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00:05In the mid-nineteenth century, great sailing ships crossed the high seas, bringing precious
00:10commodities back to Britain. Rivalry between ships was fierce, and the competitions to bring
00:18seasonal cargoes home became known as the Great Clipper Races. The Clipper ships were the fastest
00:26cargo-carrying sailing ships that ever put to sea. Their story is one of the most romantic
00:31chapters in the history of seafaring, taking place when the advent of steamships threatened
00:36the very future of sail. Tall masts, sleek wooden hulls, and a magnificent spread of canvas
00:45harnessed the power of stormy seas and roaring winds. The finest hour for these Victorian
00:52clipper races was in the jewel between Thermopylae and the Cutty Sark, two of the greatest sailing
00:57thoroughbreds of their generation.
01:07Sixty years after the Great Clipper Races, a few remaining square-rigged ships still plied
01:13the great trade routes of the world's oceans. In the 1930s, brave and daring filmmakers captured
01:20the spirit of life on board the last of these romantic, tall ships. It's thanks to these
01:26films that we can visualise the glory days of life under sail over a century and a half ago.
01:32This unique film is the end of an era, the end of the era of square-rigged sailing ships.
01:37They're not identical to the classical clipper ships, but they look the same, and perhaps more
01:42importantly, they feel the same to the people who sail them. Navigating around the legendary Cape
01:48Horn was as perilous in the 1930s as it had been decades before. And the sailors who sailed on
01:56these latter-day square rigors can tell us firsthand what it must have been like for the men who took
02:00part in the legendary 19th century clipper races. At the age of 18, the writer Eric Newby signed on
02:08as an apprentice on the four-masted ship Moshulu.
02:11Well, I've never seen anything so tall and cold and magnificent as this set of masts in my life.
02:19As soon as I got on board, the first mate, I didn't know he was a mate, he got a
02:25mate's hat on,
02:26just came up to me and said, up the rigging. And I couldn't believe it, but on the other hand,
02:34I couldn't not believe it. Looking down was rather impressive. And as I went further up,
02:44and he made me go out to every yard arm, and I was standing on a single wire rope under
02:49each yard,
02:51and her masts were 10 feet higher than Nelson's column.
02:59I did the whole thing right up to the top. I mean, I could see that you only had to
03:05make
03:05one full square step, and you're dead. As a fearless apprentice,
03:11Eric Newby learnt the ropes and the art of rigging on the Moshulu.
03:18In 1939, two of the surviving square-rigged ships, the Moshulu and the Passat, were both still
03:24transporting grain from Australia to Britain. They were sailing on trade routes that took the ships
03:29through some of the wildest seas and oceans.
03:35When the wind comes, you hear it roaring in the rigging, and it's absolutely superb.
03:38You know then that we're going to do something. And you have to get the sails right, and they have
03:43to
03:43be strong, heavy weather canvas. You can't use any old sails at all. And the danger then is sails
03:50blowing out. And having to take sails in, in those conditions, is very dangerous indeed.
03:57Sometimes require the whole crew up in the rigour.
04:02Even in the 1930s, with just a few square riggers still at sea, competition to be the fastest home
04:08was still intense.
04:12When the Moshulu sighted its nearest rival, Passat, far behind them, it was a moment for jubilation.
04:18And she was a magnificent sight, carrying royals. And as soon as we saw her, we were catching royals.
04:25But we knew that she couldn't beat us. So we sat down in the, in the, in the fo'c's
04:32hall,
04:33and banged the table with, with our mugs, and shouted, we are the best, nobody can beat her.
04:40In mid-Atlantic, the Moshulu raced the Passat, and her sails captured the full strength of the
04:45north-east train winds.
04:48Sound like wind round the haunted house. This is before a big gale is going to blow.
04:54Because everybody can feel a big gale coming up.
04:56You were using the power of the wind, and nothing else, you know.
05:05You were using God's wind, and bad weather, the lot, and it was the most interesting experience,
05:13which you'd never get on a steamship.
05:16We, we made an extremely good, uh, passes, because we were 91 days. And we made the fastest of all
05:23the
05:23ships of taking part in the last grain rate, of which were a considerable number.
05:30Eric Newby and his fellow sailors were the last of their generation. The era of the Clipper began in
05:35the early 19th century, when American ship designers built the Baltimore. Clipping meant to clip the wind,
05:41to increase speed. The Baltimore Clippers were fast ships, designed to outrun the British fleet
05:48during the 1812 American Wars. In the late 1830s, the British Empire ended trade restrictions,
05:56and the American fast Clippers began to dominate the world's trade routes.
06:02A complacent British shipbuilding industry was forced to take up the challenge. Britain began to build a new
06:08breed of fast racing clipper to compete for the lucrative Chinese tea trade.
06:16Now you have a situation where people are willing to pay for speed. By the 1860s, it had become
06:24customary for a very high premium to be paid on the first tea of the season home. And this gave
06:30ship
06:30owners an aim, an objective. If our ship can be home first, it will be worth the investment. And this
06:37laid the
06:37foundations of these extraordinary races that took place in the 1860s between the leading British clippers.
06:49Victorian fashionable society was eager to be seen drinking the first of the season's fresh crop of tea.
06:57The premium that was paid encouraged ship owners to seek new designs for faster ships.
07:08The new designs that came out in the 1840s and continued through into the 1860s were ships that
07:16had good lines which allowed speed, allowed a modicum of sea kindliness, but speed was the ultimate.
07:25And even the carriage of cargo was sometimes sacrificed for speed.
07:30They were streamlined. They had a long entry, that is the bow, and they had a very sweet run towards
07:38the stern.
07:39This allowed the ships to move smoothly through the water with as little turbulence as possible.
07:46The clippers had more sail area than any other previous ship. The smaller sails were easier to change,
07:52but the ability to sail faster in strong prevailing winds made the crew's lives precarious.
08:01Knowing the captains of these ships, they were driven ultimately to the limit.
08:06Many of the clipper ships were lost without trace.
08:16By the middle of the 19th century, the annual China tea race had become a major talking point
08:22for the tea-drinking British public.
08:25Each winter, tea clippers would sail to China to race back to be the first home with the new season's
08:31premier tea.
08:34The art of sailing these racing ships was to drive them to the limit.
08:39The race began in China, driving the ships across the Indian Ocean, then around the perilous Cape
08:45of Good Hope and homeward via the Atlantic Ocean to London, a journey of 15,000 miles.
08:56Reputations of clipper ships and their masters were made or lost on their ability to navigate,
09:01to harness sail and to read the wind.
09:05The elite of the sailing masters would produce remarkable feats of speed and endurance to win the race home.
09:11The master and the mates and all the crew were under a lot of stress. They were being sailed hard
09:17the whole time. There was no wasting of time, no waiting for a wind to come. They looked for the
09:23wind.
09:23The captain never slept properly. They were sleeping in the chart room or on a settee.
09:28And the watch officers were constantly watching for a shift of wind. And they had a large crew.
09:33We had a very small crew. They had a huge crew and they were used to this sort of thing.
09:38They sailed on the ship year after year after year. And they were well paid in Victorian terms, which I
09:44wasn't.
09:46The crew had to operate as a really well integrated team. They were in effect the mechanism of the ship.
09:53The wind was the fuel. They were the engines.
10:04No race ever sailed on blue water created as much excitement and as bitter a test of wills
10:10between the crews as the great tea race of 1866.
10:17Rivalry between competing ship owners made from extraordinary competition.
10:21It would be a ruthless race from start to finish.
10:36The great tea race of 1866 began in early May in Fuchao, China,
10:41when 16 of the finest tea clipper ships assembled at Pagoda Anchorage to race 15,000 miles home to London.
10:49The previous fastest record was 113 days.
10:55By 1866, you have the makings of the classic clipper race.
10:59You have a significant number of these new later ships, in particular,
11:04Taping, Fierycross, Sirica and Ariel.
11:07And also, because the numbers are there, there's the extra competition.
11:11Everybody wants to leave at once. And in fact, three of them do leave at once.
11:16And this provides an enormously dramatic setting.
11:21As the first tea began arriving from the hills,
11:23there was fierce competition for the best stevedores to load and the fastest tugs to weigh anchor.
11:29The clippers loaded all day and all night.
11:34Three hours after the last tea chest was loaded, Ariel was first to cast off
11:39and was taken by tug to the open sea. The three rivals followed closely in her wake.
11:49The racing route was hazardous, facing perils of typhoons, pirates and countless uncharted,
11:56narrow, rock-studded channels. And there was always the unpredictability of the seas and the winds.
12:08To win the race would demand a combination of the skilled navigation of the captain
12:12and the hard effort of a well-disciplined crew, forever setting the sails to get the best out of
12:18the winds, the tides and the seas.
12:32Aerial log, June the 5th, China Sea. We are in all probability the leading ship.
12:38So far, no sign of the rest of the racing fleet. We are rigging canvas to pick up southeast trades.
12:55Here, the crews of the racing ships would climb the masts and clamber along the yards to rig full sail,
13:00ready to capture the favourable winds.
13:05With a full spread of canvas, they would then fly across the ocean.
13:14This was proving to be the closest contest to date.
13:19On passing Mauritius after favourable trade winds, Fiery Cross was in the lead.
13:24The rest of the racing fleet were only three days behind.
13:31Ahead lay the hazardous seas of the South African Cape of Good Hope.
13:36Here, the clipper crews flew into the teeth of a raging storm.
13:44Aerial log, June the 25th. Last two days shipping water, topmast broke under strain, fixed under run and pressed on.
13:56Then onwards into the Atlantic, usually the fastest leg of the China clipper race, riding the strong southeast trade winds.
14:06On the clippers, even if they were not fully laden, you would get an impression of enormous speed.
14:13And there must have been a tremendous excitement aboard when you were on a reach.
14:21Even after several weeks at sea, the four ships were less than one day apart.
14:27By now, Aerial had overhauled Fiery Cross and Taiping was in second place, closing up on her starboard quarter.
14:34A large amount of it is having an excellent racing machine, but you must have first-class crew who know
14:43instantly what to do,
14:44who respond on the first word from a mate to bring the ship into full trim.
14:50And this is hard, hard work for the crew.
14:54The great 1866 T-Race ended with a dramatic final duel of two ships racing, tack by tack, up the
15:01English Channel.
15:12Aerial log, Thursday, 6th September 1866.
15:17Dungeness, 5am.
15:19Saw the Taiping, kept away so as to get to the pilot cutter first.
15:26They're in sight of each other, they're racing to their destination.
15:29One gets the tug first, but in the end, after a voyage of 90 days, who cares, it's a dead
15:34heat.
15:36The skill of arriving at Dungeness or wherever for the pilot first, very often depended on who's going to hang
15:43on to his sails the longest.
15:45The guy who pressed on was going to win.
15:49Ariel and Taiping had taken just 90 days.
15:52Remarkably, the Serica arrived on the same tide and the Fiery Cross just two days later.
15:58This was the closest T-Race ever.
16:02Fashionable London society got its T and a headline story to go with it.
16:08Across Britain, huge sums of money began to be bet on the annual races and people read eagerly for news
16:14of the winning clippers.
16:17There were fortunes to be made and every British ship owner wanted to win this race.
16:24So in 1867, George Thompson of the Aberdeen White Star Line decided to join in and build a new breed
16:31of even faster clipper ship.
16:33He commissioned a radical design to be called the Thermopylae.
16:38George Thompson's development into the Thermopylae represented the spirit of the Victorian era.
16:45The adventure, the thrusting, the forever trying to do things better, faster, more efficiently.
16:54She had to be a good cargo carrier, a good volume cargo carrier.
17:00She had to be fast.
17:03Thermopylae was revolutionary.
17:07She incorporated the latest Victorian technology with innovative brace winches to turn the yards and to take in the sails.
17:15Every detail was designed with speed in mind.
17:20In 1868, Thermopylae was launched in Aberdeen.
17:24The new clipper carried a hand-picked racing crew of 34 men.
17:28They were always taking in and resetting sails.
17:40They also had stunsels, which were extra sails on the end of the yard, which were on bamboo poles, just
17:51to get another little bit of speed.
18:02Thermopylae's versatile sailing rig made her particularly fast in light winds.
18:07She was capable of reaching an impressive 15 knots, running full sails with winds dead aft behind her.
18:20Thermopylae log, 1868.
18:22With her three tall masts and this magnificent large spread of canvas, she looked like a summer cloud drifting across
18:28the ocean.
18:29We are ghosting along at seven to eight knots in the light airs.
18:38The highly experienced Captain Kemble was chosen as Thermopylae's master, a tough seaman with a reputation for driving his crew
18:46and for the courage necessary to push a racing clipper to its limits.
18:53The great thing about Thermopylae was that she could sail in the lightest possible winds.
18:58It was the skill of the captains in finding the right winds.
19:02It was the skill of the crew in exploiting that and making sure the ship sailed well, even in very
19:08difficult conditions.
19:09That was the combination of the ship and the men that mattered.
19:13On sailing, everybody discovered that she was as good as she had been promised to be.
19:19She went out in record time to Australia, 60 days.
19:23The crew must have been elated.
19:25The captain must have been over the moon with his success.
19:28And there she picked up a cargo for China and made ready for what was to be her ultimate job
19:35in life, bringing tea to London from China.
19:39The job for which she had been designed and the job at which was to bring her her real money.
19:46In 1868, on her maiden voyage, Thermopylae's first passage from London to Australia broke all previous records.
19:55Thermopylae was the first in a new generation of racing clippers.
19:58She thought she was unbeatable and was known as the cock of the sea.
20:05Her success was a challenge Thompson's arch-rival, London ship owner Captain John Jock Willis, could not resist.
20:13He decided to commission a rival ship.
20:19Willis's ship would be called the Cutty Sark.
20:22Its arrival in the China tea races would lead to the greatest seafaring rivalry of all time.
20:27It would be owner versus owner, shipyard versus shipyard, crew versus crew, and ship versus ship.
20:45In 1869, an event took place which threatened the very future of the sailing clippers.
20:52The Suez Canal was opened, linking the Indian Ocean with the Mediterranean.
20:57By creating a shortcut to bypass the Cape of Good Hope, the world became a smaller place.
21:06But without engine power, the great sailing ships were unable to sail through the canal.
21:11It would be used by steamships only.
21:14It's expensive, the tolls are quite high.
21:17But it does, combined with the new efficient engines in steamers,
21:20give steamers a comparative advantage on certain routes, but not every one.
21:24There is still plenty of room for the sailing ship in general, and the clipper in particular.
21:30Fashionable taste was also to guarantee the clipper's future.
21:35Many of the London tea merchants feared that the precious tea carried in the steamers would deteriorate,
21:41and the iron hulls would taint the fragrant taste.
21:47In the very same year that the Suez Canal was opened,
21:50a new clipper was built that would become a legend.
21:55London ship owner John Jock Willis had commissioned a new ship to beat the Thermopylae
22:00and win the great fortune to be made by being the fastest.
22:03It would be called the Cutty Sark.
22:08Willis employed a rival shipyard at Dumbarton,
22:11and a new designer, Hercules Linton.
22:14The dimensions of the Cutty Sark are within millimetres of the dimensions of the Thermopylae.
22:20They have the same tonnage, they both had effectively the same rig,
22:25and in fact, if you had put them in equal conditions racing,
22:30you would be entirely then dependent on the crew and the efficiency of the mates,
22:37and in particular the master.
22:39Willis chose George Moody to be the first captain of the Cutty Sark,
22:43a determined and canny scott.
22:47His rival on the Thermopylae, Captain Kemble,
22:50had a reputation for being firm but fair.
22:53Kemble was, I think, a natural leader.
22:57He could turn a blind eye to the odd case of drunkenness,
23:01probably the many cases of drunkenness,
23:04absenteeism and the like, which were part of the life on those ships,
23:07where Moody got very upset about it
23:09and would log people and sack them and whatever.
23:12The Cutty Sark was launched on the 22nd of November, 1869,
23:16at Dumbarton, Scotland.
23:19On her bow, the figurehead was based on a Robert Burns poem.
23:24Tam O'Shanta flees on horseback from a beautiful witch
23:27who was wearing a Cutty Sark, a short blouse.
23:30The witch clutches the tail from his horse.
23:39Shanghai, China, June 1872.
23:43The Cutty Sark arrived to compete with Thermopylae
23:46for the first of the season's new tea.
23:50Interest and excitement ran high amongst the Clipper crews.
23:53This was the chance for Cutty Sark to make her reputation
23:56as the fastest of the elite tea clippers.
24:04Cutty Sark log, June 17th.
24:06Weighed anchor at 7pm.
24:08Thermopylae was just behind us
24:09as we set sail from the mouth of the Shanghai River.
24:14An epic 15,000-mile race home to London was just beginning.
24:19The two ships soon separated on different tacks,
24:23zigzagging across the South China Seas.
24:25Then, 28 days out,
24:27when Cutty Sark was abreast of Hong Kong,
24:29Thermopylae was sighted on her port quarter.
24:32The crews caught the first glimpse of each other.
24:34The race was on.
24:40Thermopylae log, July 15th.
24:43Entered Stoltz's channel, Gaspar Straits.
24:46Fair weather.
24:47Cutty Sark in sight from the Topsail Yard,
24:50beating through the straits
24:51with a very light easterly wind.
24:56Cutty Sark log, July 15th.
24:58Sighted Thermopylae, 8 miles to the north, northwest.
25:01The wind very faint from the east.
25:04Thermopylae gradually dropping astern.
25:08After 32 days sailing with strong winds from Shanghai,
25:12both clippers were brought to a virtual standstill
25:15in the windless part of the Indian Ocean,
25:17known as the Doldrums.
25:19An experience familiar to all sailors
25:22who have sailed this route.
25:24In the Doldrums, when there is no wind,
25:27you're completely helpless.
25:29So you have to wait for a wind to come.
25:33A competent shipmaster would know
25:35where the narrowest band of the Doldrums is or was,
25:39depending on the time of the year,
25:41depending on the season.
25:42And they would all aim for that narrow spot.
25:44So it's a wonder they didn't see each other.
25:51Doldrums are stultifying, frustrating,
25:54and very difficult for everybody.
25:57It's a quite lonely place.
26:00I didn't learn there.
26:01And thousands of seabirds, molly hawks,
26:04every kind of seabird imaginable.
26:15When the birds land on the deck
26:16and you think that he's one of the catch a shark,
26:19you know, these are the events that happen,
26:21that there is a world outside.
26:23Small things become big things,
26:25and you don't know when you're going to get into port.
26:27It goes on for months sometimes.
26:30In the Doldrums, you've got these heavy showers,
26:33and we'd all wash everything, clothes,
26:36and we'd block the scuppers up,
26:39and we'd get fresh water, like that,
26:43and put it in the tank,
26:44because we were running short of fresh water.
26:48We only had allowance of fresh water,
26:51per man per day.
26:55Unable to catch a wind,
26:57time for the exhausted crews to polish and paint,
27:00and a rare opportunity to unwind, relax,
27:04and talk to the sea.
27:28For those crossing the equator for the first time,
27:31a traditional rite of passage,
27:33with initiation from King Neptune,
27:36and for some, certificates of promotion.
27:42Seafarers have always been superstitious by nature,
27:45and no more so than when becalmed
27:46thousands of miles from landfall.
27:50You'll be calmed in the Doldrums for days on end,
27:53and the captain stumps up and down,
27:55and you think, what's he going to do next?
27:57Went over to the ship's side,
27:59put his hand in his pocket,
28:00and dropped some money in the water.
28:02This was a Finnish custom of buying a wind.
28:07In July 1872,
28:09after days hung up by calms and baffling airs in the Doldrums,
28:13Thermopylae and Cutty Sark were still level.
28:16Then, 39 days out,
28:18the wind started to blow fresh from the east.
28:20The sails filled,
28:21and the rigging came alive.
28:28This was the sort of weather that the Cutty Sark reveled in,
28:31and she went flying to the front,
28:33making an average of over 300 miles a day.
28:38You feel the ship wanting to go.
28:41It makes a terribly roaring noise,
28:43and you know then the ship's going to go,
28:45and everybody's happy,
28:47and she would sail hard,
28:48and each watch hopes that they can do a better speed
28:52than the previous watch.
28:54After racing for nine weeks,
28:56Cutty Sark was 400 miles in front.
28:59Then, a terrifying storm suddenly broke.
29:06The wind's increasing.
29:07You have to start from cutting in the canvas.
29:09So you have a whole crew out, everybody,
29:12and you're going to take an upper topsail,
29:15and when you get in the rigging,
29:16the sail is billowing out,
29:18and it's cracking like thunder,
29:19and if it's wet, it's like hardboard,
29:21and you've got to try and fill this sail,
29:23to fill it up on the yard,
29:25and secure it so it doesn't blow away,
29:27and that's also exhilarating,
29:29but at the same time quite frightening.
29:31I mean, you were dealing with a big thing,
29:33and you've got to control it, rather,
29:35because it can do a sort of thing like that.
29:37It can dismast itself,
29:38or throw you down on the deck,
29:40or there are lots of things it can do to you,
29:43or you can fall off the bowsprit,
29:46when you're trying to take in a flying jib,
29:49because there's things like,
29:50the blocks are like bloody great conkers,
29:52and they go zooming over your head,
29:54and you're lucky if you don't get your head knocked off.
29:57So the whole thing is a series of,
29:59sort of, barely disguised man traps.
30:04Thermopylae was now in the lead,
30:06but just one day ahead.
30:09Then, on a fast run,
30:10tacking towards the Cape of Good Hope,
30:12the Cutty Sark hit another severe storm.
30:16For six days, the wind mauled the clipper.
30:20Thermopylae was two days ahead,
30:21and had missed the force of the storm.
30:25Then, with gales raging,
30:28disaster struck.
30:30Cutty Sark log, August 15th.
30:33A final savage blow.
30:34The wind took off like a knife to slash the sails.
30:37Four in main top sails, cut to shreds.
30:42At 6.30am,
30:44mountainous sea struck,
30:45and tore the rudder from its bolts,
30:47and carried it away to the bottom of the ocean.
30:50Tried a spar,
30:51but could not steer the ship.
30:54At this point,
30:55Captain Moody made a radical and daring decision.
30:59Rather than seek a safe harbour,
31:01he set about making repairs at sea.
31:03The ship's crew were put to work
31:05to fashion a jewellery rudder,
31:07a temporary steering device
31:08made from a wooden spar,
31:10iron rods,
31:11and chains.
31:12They had a hell of a job
31:14hanging it
31:15on the pincles,
31:17which is where the rudder hangs.
31:20They made a wonderful job of that,
31:24considering the weather.
31:26They had to get to London,
31:27because that's where the money was,
31:29that's where the profit was,
31:30and that's where the prestige was,
31:32to beat the Thermopylae.
31:35The work went on for five days,
31:37as the crippled Cutty Sark
31:39precariously pitched and lurched
31:41on the rough seas.
31:43By now, Thermopylae was 500 miles ahead.
31:48The replacement rudder
31:49was a feat of ingenuity,
31:51making it possible
31:52to navigate a heading home
31:53of eight knots,
31:55150 miles a day,
31:57almost half speed.
31:59Captain Moody had taken
32:00an immense risk,
32:01but it had paid off.
32:06A captain who's had
32:08a lot of experience
32:10in sailing ships
32:11and hasn't had
32:12a lot of damage
32:14is a good captain
32:16because he has
32:21basically judged
32:22the weather better
32:24than some of the others.
32:26It's all a question of wind,
32:28and they were able
32:30to reduce sail
32:33before it was too late.
32:36It was a judgment
32:38and a calculated risk,
32:41actually.
32:43Some took a risk
32:45more than others.
32:47The heavy weather
32:48that had crippled
32:49the Cutty Sark
32:50had been kinder
32:51to her rival.
32:53Thermopylae had been lucky
32:54and ridden out the storm.
32:56With favourable wins
32:57and her top gallant sails filled,
33:00she raced home
33:00to win the T-Race.
33:06On the evening
33:07of October the 18th,
33:09the Cutty Sark
33:10passed Gravesend,
33:11incredibly only seven days
33:13behind Thermopylae.
33:15Although she had lost the race,
33:17the Cutty Sark
33:18won all the glory
33:19for her legendary feat
33:20of seamanship and survival.
33:22She had made
33:23an 8,000-mile passage
33:25with makeshift steering gear
33:26in just 60 days.
33:28The race would be remembered
33:29for years to come.
33:33The Cutty Sark's owner,
33:34Jock Willis,
33:35had extra reason
33:36to be cheerful.
33:37Neither his ship
33:38nor its cargo
33:39had been insured.
33:43In the hearts
33:44of the British nation,
33:45the heroic Cutty Sark
33:46was the true winner.
33:48But the role
33:49of the great tea clippers
33:50was by now
33:51under serious threat.
33:55As the economic benefits
33:57of the Suez Canal
33:58became clear,
33:59sailing ships
34:00had a tough time
34:01being profitable.
34:03During the 1870s,
34:05there is a rebalancing
34:05of sail and steam.
34:07The new efficient steamers
34:08in the Suez Canal
34:09tend to monopolise
34:11the India run,
34:12for example.
34:12And of course,
34:13that becomes increasingly
34:14important in the tea trade.
34:15So the ships
34:17which have previously
34:17had their main role
34:19on the China tea trade
34:20begin to look
34:21for other areas
34:22that they can exploit.
34:26As one trading route
34:27closed to the clippers,
34:28another was to open.
34:30These greyhounds
34:31of the sea
34:31would race again,
34:32this time
34:33with their holds
34:34not full of tea
34:34from China
34:35but with wool
34:36from Australia.
34:38On this new route,
34:39they would face
34:40the world's
34:40most treacherous seas,
34:42the Roaring Forties,
34:43and would round
34:44every seafarer's nightmare,
34:46Cape Horn.
34:57By the late 19th century,
34:59the British Empire
35:00offered great opportunities
35:01for international trade
35:02and profit.
35:05Coal-powered steamers
35:06with solid iron hulls
35:07were replacing sailing ships
35:09along the world's
35:10trading routes.
35:11Many clipper crews
35:13and their owners
35:13felt that their racing days
35:15were over.
35:16During the 1880s,
35:18the development
35:19of the steamship
35:20made it the dominant way
35:21of carrying goods at sea.
35:23But there were still trades,
35:25notably the wool trade,
35:26round the horn,
35:27where a fast sailing ship
35:28might still be able
35:29to make profits
35:30and that's where
35:31the next races happen.
35:34The dramatic expansion
35:36of the Australian wool trade
35:37was to create
35:38a new era
35:39of sailing competition
35:40and speed.
35:45Shipping wool
35:46from Australia
35:46to Britain
35:47would be the new contest
35:48between old rivals
35:49Cutty Sark
35:50and Thermopylae.
35:54In 1885,
35:56Cutty Sark
35:57had made the passage
35:57out to Sydney
35:58in a record 77 days.
36:00At her helm
36:01was her new master,
36:03Captain Woodgate.
36:06Woodgate was determined
36:07to win that year's wool race
36:09home and beat
36:10the old adversary,
36:11Thermopylae.
36:13As he looked across
36:14at the golden cock
36:15on the mast of Thermopylae,
36:16he remarked
36:17to the third mate,
36:18I'll pull that damn
36:19bauble off her.
36:22The great wool races
36:24from Australia
36:24crossed the roaring 40s
36:26in the hardest ocean
36:27of all,
36:28passed around Cape Horn
36:29in the tip of South America,
36:31traversed the Atlantic
36:32and reached home
36:33for the London January sails,
36:35a hazardous journey
36:36of 13,000 miles.
36:46Around Cape Horn,
36:48the stage was set
36:49for an elemental battle
36:50against perilous seas,
36:52icebergs
36:53and terrifying squalls.
36:57A nightmare voyage
36:59for all seafarers,
37:00but for 19th century sailors,
37:02this was a highly dangerous
37:04right of passage.
37:21in the days of the clipper ships,
37:23the crew had to trust implicitly
37:25both the master
37:26and the officers,
37:27because without their skill
37:30and knowledge
37:30and expertise,
37:31then the ship would be
37:32not sailed very well at all.
37:34And they had to rely
37:35on what these people told them,
37:37and they had to do it
37:37with trust.
37:40Captain Woodgate's first love
37:41was the sea,
37:42but he was a man
37:43of many talents.
37:44He bred sheepdogs
37:45en route to sell in Australia
37:47and was recognised
37:48as an accomplished
37:49Victorian photographer.
37:51Woodgate was not really
37:52an eccentric,
37:53he was just different,
37:54because in Victorian times,
37:56people who were
37:57amateur photographers
37:58were few and far between,
37:59I guess.
38:00Looking at Woodgate's photographs,
38:03what we learn is that the ship,
38:05how she was sailed,
38:06how the sails were trimmed,
38:07and how smart she looked.
38:09So he was a good photographer,
38:11and we learn a lot
38:13from what he did.
38:19He was known as a seafarer
38:21with iron nerves,
38:22and he had the ability
38:23to spread more canvas
38:24than lesser mortals
38:26to gain the last quarter
38:27knot of speed.
38:29He was an ideal man
38:31for this ship,
38:32absolutely ideal.
38:33He knew how to handle her,
38:35and how far he could
38:36press the ship
38:37and the crew.
38:39Therefore,
38:39he was the best man
38:40that Willis had
38:41to get his ship
38:43back to London
38:44in good time,
38:44in safety,
38:45and with the cargo intact.
38:48On the 16th of October,
38:501885,
38:51the Cutty Sark
38:52completed loading
38:53her cargo of wool
38:54in Sydney Harbour.
38:56The 1885 wool race
38:58was to be the final
38:59head-to-head race
39:00between Cutty Sark
39:01and Thermopylae.
39:03Cutty Sark was loaded first
39:05and set sail south.
39:07Thermopylae was soon
39:08hard on her heels,
39:10but Woodgate was rigging
39:11sails with a vengeance.
39:14The race was on
39:16between the two formidable
39:17greyhounds of the sea.
39:20No shipping route
39:22was more hazardous
39:23than the route
39:24between Australia,
39:25round Cape Horn,
39:26and up the Atlantic.
39:28You weren't just facing
39:29high seas and dreadful weather,
39:31you were facing icebergs,
39:32you were facing
39:33every possible hazard
39:34the sea could throw at you.
39:35And in these circumstances,
39:37the skills and the endurance
39:38of the crews
39:39were stretched
39:39to an enormous point.
39:42Great responsibility
39:43rested with the master
39:45and with the quartermaster
39:46at the wheel,
39:47because one error by him
39:49could bring the ship
39:50into such a position
39:51of the wind
39:52that our masts
39:53and yards
39:54would be brought down.
39:57Cutty Sark log,
39:58October 22nd.
39:59A sudden gust
40:00sent the ship reeling,
40:02despite the helmsman's
40:03best efforts,
40:04she broached too,
40:05spinning round
40:06so that she came broadside
40:07to the wind
40:08in a rising sea.
40:11The ship gave
40:12a sickening roll,
40:14shuddered,
40:14then rose with the next sea
40:15and lifted her bow,
40:17shaking off tons of water
40:18like a rising whale.
40:20Thankfully,
40:20the helmsman
40:21regained control.
40:23Probably the worst nightmare
40:24was being overwhelmed
40:25in bad weather
40:26and not being able
40:28to do anything about it.
40:29That's why
40:30the captain
40:31and the officers
40:31had such...
40:33They were always
40:34watching the weather
40:35because if anything
40:36went wrong,
40:37then the whole crew,
40:38the whole ship was lost.
40:41Sailing south of New Zealand,
40:43the Cutty Sark
40:44had nearly capsized.
40:45Many a skipper
40:46would have stopped racing
40:47and hoved to,
40:48reducing the sails
40:49to a minimum.
40:51But for Woodgate,
40:53this was a battle
40:53to master the angry seas.
40:55It was time to push
40:56the ship to her limits.
40:59Cutty Sark log,
41:00October 29th.
41:02Reset the mainsails,
41:03turning the helm
41:04to face the mountainous
41:05seas.
41:06She responded well,
41:07riding on the crest
41:08of the waves.
41:09She harnessed the power
41:10of the following wind
41:11and seas.
41:13At seven o'clock
41:15the following evening,
41:15there was another
41:16near disaster
41:17when a dreaded cry
41:19was heard from the lookout
41:20of icebergs
41:21on the port bow.
41:24A monstrous iceberg
41:25was perilously close
41:27to tearing a fatal gash
41:28in the Cutty Sark.
41:31Woodgate quickly ordered
41:33a turn to starboard
41:34and averted the disaster.
41:37With characteristic zeal,
41:39he then photographed
41:40the giant icebergs.
41:42Woodgate was fixated
41:44by the grandeur
41:45of the wild, icy world.
41:47More than once,
41:49his beard froze
41:50to the bowsprit.
41:54Cutty Sark log,
41:55November 2nd.
41:57From aloft,
41:58that old music again,
42:00the roaring sound
42:01of strong winds
42:02in the rigging,
42:03racing through
42:04tremendous seas.
42:07But behind this romance
42:09is a bitter test
42:10of wills.
42:12Every sea a racecourse,
42:14every voyage
42:15a trial of speed.
42:22By the following morning,
42:23although she did not know it,
42:25the Cutty Sark
42:26was ahead of Thermopylae
42:27and the remainder
42:28of the racing fleet.
42:31Throughout the following
42:32stormy days,
42:33in the vilest of weathers,
42:35sails were constantly
42:36being repaired
42:37and re-rigged.
42:38The sailmaker would have
42:40access to the best equipment,
42:42the best sailcloth,
42:43the best rigging wire,
42:45the best ropes.
42:46And he was a busy man
42:47because the sails
42:48were blowout
42:48and he had to make some more.
42:50And the crew were also busy
42:51because changing sail
42:52is no fun.
42:53It's heavy, hard work.
42:55It really is.
42:56Probably had two sailmakers,
42:57an assistant.
42:58They would need them
42:59on those ships
43:00because they were
43:00changing sails all the time.
43:02The hardest work people
43:03in a ship,
43:04apart from the cook.
43:07There's no doubt about that.
43:09And amazing,
43:11people would produce
43:13from a little grubby piece
43:14of brown paper
43:15a large sail
43:16weighing five tons.
43:19The greatest test
43:20of seamanship
43:21for the racing clippers
43:22was the passage
43:23around Cape Horn.
43:25Here lay ahead
43:26terrifying seas
43:27and unpredictable winds.
43:30We had that
43:31force 10 and 11
43:33on the Beaufort scale
43:34is really something.
43:36Some big medicine,
43:40that, you know, really.
43:47We had snow
43:49going around Cape Horn,
43:51very icy, you know,
43:52and the whole yard
43:55was icy
43:55and it was very difficult
43:57to get in the sails
43:58because they were
44:00like boards
44:02with wet and snow
44:03and that.
44:04Well, they put more men
44:06in on them.
44:07Of course.
44:09Aboard Cutty Sark
44:11and Thermopylae,
44:12the crews were being
44:12driven so hard
44:14they would drop
44:14from exhaustion.
44:34The Cutty Sark
44:35had rounded the horn
44:36just 23 days
44:38out from Sydney.
44:40With her wonderful ability
44:42to pick up speed,
44:43she now raced homeward
44:44sailing at top speed,
44:46averaging over 300 miles a day.
44:49They had to get
44:50to Gravesend or London
44:51by a certain date,
44:53but they also had
44:55to be careful
44:55of not blowing sails out
44:57because then you're
44:58going to lose speed
44:59and it takes time
45:00to replace them.
45:01And damage the rigging
45:02is another very important
45:03factor in clippership
45:05and they had to be
45:05very careful.
45:06But at the same time,
45:07press on and keep going.
45:11The Cutty Sark
45:12had made a record passage
45:14from Australia to London
45:15in a remarkable 73 days.
45:19She had beaten Thermopylae
45:21by a week.
45:21This was her finest hour.
45:25The Cutty Sark
45:26had finally found
45:27a winning team,
45:28an ideal master,
45:30crew,
45:30trading route
45:31and the ability
45:32to clip the wins
45:33to suit.
45:35The combination proved
45:36to be unbeatable
45:37and for the next 10 years,
45:39Cutty Sark
45:39would continue
45:40to carry wool
45:41from Australia to Britain
45:42in record times.
45:46But as the 19th century
45:48came to a close,
45:50increasingly faster
45:51and more efficient
45:51steamships
45:52began to take over
45:53world trade.
45:56The era of the great
45:57clipper races
45:58came to an end.
46:02By 1895,
46:04Cutty Sark
46:05was no longer
46:06making money.
46:07Willis sold her
46:08to Portuguese merchants.
46:12The Thermopylae
46:13was also sold off.
46:15Tragically,
46:16she ended up
46:17as target practice
46:18for the Portuguese navy.
46:20In 1906,
46:21with the Queen
46:22of Portugal looking on,
46:24she was torpedoed
46:25and sent to the bottom
46:26of the sea.
46:27An ignominious end
46:28for a legend
46:29of the oceans.
46:31Cutty Sark
46:31and Thermopylae
46:32were so closely matched
46:34that it depended
46:36very much
46:37on the skills
46:37of the crews
46:38to get the best
46:39out of them.
46:40It was very much
46:41a matter of luck.
46:42Did you hit a storm?
46:44Did you hit heavy seas?
46:46That could not
46:47be legislated for.
46:48So the order
46:49really, I think,
46:50was luck,
46:51crew,
46:53ship.
46:55In 1954,
46:57after decades
46:58of misuse
46:59and neglect,
47:00Cutty Sark
47:01made her final
47:01voyage home.
47:05The Cutty Sark,
47:07the most famous
47:07of the old tea clippers,
47:08makes her last voyage.
47:10Proudly flying a pennant
47:11bearing her name,
47:12she moves up the Thames
47:13passing the Meridian line
47:14at Greenwich
47:15on towards the dry dock
47:16where she will remain
47:17as a memorial
47:18to the days of sale.
47:22Built 85 years ago
47:24at the cost of 16,000 pounds,
47:26the Cutty Sark
47:27will become a nautical museum
47:28after being fully restored.
47:30The Preservation Society
47:31hope that she will last
47:33for at least
47:33the next thousand years.
47:39The Cutty Sark,
47:40becalmed and bewitching,
47:42is the last survivor
47:43of this golden age
47:45of sail.
47:46When you were sent
47:47on lookout,
47:48which is on the
47:48fo'c's will head,
47:49and you climbed out
47:50on the end of the
47:51bowsprit
47:51and looked back,
47:52the ship was sailing
47:53towards you
47:54and you thought,
47:55this is wonderful.
47:56It was a unique experience
47:58to be able to stand
47:59outside the ship
48:00and watch her
48:01sailing towards you.
48:02And it was quiet,
48:03nobody could get at you.
48:04Just a slight ripple
48:05of water from the bow
48:06and the breeze,
48:08and that was all.
48:09It was like magic.
48:10Absolutely incredible.
48:11Paradise.
48:11Paradise.
48:13Paradise.
48:15Paradise.
48:16Paradise.
48:20Paradise.
48:32Paradise.
48:32Paradise.
48:32Paradise.
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