Shipping magnate saves the Cutty Sark with £3.3m gift

It was announced today that Sammy Ofer, a Romanian-born Israeli who served with the Royal Navy as a young man, has given £3.3 million to complete the renovation of the 1869 clipper in Greenwich.

The gift - the biggest to the project - comes three months after Mr Ofer, who lives in Monaco, gave £20 million to the National Maritime Museum.

The Cutty Sark renovation suffered a huge setback when fire ripped through the ship in May last year, adding enormously to the restoration cost. The Heritage Lottery Fund increased its contribution by £10 million to £23 million. That left £3.3 million outstanding, with little sign it could be found.

Now the project is back on course for completion in March 2010. The ship will "float" nine feet above the bottom of her dry berth. The space underneath will become a gallery for evening functions. The trust intends to name the gallery after Mr Ofer. Richard Doughty, chief executive of the Cutty Sark Trust, expressed deep gratitude: "You read about the economic downturn and I was certainly very concerned. This gift is very, very timely. It enables us to crack on and effectively finish the project. Without it we would have potentially faced delays and spiralling costs."

Mr Ofer served in the Navy in the Mediterranean during the Second World War. Afterwards, he went into ship chandling and built up a business empire. He was ranked number 226 in the Forbes world rich list last year and operates a significant part of his fleet from London. His gift to the museum was the largest act of cultural philanthropy by an individual that Britain has seen. That donation and the one to the Cutty Sark were brokered by his friend Lord Sterling, the former head of P&O who is chairman of the museum.

Lord Sterling said: "I am delighted that his commitment will ensure the ship is given the future she deserves, here at the very heart of maritime Greenwich.

Cutty Sark is a piece of history that cannot be remade." Last month in the Evening Standard historian Tristram Hunt chided the City for failing to help a "defining symbol of London".

Today he said: "It might have taken an international philanthropist rather than City Titan, but we got there. It's nice to know that the Evening Standard played a part." The donation was also welcomed by supporters including Greenwich council leader Chris Roberts. Culture Secretary Andy Burnham-called the gift "extremely generous and enormously appreciated".

Carole Souter, chief executive of the Heritage Lottery Fund, said: "Private philanthropy is incredibly important when it comes to protecting the UK's heritage."