty Sark,
0:13:02 > 0:13:05'I was allowed to get down underneath
0:13:05 > 0:13:07'and walk around the hull.'
0:13:07 > 0:13:09I was reminded, from when I was a child,
0:13:09 > 0:13:12going to the Natural History Museum,
0:13:12 > 0:13:14and that lovely experience you get
0:13:14 > 0:13:16when you walk underneath the blue whale,
0:13:16 > 0:13:21the idea of going underneath such a large item.
0:13:21 > 0:13:26Inspired by his visit, Christopher came up with a radical plan,
0:13:26 > 0:13:31which he presented to the Trust in the spring of 2004.
0:13:31 > 0:13:35I remember being in Grimshaw's offices in central London
0:13:35 > 0:13:37with Richard Doughty
0:13:37 > 0:13:39when suddenly the architect said,
0:13:39 > 0:13:42"What do you think about raising the ship?"
0:13:45 > 0:13:50We're going to lift her about three metres from where she currently is.
0:13:50 > 0:13:54By lifting the ship, you can see this great big space.
0:13:54 > 0:13:59We can put a floor in here and make a terrific visitor area underneath.
0:14:01 > 0:14:04I know Eric and I sort of looked at each other
0:14:04 > 0:14:07and thought, "This is absolutely crazy! Where's he coming from?"
0:14:07 > 0:14:11Subliminally, we were saying to each other, "They've gone mad!"
0:14:11 > 0:14:13And then we thought about it, and thought about it.
0:14:13 > 0:14:15And then you start to think,
0:14:15 > 0:14:18"Actually, that's a very clever idea,"
0:14:18 > 0:14:21because it immediately solves the problem
0:14:21 > 0:14:23of taking the weight off the keel.
0:14:23 > 0:14:26But, also, people will be able to go down
0:14:26 > 0:14:28and actually see this fantastic shape
0:14:28 > 0:14:31that we're spending all this time and effort on trying to preserve.
0:14:31 > 0:14:35But the vision didn't just stop there.
0:14:35 > 0:14:39We have the idea of putting a canopy of glass panels
0:14:39 > 0:14:43right around the ship, to stop the rain getting in.
0:14:43 > 0:14:47If we put this canopy at about where the sea level was,
0:14:47 > 0:14:52at waterline level, we can actually start to sit
0:14:52 > 0:14:55the Cutty Sark in its own new sea of glass.
0:14:55 > 0:15:00It became a very exciting idea.
0:15:00 > 0:15:04I mean, it was a seminal moment, absolutely, in the project.
0:15:04 > 0:15:08And I walked out of that meeting really in a daze
0:15:08 > 0:15:11because that, unquestionably, was the moment when
0:15:11 > 0:15:15the real vision for the ship was formalised.
0:15:18 > 0:15:23It was a new and ambitious concept, but it was also controversial,
0:15:23 > 0:15:27and some people asked why the ship simply wasn't put back to sea.
0:15:27 > 0:15:30We certainly looked at the idea
0:15:30 > 0:15:33of putting Cutty Sark back into the water.
0:15:33 > 0:15:38There's no question the best support for the hull is water.
0:15:38 > 0:15:42The difficulty comes when you try to balance that
0:15:42 > 0:15:47with the fact that you don't want to build a replica by stealth.
0:15:47 > 0:15:51We would have had to have physically cut out so much of the ship,
0:15:51 > 0:15:56we would have had to have put in so much additional equipment -
0:15:56 > 0:16:01bulkheads and safety equipment - it wouldn't have been Cutty Sark,
0:16:01 > 0:16:04So we rejected that idea.
0:16:04 > 0:16:06What we wanted to do was
0:16:06 > 0:16:12to retain as much of the original material as was humanly possible.
0:16:12 > 0:16:15The conservation and engineering needed for the new vision
0:16:15 > 0:16:19meant it was clearly going to be an expensive project.
0:16:19 > 0:16:24So Richard approached the Heritage Lottery Fund for money.
0:16:24 > 0:16:28The projected cost was around about 25 million.
0:16:28 > 0:16:32And they looked to us to give them 12 or 13 million.
0:16:32 > 0:16:37And that was what their original grant award was for.
0:16:37 > 0:16:40Well, the Heritage Lottery Fund put up 13 million pounds.
0:16:40 > 0:16:45That left us a target of 12 million pounds to raise.
0:16:49 > 0:16:53With half the money secured, the rest came from private donors
0:16:53 > 0:16:56and various fundraising activities.
0:16:56 > 0:16:59I'm looking for a bid of £5,000, ladies and gentlemen.
0:16:59 > 0:17:03Work finally began in the winter of 2006.
0:17:10 > 0:17:13By now, Cutty Sark was 137 years old,
0:17:13 > 0:17:18and the first job was to strip her back to the very core.
0:17:26 > 0:17:30One of the major tasks was removing the wooden planks
0:17:30 > 0:17:32attached to the hull,
0:17:32 > 0:17:37but halfway through the process, disaster struck.
0:17:37 > 0:17:40The 19th-century tea clipper the Cutty Sark is on fire.
0:17:40 > 0:17:43These are the latest moving pictures we've just got in,
0:17:43 > 0:17:45and look at the size of that fire.
0:17:45 > 0:17:47We can talk now to Richard Doughty,
0:17:47 > 0:17:50who's chief executive of the Cutty Sark Trust.
0:17:50 > 0:17:52He's apparently on a train on his way to Greenwich.
0:17:52 > 0:17:57What's your reaction to hearing that the Cutty Sark's on fire?
0:17:57 > 0:17:58It's just unbelievable.
0:17:58 > 0:18:00I mean, this is original fabric.
0:18:00 > 0:18:03This is the ship that sailed to the South China Seas.
0:18:03 > 0:18:06If we're losing original fabric, we're losing history.
0:18:06 > 0:18:08I was numb.
0:18:08 > 0:18:11I was absolutely numb.
0:18:11 > 0:18:15I was kind of... my adrenaline was kept going because, um, I just was
0:18:15 > 0:18:20taking this string of telephone calls all the way up to London.
0:18:20 > 0:18:25I discovered, in my haste to get away, I didn't have my wallet,
0:18:25 > 0:18:28I didn't have a train ticket. I had nothing.
0:18:28 > 0:18:31And I hailed down a taxi, and I said,
0:18:31 > 0:18:34"Look, I've got no money, but the Cutty Sark is alight,
0:18:34 > 0:18:37"and I need to get there.
0:18:37 > 0:18:40"Here's my card. I'll pay you afterwards."
0:18:40 > 0:18:44And he drove me to the bottom of Deptford creek.
0:18:44 > 0:18:47And the awful, awful thing was
0:18:47 > 0:18:52this sort of very intimate smell of Stockholm tar,
0:18:52 > 0:18:57that you really only got when you were down in the hold of the ship,
0:18:57 > 0:18:59was sort of hanging over Greenwich.
0:18:59 > 0:19:03There was this pall of smoke, you know,
0:19:03 > 0:19:06and I absolutely feared the worst.
0:19:06 > 0:19:11And, you know, I turned, I turned the corner thinking she was lost.
0:19:36 > 0:19:43I was immensely sad because, you know, I've, um, you know,
0:19:43 > 0:19:47put an awful lot of time and thought
0:19:47 > 0:19:52and enthusiasm into this project.
0:19:52 > 0:19:54And the thought that it had gone up in smoke,
0:19:54 > 0:19:59on my watch, er, was unbearable, really.
0:19:59 > 0:20:01Yes.
0:20:13 > 0:20:16We've got members of the emergency services here, sir,
0:20:16 > 0:20:17that were on site yesterday.
0:20:17 > 0:20:19You were putting the fire out, were you?
0:20:19 > 0:20:22We were putting the fire out, sir, yes.
0:20:22 > 0:20:25The very next day, the president of the Cutty Sark Trust
0:20:25 > 0:20:30made a personal visit to the site to see the damage for himself.
0:20:30 > 0:20:35I think in retrospect that it wasn't anything like as serious as it looked,
0:20:35 > 0:20:40because most of the stuff that was burning was stuff that had been...
0:20:40 > 0:20:45was a tent that was there for the purpose of restoration,
0:20:45 > 0:20:46it wasn't significant.
0:20:46 > 0:20:51All in all, we got away remarkably lightly.
0:20:53 > 0:20:58Because much of the ship had already been removed for conservation,
0:20:58 > 0:21:01the main loss suffered was the decking.
0:21:01 > 0:21:05Fortunately, these decks dated from previous restorations
0:21:05 > 0:21:10and contained very little of the original timber.
0:21:10 > 0:21:12She came through it.
0:21:12 > 0:21:19And I think that is part of the enduring appeal of Cutty Sark,
0:21:19 > 0:21:22the fact that she is a survivor, the fact that, you know,
0:21:22 > 0:21:26she survived the storms of Cape Horn,
0:21:26 > 0:21:30she survived the ravages of salt corroding her framework,
0:21:30 > 0:21:32she survived that fire.
0:21:32 > 0:21:37The cause of the fire has never been conclusively established,
0:21:37 > 0:21:39but it set the project back by nearly a year
0:21:39 > 0:21:43and pushed the projected cost up to about £35 million pounds.
0:21:43 > 0:21:49The Cutty Sark is the only Grade I listed ship in the United Kingdom,
0:21:49 > 0:21:54and we're there to help save things that are of real value to this country.
0:21:54 > 0:21:57So it was exceptional circumstances
0:21:57 > 0:22:00and trustees felt that it was appropriate
0:22:00 > 0:22:02to give a grant increase,
0:22:02 > 0:22:05which was a further £10 million.
0:22:16 > 0:22:19But Cutty Sark wasn't lost.
0:22:19 > 0:22:24This legendary ship had made yet another of her miraculous escapes.
0:22:46 > 0:22:51By the spring of 2008, the conservation was back in full flow.
0:22:51 > 0:22:56Everything that could be removed from the ship was removed,
0:22:56 > 0:23:00including the rest of the wooden planks that covered the hull.
0:23:02 > 0:23:04And so all that was left in the dry dock
0:23:04 > 0:23:09was the iron frame that made up Cutty Sark's skeleton.
0:23:09 > 0:23:11Traditionally, ships were all wooden.
0:23:11 > 0:23:14Cutty Sark, though, is something that's called a composite.
0:23:14 > 0:23:18She has a wooden hull but she's reinforced with an iron framework.
0:23:18 > 0:23:21It's the iron framework which holds her together.
0:23:21 > 0:23:25The ship's body is rather like our own ribcage.
0:23:25 > 0:23:27It has these ribs that form the hull.
0:23:34 > 0:23:39The original ironwork that made the frame was so corroded
0:23:39 > 0:23:42that engineers had to add extra steelwork to strengthen it.
0:23:46 > 0:23:50To preserve the ship's iconic shape, these extra ribs provide
0:23:50 > 0:23:53additional support for the structure.
0:23:55 > 0:23:58They're painted grey so visitors won't confuse them with
0:23:58 > 0:24:02Cutty Sark's original framework, which has been painted white.
0:24:04 > 0:24:09The white is the original ironwork of the ship which, as you can see,
0:24:09 > 0:24:13has rotted away seriously from the salt attack over all the years
0:24:13 > 0:24:15since the ship was built.
0:24:15 > 0:24:20This has all been grit-blasted and protected with a new paint
0:24:20 > 0:24:24system that will hopefully conserve her for 50 years.
0:24:24 > 0:24:26But, in addition, these new pieces have been put in
0:24:26 > 0:24:30to strengthen the ship so she's no longer fragile.
0:24:32 > 0:24:37And it's this new strengthened structure that the wooden planks
0:24:37 > 0:24:39that cover Cutty Sark's hull will be bolted onto.
0:24:43 > 0:24:47Each of the 541 planks were removed
0:24:47 > 0:24:52and stored at a nearby workshop ready for conservation.
0:24:55 > 0:24:58It was a mammoth task to take them all off,
0:24:58 > 0:25:01and they've all been boxed up, each side going round to protect it,
0:25:01 > 0:25:04because when they came off, a lot of them were very fragile.
0:25:08 > 0:25:10Every plank has a unique reference number,
0:25:10 > 0:25:12so we know exactly where it came off,
0:25:12 > 0:25:16know what it's made of, and what condition the plank is in.
0:25:18 > 0:25:21Almost all of the hull planks
0:25:21 > 0:25:25date from the day Cutty Sark was launched in 1869,
0:25:25 > 0:25:29but because ships are designed to sit in water,
0:25:29 > 0:25:33the years she's spent in the dry dock have not been kind.
0:25:34 > 0:25:39Lots of different techniques and skills are used to conserve the wood,
0:25:39 > 0:25:43because, depending on where it's been on the ship,
0:25:43 > 0:25:46each plank has specific damage that needs repairing.
0:25:46 > 0:25:50A lot of the damage is around bolt holes like this one,
0:25:50 > 0:25:53where the water gets in and has got nowhere to go,
0:25:53 > 0:25:57so it just rots all around the bolt.
0:26:00 > 0:26:03To repair something like this, you cut the whole section out
0:26:03 > 0:26:05and put a whole new piece in,
0:26:05 > 0:26:10without trying to waste too much of the original material.
0:26:10 > 0:26:14We've got this piece of teak to repair this hole that
0:26:14 > 0:26:20I've just chopped out, and we use the teak because the plank's made of teak
0:26:20 > 0:26:24so it'll expand and contract at the same time in the seasons.
0:26:24 > 0:26:26Now this one's in place, we'll leave it to dry
0:26:26 > 0:26:29and we'll move on to the next one.
0:26:29 > 0:26:33Conserving the planks took four years and, as batches of them
0:26:33 > 0:26:37were finished, they were added back on to the outside of the ship.
0:26:50 > 0:26:53We've just started to put the planks back on to the hull.
0:26:53 > 0:26:56There are about 540 planks to go back on,
0:26:56 > 0:27:01and these are about ten, so we've only just started.
0:27:05 > 0:27:10Some planks are up to 18 metres in length and fitting them back
0:27:10 > 0:27:14into position isn't straightforward because some have to accommodate
0:27:14 > 0:27:18the new steel frames that have been added to strengthen the hull.
0:27:18 > 0:27:22At the moment, I'm chopping out a section in the timber
0:27:22 > 0:27:25to accommodate a new piece of steel.
0:27:25 > 0:27:28What we find is you have some frames which are sticking out,
0:27:28 > 0:27:32others that are recessed, so part of what I'm doing at the moment
0:27:32 > 0:27:35is either sinking channels into this plank,
0:27:35 > 0:27:38or building it up a little bit, so that
0:27:38 > 0:27:41it will rest snugly against those frames,
0:27:41 > 0:27:43so you can get a proper fixing,
0:27:43 > 0:27:47and also that it matches precisely the original curve of the ship.
0:27:47 > 0:27:51It's just more interesting, really, than normal carpentry.
0:27:51 > 0:27:54I mean, I'd rather be working on a project like this
0:27:54 > 0:27:55than fitting kitchens.
0:27:57 > 0:28:00It's going to take around 10,000 bolts to fix the planks back
0:28:00 > 0:28:05on to the hull, each one helping Cutty Sark regain her famous curves.
0:28:05 > 0:28:08You can't help but invest in it emotionally.
0:28:08 > 0:28:11In fact, I know a lot of people who are exactly the same.
0:28:11 > 0:28:14I mean, people always talk about ships as though they're people.
0:28:14 > 0:28:17You know, everybody really cares about the Cutty Sark
0:28:17 > 0:28:19as though it was somehow alive,
0:28:19 > 0:28:22and, I don't know, working here, you can feel that sometimes.
0:28:22 > 0:28:25So it's a real privilege.
0:28:29 > 0:28:33And it's not just the outside of the ship that's coming together.
0:28:33 > 0:28:38Inside, work on putting back the decking has also started.
0:28:42 > 0:28:45Looking at the ship in cross-section,
0:28:45 > 0:28:48Cutty Sark was basically split into three.
0:28:48 > 0:28:51On top, there's the main or weather deck,
0:28:51 > 0:28:54so called because it was exposed to the elements.
0:28:54 > 0:28:57Beneath it is the middle or tween deck,
0:28:57 > 0:29:00which would have been filled with cargo
0:29:00 > 0:29:03and which was built between the main deck and the hold below.
0:29:03 > 0:29:09The hold itself contained ballast to help balance the ship,
0:29:09 > 0:29:11but, like the tween deck,
0:29:11 > 0:29:15its main function was to carry Cutty Sark's precious cargo.
0:29:19 > 0:29:21When she was a working ship,
0:29:21 > 0:29:23this would have just been packed
0:29:23 > 0:29:26from the very bottom of the hold, all the way up to the beams,
0:29:26 > 0:29:29carrying tea, wool - whatever she could get her hands on.
0:29:29 > 0:29:33After originally working in the tea trade for almost ten years,
0:29:33 > 0:29:36Cutty Sark was then used to transport wool
0:29:36 > 0:29:38from Australia to London.
0:29:38 > 0:29:42This meant taking a much more dangerous and stormy route,
0:29:42 > 0:29:45a route she wasn't actually designed for,
0:29:45 > 0:29:48yet she survived all that was thrown at her.
0:29:48 > 0:29:51The wool years were Cutty Sark's most successful.
0:29:51 > 0:29:54That's when she really made the record passages
0:29:54 > 0:29:56that everyone remembers her for.
0:29:56 > 0:29:59Cutty Sark set sailing times from Sydney to London
0:29:59 > 0:30:04that no other sailing ship of that size has ever managed to this day.
0:30:05 > 0:30:10The most famous captain during this period was Richard Woodget.
0:30:10 > 0:30:13Of all the captains, he worked her to the absolute maximum.
0:30:13 > 0:30:16He was one of those captains who would never lower a sail
0:30:16 > 0:30:18if he really didn't have to.
0:30:18 > 0:30:21Captain Woodget was also respected by his crew,
0:30:21 > 0:30:25as rare film of someone who actually worked with him
0:30:25 > 0:30:27on Cutty Sark reveals.
0:30:27 > 0:30:31Captain Woodget was the finest skipper I ever sailed with.
0:30:31 > 0:30:35Course, his motto was "keep her going".
0:30:35 > 0:30:39He never eased her down, not even in head winds -
0:30:39 > 0:30:41always kept her going free.
0:30:41 > 0:30:45He was a fine sailor and a good man, all round.
0:30:45 > 0:30:49And just, straight to his men.
0:30:51 > 0:30:55Captain Woodget was also responsible for capturing
0:30:55 > 0:30:59some of the only photographs in existence of Cutty Sark
0:30:59 > 0:31:01at sea and under sail.
0:31:01 > 0:31:05So this is the camera of Captain Woodget.
0:31:05 > 0:31:09It's actually enabled us to have super photographs
0:31:09 > 0:31:13of the ship herself in full sail, which is a really unique photograph.
0:31:13 > 0:31:15Probably taken from one of the ship's boats,
0:31:15 > 0:31:17he's got the crew to row him out there.
0:31:17 > 0:31:21But apparently he gave instructions to the crew not to hove the ship to,
0:31:21 > 0:31:23so she didn't slow down,
0:31:23 > 0:31:27so he could capture Cutty Sark in her full sail with all the sails billowing.
0:31:27 > 0:31:29And this is a actually a photograph,
0:31:29 > 0:31:32just west of Cape Horn, of one of the icebergs.
0:31:32 > 0:31:35There are some fabulous accounts and letters of the crew about
0:31:35 > 0:31:38going through icebergs and the noises that it made,
0:31:38 > 0:31:40and the ship passing penguins,
0:31:40 > 0:31:43so to have a photograph capturing that moment
0:31:43 > 0:31:48as he's going just west of Cape Horn is really exciting.
0:31:53 > 0:31:56Cutty Sark was originally built to be a tea clipper,
0:31:56 > 0:31:59but she arrived just as the Suez Canal opened,
0:31:59 > 0:32:04and, therefore, the tea trade disappeared, it went to steamers.
0:32:04 > 0:32:05So owners looked for another trade,
0:32:05 > 0:32:09and the obvious trade for them was the wool trade to Australia.
0:32:09 > 0:32:12Now, that changed the route a great deal.
0:32:12 > 0:32:15Now they had to go through the whole of the southern ocean.
0:32:15 > 0:32:18You get the biggest waves in the world down there -
0:32:18 > 0:32:2180 to 100 feet high.
0:32:21 > 0:32:25Those waves are like watery Himalayas. They're huge.
0:32:25 > 0:32:28So, suddenly, this ship is having to cope
0:32:28 > 0:32:31with a rather different type of sea to the one she was designed for.
0:32:31 > 0:32:35She survived because she was built to the very highest standards
0:32:35 > 0:32:37of the 19th century.
0:32:37 > 0:32:43And, whenever they can, the team undertaking the conservation
0:32:43 > 0:32:45are following the exact same methods.
0:32:45 > 0:32:48The deck that was here was lost in the fire.
0:32:48 > 0:32:51The deck wasn't actually original. It was done in the '30s
0:32:51 > 0:32:56So we're replacing that with the same timber, from the same origin,
0:32:56 > 0:32:58North America, to the same specifications,
0:32:58 > 0:33:01five inch by three inch deep, Douglas fir.
0:33:01 > 0:33:02In between each plank,
0:33:02 > 0:33:05you have a joint where it butts up to the next plank.
0:33:05 > 0:33:09And into that joint, an organic fibre, hemp fibre called oakum,
0:33:09 > 0:33:13is caulked, basically, hit with a wooden mallet,
0:33:13 > 0:33:16and a wedge-shaped steel iron if you like, a caulking iron.
0:33:16 > 0:33:20And then on top of that, melted Stockholm tar, or pitch,
0:33:20 > 0:33:23is poured on, and that's the final seal to the joint.
0:33:37 > 0:33:41Above the tween deck is the weather deck.
0:33:41 > 0:33:43Although destroyed by the fire,
0:33:43 > 0:33:47most of this deck actually dated from the 1930s onwards,
0:33:47 > 0:33:50and rather than replacing it using traditional methods,
0:33:50 > 0:33:54the Trust decided to lay a modern deck instead.
0:33:54 > 0:34:00It's a composite deck, with three layers of ply, glued together
0:34:00 > 0:34:04with 20mm thick teak planks, run along on top of that.
0:34:04 > 0:34:07And with a composite deck, because it's so interwoven
0:34:07 > 0:34:09and there's so much glue et cetera,
0:34:09 > 0:34:12it's pretty bullet-proof against any sort of water coming through.
0:34:12 > 0:34:15It's a controversial decision.
0:34:15 > 0:34:19We've probably spent more time on that one aspect of the project
0:34:19 > 0:34:21than anything else.
0:34:21 > 0:34:25I always wanted to lay a traditional deck.
0:34:25 > 0:34:29We're doing something different, and I was kind of won over in the finish
0:34:29 > 0:34:33because I do believe that if the technology that we've used had been
0:34:33 > 0:34:39available to the people who built Cutty Sark, they would have used it.
0:34:42 > 0:34:45The main deck is using the latest 21st-century construction techniques
0:34:45 > 0:34:50to guarantee everything below it is protected from rainwater.
0:34:59 > 0:35:05But most of the conservation work on the ship uses traditional methods.
0:35:11 > 0:35:14At his workshop in Bedfordshire, Paul Ferguson is restoring
0:35:14 > 0:35:17the Cutty Sark gild-work.
0:35:19 > 0:35:23This is real gold. This is 23 and a quarter carat,
0:35:23 > 0:35:27which is a lot more real than a lot of jewellery.
0:35:27 > 0:35:33Paul has been gilding for over 30 years, and uses traditional
0:35:33 > 0:35:37techniques the original gilders of the ship would have recognised.
0:35:37 > 0:35:40We wipe the brush on our face
0:35:40 > 0:35:45because it picks up just a little of the oils from your skin,
0:35:45 > 0:35:51which is just enough for the gold to stick to the brush while
0:35:51 > 0:35:55you're picking it up, but not enough to make it a permanent stick,
0:35:55 > 0:35:58which allows you to manoeuvre the gold
0:35:58 > 0:36:01on to whatever it is you're gilding.
0:36:03 > 0:36:06There's a lot of patience with gilding.
0:36:06 > 0:36:08I find that you can't rush things.
0:36:08 > 0:36:10It's very easy to try and get the gold on,
0:36:10 > 0:36:13and you can rush that and get the wrong colours for the piece,
0:36:13 > 0:36:14especially when repairing work.
0:36:14 > 0:36:16He's great, when he gets it right!
0:36:16 > 0:36:21Matthew, my son, has helped me for many years and,
0:36:21 > 0:36:24if it was his desire, he could follow in my footsteps.
0:36:24 > 0:36:27I've been working here since I can remember,
0:36:27 > 0:36:31I've been sweeping up since the age of about four, round here,
0:36:31 > 0:36:34but properly gilding probably since I've been about 12,
0:36:34 > 0:36:36so about 10 years now.
0:36:36 > 0:36:40100 years from now, the work we're doing now will have weathered
0:36:40 > 0:36:43and someone else will be standing here,
0:36:43 > 0:36:47and restoring what we're restoring now.
0:36:47 > 0:36:50There'll be people who perhaps haven't even been born yet
0:36:50 > 0:36:53that'll be working on this.
0:36:53 > 0:36:55And it's nice to feel that continuity,
0:36:55 > 0:36:59continuity with the people that have gone before us,
0:36:59 > 0:37:01and who are coming after.
0:37:10 > 0:37:13Today we have bought the figurehead of the Cutty Sark
0:37:13 > 0:37:15back to be fitted on the ship.
0:37:15 > 0:37:19This is Nannie here. She's had a new lick of paint on her,
0:37:19 > 0:37:21she's been worked on down at our workshop.
0:37:23 > 0:37:27There is a long tradition of figureheads on ships,
0:37:27 > 0:37:30and Cutty Sark's is called Nannie.
0:37:30 > 0:37:33The original will be displayed inside the ship.
0:37:33 > 0:37:36This one, which will be exposed to the elements,
0:37:36 > 0:37:39is actually a replica, carved in the 1950s.
0:37:39 > 0:37:42The story of the figurehead goes that
0:37:42 > 0:37:46she originally came from a poem by Robert Burns called Tam o' Shanter.
0:37:46 > 0:37:50Tam o' Shanter, of course, was a ne'er-do-well farmer.
0:37:50 > 0:37:54Every market day, in Ayr, he would get drunk,
0:37:54 > 0:37:59and then try and find his way home, on his horse Meg.
0:37:59 > 0:38:02One dark and stormy night,
0:38:02 > 0:38:05he's riding his horse and he comes to Alloway Kirk,
0:38:05 > 0:38:10which he sees lights on and, being drunk, he goes and peers.
0:38:10 > 0:38:14And inside the church there's all kinds of shenanigans going on,
0:38:14 > 0:38:17there are naked people dancing around, there's the devil
0:38:17 > 0:38:21playing the bagpipes, the altar's been desecrated,
0:38:21 > 0:38:26and he sees this terribly beautiful witch, though, called Nannie.
0:38:26 > 0:38:31And she's wearing a short nightdress, a cutty sark,
0:38:31 > 0:38:33and he screams out, "Well done, Cutty Sark!"
0:38:33 > 0:38:38Of course, everyone then realises he's there and starts chasing him.
0:38:38 > 0:38:41He leaps on his horse and makes his getaway.
0:38:41 > 0:38:45Leading the chase is Nannie, the beautiful witch,
0:38:45 > 0:38:50and he gets to the keystone of the bridge.
0:38:50 > 0:38:53Nannie, being a witch, can't cross running water,
0:38:53 > 0:38:55but she pulls out the horse's tail.
0:38:55 > 0:38:57And he makes his escape.
0:38:59 > 0:39:03Now, why Jock Willis would name the ship after
0:39:03 > 0:39:08the undergarment of someone who couldn't cross running water
0:39:08 > 0:39:11has never been really explained.
0:39:17 > 0:39:22Another traditional craft involves conserving the wires that hold up the masts.
0:39:22 > 0:39:26These wires make up what's called the standard rigging,
0:39:26 > 0:39:30and there are over two kilometres to repair.
0:39:30 > 0:39:34The Cutty Sark's the biggest rigging job we've undertaken
0:39:34 > 0:39:35on one vessel at one time.
0:39:35 > 0:39:37We've got wires here that are 60 metres long.
0:39:37 > 0:39:39They're longer than our shed.
0:39:41 > 0:39:43So the first process is to clean the wire.
0:39:43 > 0:39:46This wire's been cleaned and it's now been treated with this mixture
0:39:46 > 0:39:51of lanolin and tallow. Lanolin is an extract from wool fat,
0:39:51 > 0:39:53which is very good for your skin,
0:39:53 > 0:39:55so all these boys have lovely soft hands!
0:39:55 > 0:39:59So what we do is we put the tallow and lanolin together,
0:39:59 > 0:40:01and we've got a chip fat fryer,
0:40:01 > 0:40:04and that just keeps it nice and hot, so it's a nice thin liquid which
0:40:04 > 0:40:06we can then apply on to the wire.
0:40:07 > 0:40:11And by holding the pot underneath, we can just brush that in there
0:40:11 > 0:40:13and get it right into the nooks and crannies.
0:40:13 > 0:40:15It's an anti-corrosion product.
0:40:15 > 0:40:18You never see a rusty sheep, so it must work.
0:40:18 > 0:40:22We then parcel the wire, and that'll be parcelled with hessian.
0:40:22 > 0:40:25Cut it into strips, then we wind that on, on top of the lanolin.
0:40:25 > 0:40:29Once parcelled, the wire is given an additional covering
0:40:29 > 0:40:32to further protect it.
0:40:32 > 0:40:33And, just like before,
0:40:33 > 0:40:37the techniques used date right back to the ship's original construction.
0:40:37 > 0:40:40The men who sailed and worked on the Cutty Sark
0:40:40 > 0:40:42would have been quite pleased, if they came back as ghosts today,
0:40:42 > 0:40:46to recognise the tools that I'm actually using.
0:40:46 > 0:40:49They would also recognise, without doubt, the smells,
0:40:49 > 0:40:52because the smell in here, the Stockholm tar,
0:40:52 > 0:40:55people say it's the real essence of the old sailing ships.
0:40:55 > 0:40:57They would have walked through this door
0:40:57 > 0:41:00and known what it's about, and they would have known the process.
0:41:00 > 0:41:04By 2009, three years into the conservation,
0:41:04 > 0:41:08Cutty Sark was being prepared for her biggest challenge -
0:41:08 > 0:41:12being lifted into the air by three metres.
0:41:12 > 0:41:16But as the moment approached, a major discovery was made
0:41:16 > 0:41:20that was going put the project into yet more jeopardy.
0:41:20 > 0:41:23The sides of the dry dock,
0:41:23 > 0:41:26which were supposed to support the ship's weight once lifted,
0:41:26 > 0:41:29had serious structural problems.
0:41:30 > 0:41:34I could physically put my hand into the concrete structure
0:41:34 > 0:41:37and pull out the gravel.
0:41:37 > 0:41:42And we were relying on that structure to be able to
0:41:42 > 0:41:47properly support the ship, so we had to reinforce that dry berth.
0:41:47 > 0:41:50We ended up, indeed, having to cut off the whole top
0:41:50 > 0:41:54of the structure and recast it.
0:41:54 > 0:41:58We had to pump grout down into the concrete.
0:41:58 > 0:42:01Those things added hugely to the cost of the project.
0:42:03 > 0:42:06And it wasn't just the problem with the dry dock.
0:42:06 > 0:42:11The conservation itself was costing a lot more than estimated.
0:42:12 > 0:42:16It was very clear that there were far more serious issues
0:42:16 > 0:42:20in restoring the Cutty Sark than people had realised to begin with.
0:42:20 > 0:42:23So costs were escalating.
0:42:23 > 0:42:30At that point, in around 2009, we had a review of the whole project.
0:42:30 > 0:42:35There certainly was a time where we were very concerned about how
0:42:35 > 0:42:39we could keep the show on the road.
0:42:39 > 0:42:44We always had to be mindful that we weren't trading insolvently.
0:42:44 > 0:42:48With rising costs, it was clear that the project was going to need
0:42:48 > 0:42:52much more money, and someone was on the horizon who could help.
0:42:55 > 0:43:00I got involved with the Cutty Sark when, frankly, it was broke,
0:43:00 > 0:43:03and in considerable disarray,
0:43:03 > 0:43:07resulting that an assessment had to be made
0:43:07 > 0:43:11as to how the devil were we going to fund it?
0:43:11 > 0:43:15Lord Sterling, former executive chairman of P&O Ferries,
0:43:15 > 0:43:19had a love of the sea and a passion for sailing.
0:43:19 > 0:43:23He was already the chairman of Britain's National Maritime Museum
0:43:23 > 0:43:27and had lots of important and wealthy contacts.
0:43:28 > 0:43:31But, before he would become involved with the Cutty Sark project,
0:43:31 > 0:43:33he had conditions.
0:43:33 > 0:43:37The first was to bring his own team on board.
0:43:37 > 0:43:39Cutty Sark has had an awful lot of challenges.
0:43:39 > 0:43:42You're working on six or seven different levels,
0:43:42 > 0:43:45all at the same time.
0:43:45 > 0:43:49Lord Sterling got me involved, and said could I help him?
0:43:49 > 0:43:53I said I would, to get things done in difficult circumstances.
0:43:55 > 0:43:59With his team in place, Lord Sterling's second condition
0:43:59 > 0:44:03was to have a complete audit of the entire project.
0:44:03 > 0:44:07There's no point whatsoever trying to find out where we could
0:44:07 > 0:44:12raise the funds, and put one's name on the line to do it,
0:44:12 > 0:44:15unless we were absolutely sure what the problems were,
0:44:15 > 0:44:17and can we deal with them?
0:44:17 > 0:44:21So the first thing that had to be done was to assess it properly.
0:44:23 > 0:44:27The audit concluded that taking the fire,
0:44:27 > 0:44:29the new work needed to fix the dry dock,
0:44:29 > 0:44:33and rising conservation costs into consideration,
0:44:33 > 0:44:35the total amount to complete the project
0:44:35 > 0:44:41would come in at around £50 million, twice the original estimate.
0:44:41 > 0:44:4350 million pounds!
0:44:43 > 0:44:46Would you spend that much money on the Cutty Sark?
0:44:46 > 0:44:49With the best will in the world, I don't know.
0:44:49 > 0:44:53I'd almost sort of step back and have to think.
0:44:53 > 0:44:57We are where we are and I do believe that the ship
0:44:57 > 0:45:03will repay the investment that's been put into her by the bucketload.
0:45:03 > 0:45:06And with this new price tag, and his team on site,
0:45:06 > 0:45:11Lord Sterling went to work with his powerful contacts.
0:45:11 > 0:45:14He was able to open doors.
0:45:14 > 0:45:17You know, for me suddenly to be sitting in a room
0:45:17 > 0:45:21with Boris Johnson, for example, was amazing.
0:45:21 > 0:45:23To be able to persuade
0:45:23 > 0:45:27the Department of Culture, Media and Sport
0:45:27 > 0:45:32to invest in this project was quite extraordinary.
0:45:32 > 0:45:35Lord Sterling, what would you like, tea or coffee?
0:45:35 > 0:45:37- I'm going to have a tea. - Tea. Right, OK.
0:45:37 > 0:45:40Lord Sterling managed to attract enough
0:45:40 > 0:45:44private and public funding to get the project back on track.
0:45:49 > 0:45:53Cutty Sark could now enter the most critical phase of her rebirth,
0:45:53 > 0:45:56and this would be her toughest journey of all.
0:46:18 > 0:46:23At the site, the engineers who were going to lift Cutty Sark had arrived.
0:46:23 > 0:46:26Well, after a year of planning,
0:46:26 > 0:46:29a year of design, a year of manufacture,
0:46:29 > 0:46:31we're now ready to raise the ship
0:46:31 > 0:46:35up to its new three metre in-the-air position.
0:46:35 > 0:46:39She's 650 tonnes of very fragile ship,
0:46:39 > 0:46:43but we think everything is covered. All the checks have been done.
0:46:43 > 0:46:47Everything's been ticked off this morning,
0:46:47 > 0:46:48and we're finally ready to go.
0:46:48 > 0:46:52We've added 150 tonnes
0:46:52 > 0:46:55of strengthening steelwork into the ship.
0:46:55 > 0:46:57It's an exciting day.
0:46:57 > 0:47:01It's not very often that someone lifts up a Grade I listed ship.
0:47:01 > 0:47:02I mean, today is, is the...
0:47:02 > 0:47:05It's a culmination of months and months of work.
0:47:05 > 0:47:08Meeting after meeting after meeting.
0:47:08 > 0:47:11And at last we're there.
0:47:11 > 0:47:15To turn the architects' vision into a reality,
0:47:15 > 0:47:19some of the world's top engineers have been brought in
0:47:19 > 0:47:21to plan and execute the lift.
0:47:22 > 0:47:25The ship has been sitting on its keel in the dry dock
0:47:25 > 0:47:26for 50, 60 years.
0:47:26 > 0:47:31Ships are designed to be supported uniformly, by the sea,
0:47:31 > 0:47:33all around their keel, giving it a uniform buoyancy.
0:47:33 > 0:47:37When you sit it on the keel, ships start to sag,
0:47:37 > 0:47:39because they've got just a line of load,
0:47:39 > 0:47:42and the ship sags like an old man, the stomach drops
0:47:42 > 0:47:45and it starts to fold out on itself.
0:47:45 > 0:47:48And this changes all the stresses, all the form of the hull.
0:47:48 > 0:47:51And that's when the ship is finally finished.
0:47:51 > 0:47:53As part of the lifting process,
0:47:53 > 0:47:56it was looking at how we could elevate that ship,
0:47:56 > 0:48:00not just elevate it, but also reverse that bellying process,
0:48:00 > 0:48:02to bring the hull back to its original form.
0:48:02 > 0:48:06And so the engineers came up with an ingenious plan.
0:48:06 > 0:48:10So we looked at the idea of having a strut...
0:48:12 > 0:48:17..like this, a converted coat hanger, which grabbed the keel
0:48:17 > 0:48:20and grabbed the ribs along its side.
0:48:20 > 0:48:26This huge upside-down steel coat hanger is going to hold the ship
0:48:26 > 0:48:31as she is lifted, and then transfer her weight on to the dry dock.
0:48:34 > 0:48:38We're able to reverse this bellying process by adjusting
0:48:38 > 0:48:40the length of these struts or ties here.
0:48:45 > 0:48:47As engineers prepared for the lift,
0:48:47 > 0:48:51the man who helped rescue her 50 years ago was invited to see her
0:48:51 > 0:48:55sitting on her keel for the very last time.
0:48:56 > 0:49:01After a final get-together and, appropriately for Cutty Sark,
0:49:01 > 0:49:06a cup of tea on the deck, the whole site is prepared for the big day.
0:49:13 > 0:49:20She's resting on 24 jacks, each capable of lifting 200 tonnes.
0:49:20 > 0:49:22This box here is a jack.
0:49:22 > 0:49:26What happens - each jack has a ram in the centre,
0:49:26 > 0:49:31which will extend and raise this box by 100 millimetres.
0:49:31 > 0:49:35It's not going to go whoosh up into the air like an elevator,
0:49:35 > 0:49:37it's going to be lifted very slowly.
0:49:39 > 0:49:42As the lifting is going on,
0:49:42 > 0:49:45we're monitoring everything that is going on in the ship in real time.
0:49:45 > 0:49:48And the data which is collected there
0:49:48 > 0:49:51is then fed through the window here, into our command post.
0:49:51 > 0:49:55We have cameras set up inside the ship and outside the ship.
0:49:55 > 0:49:59And, also, all the data that's connected to the jacks
0:49:59 > 0:50:03and the jack loads which is coming into the computers here.
0:50:03 > 0:50:07Cutty Sark weighs around 650 tonnes and,
0:50:07 > 0:50:11even with all the extra steel added to strengthen her,
0:50:11 > 0:50:15there is a very real danger she'll twist and fracture during the lift.
0:50:19 > 0:50:24The moment of truth is when it lifts off the ground, yeah.
0:50:24 > 0:50:27That's the point when it really says you've got it right
0:50:27 > 0:50:30or you've got it wrong, and there's nothing you can do.
0:50:30 > 0:50:33Everybody is working towards that moment,
0:50:33 > 0:50:35and you can see it in everybody's faces that
0:50:35 > 0:50:39there's a slight amount of tension there that it should all go right.
0:50:54 > 0:50:57Everybody's ready out there, I give the all clear
0:50:57 > 0:50:59and we're going.
0:50:59 > 0:51:03And, with the simple push of a handle,
0:51:03 > 0:51:06Cutty Sark takes her final voyage.
0:51:25 > 0:51:28We all expected something to snap,
0:51:28 > 0:51:31something to groan, something to creak,
0:51:31 > 0:51:34and we all anticipated having something to deal with.
0:51:37 > 0:51:39She just proved to be so strong
0:51:39 > 0:51:44and just lifted without bending, or anything.
0:51:44 > 0:51:46She just took it in her stride.
0:51:46 > 0:51:49Fantastic girl!
0:52:17 > 0:52:22It takes two days to lift Cutty Sark three metres.
0:52:32 > 0:52:35Go on, stand underneath it. Go on!
0:52:45 > 0:52:48Absolutely fantastic!
0:52:48 > 0:52:51Bit... I'm actually speechless.
0:52:55 > 0:52:59Cutty Sark now rests in her final position,
0:52:59 > 0:53:04looking out forever across the River Thames,
0:53:04 > 0:53:07to the city she helped build.
0:53:18 > 0:53:21But with just a year to go before the grand opening,
0:53:21 > 0:53:25there's still a huge amount of work to be done.
0:53:25 > 0:53:27Last board in there, lads.
0:53:27 > 0:53:30The new composite deck is completed.
0:53:34 > 0:53:38And the final planks are attached to the hull.
0:53:38 > 0:53:42After five years, it is an utter relief, I must say.
0:53:42 > 0:53:44It's been a huge achievement.
0:53:44 > 0:53:49At long last, Cutty Sark gets her rudder back.
0:53:49 > 0:53:51Just about there, yeah.
0:53:51 > 0:53:55Nice one. Don't drop it on anyone's foot.
0:53:57 > 0:53:59The hull is adorned with brass.
0:54:02 > 0:54:05And gets a final coat of paint.
0:54:05 > 0:54:07This is the last letter.
0:54:11 > 0:54:14So, Darren, you're going to have a cheque ready for me
0:54:14 > 0:54:17- when the inspection's finished, yeah? - Cheque?- Yeah.- What is cheque?
0:54:17 > 0:54:21Work also continues on the canopy that will surround her.
0:54:21 > 0:54:25She'll soon sail on a sea of glass and steel.
0:54:25 > 0:54:27With the work drawing to a close,
0:54:27 > 0:54:31the team work day and night.
0:54:34 > 0:54:39The riggers are back on site, and, as her masts return,
0:54:39 > 0:54:43Cutty Sark will once again be seen from miles around.
0:54:45 > 0:54:50It's taken years of planning, craftsmanship and sheer hard work,
0:54:50 > 0:54:51but, for Richard and the team,
0:54:51 > 0:54:55the end is finally in sight.
0:54:55 > 0:54:59I'm absolutely buzzing. She looks magnificent.
0:54:59 > 0:55:01She's been raised up,
0:55:01 > 0:55:03she's surrounded by this sea of glass,
0:55:03 > 0:55:06she is fit for a queen!
0:55:06 > 0:55:10And 55 years after Her Majesty first opened Cutty Sark here
0:55:10 > 0:55:12in Greenwich, she's coming back
0:55:12 > 0:55:15with His Royal Highness the Duke of Edinburgh.
0:55:15 > 0:55:20It's now all about the last-minute arrangements for the royal visit.
0:55:25 > 0:55:28And Richard takes a moment to reflect on all they've achieved.
0:55:28 > 0:55:35This is what it's all about. You can actually see the frames of the ship.
0:55:35 > 0:55:40These white iron ribs, the cross-bracing, the planks.
0:55:40 > 0:55:45And we're now trying to give people an idea of what it was like
0:55:45 > 0:55:47to be literally inside the cargo hold.
0:55:47 > 0:55:52This is what it's all been about - bringing it back to our public.
0:56:03 > 0:56:06It's the day of the royal opening,
0:56:06 > 0:56:09and, despite the terrible weather,
0:56:09 > 0:56:13the crowds have gathered to watch the momentous occasion.
0:56:19 > 0:56:23The Queen and the Duke of Edinburgh are taken for a tour
0:56:23 > 0:56:25around the ship.
0:56:25 > 0:56:28And, after a wave to the crowd,
0:56:28 > 0:56:31it's time to meet the team who've made it all happen.
0:56:42 > 0:56:47INAUDIBLE
0:56:53 > 0:56:55APPLAUSE
0:57:02 > 0:57:04It's like you've been on a very long voyage,
0:57:04 > 0:57:06and you've now come to the end and you're stepping off.
0:57:06 > 0:57:08And although it's fantastic it's finished,
0:57:08 > 0:57:10it was just such a great thing to be part of.
0:57:10 > 0:57:12Now the sun's come out!
0:57:12 > 0:57:15Such a beautiful shape, the way the light glints off it.
0:57:15 > 0:57:19It's just been a very, very special day,
0:57:19 > 0:57:26and it's just absolutely perfect to be celebrating with all the people
0:57:26 > 0:57:28who made this project possible.
0:57:28 > 0:57:32She really now has a chance for a whole new lease of life.
0:57:32 > 0:57:35Well done, Cutty Sark!
0:57:53 > 0:57:56The ship is a part of yesterday, part of today and part of tomorrow.
0:58:01 > 0:58:06The Cutty Sark is an absolutely critical national treasure.
0:58:08 > 0:58:11She is, I think, a sort of tangible reminder
0:58:11 > 0:58:14of a different way of life.
0:58:14 > 0:58:18That's really why she captures my imagination.
0:58:21 > 0:58:23This is the end of a chapter.
0:58:23 > 0:58:25There won't be any more of her kind.
0:58:49 > 0:58:52Subtitles by Red Bee Media Ltd