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Cash threat to Cutty Sark restoration
Rashid Razaq, Evening Standard20.05.08
The man leading the Cutty Sark restoration project warned today that work may halt within weeks unless a rich donor comes forward.
Almost a year to the day since the mystery fire that gutted the 138-year-old tea clipper, repairs are on schedule. The ship is stripped down to its skeleton, with work due to be completed in March 2010.
But the cost of repairs has risen to £35 million and, despite a public appeal and £10 million extra from the Heritage Lottery Fund, £3.72 million is still needed.
Richard Doughty, chief executive of the Cutty Sark Trust, said: "It may seem churlish to appeal for funding after the £10 million grant, but the future of the project is not guaranteed. We desperately need someone with deep pockets to come forward.
"At the moment we can't make a commitment to work after September. We can't raise the sort of money we need from a community appeal.
"We've had pensioners sending postal orders and children sending pocket money. It shows how remarkably fond the public is of the ship." Renovation was already under way when the fire broke out on 21 May last year.
Mr Doughty said: "The extra 20 to 22 months added by the fire have had a huge cost impact in terms of inflation and renegotiating contracts."
A police report into the cause of the fire, while the ship was in dry dock in Greenwich, is expected within the next two months.
Most of the vessel's original rigging, masts, coach and deck survived as they were in storage.
When the project is completed, more than 90 per cent of the ship's fabric will be original material, with reclaimed 19th century timber being used where required.
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Have so few nothing in their heart and soul to honour and preserve an icon of the achievements of those who walked these paths and sailed the seas before us? This wonderful ship is such an important part of the heritage and culture of our forefathers both in England and Australia. Sure a replica could be built but restoration of the original is worth much, much more and a chance we don't often get nowadays in this throw-away society.
- Seashanty, Melbourne, Australia
Call me a philistine by all means, but 35 million on a clapped out old boat that won't even be sea worthy when it's finished does not sound terribly sensible to me. Something is not right somewhere. Using modern materials you could build an exact copy for about the same amount and you could actually sail it up and down the Thames with fee paying passengers on board!
- Jeff Bronstein, Hobart, Australia
Why not ask the public to buy a small fragment of The Cutty Sark as was done with saving Turner's Blue Riga painting. I bought a small fragment for £5. Many other people bought pieces and the painting was saved. The same idea could save the Cutty Sark.
- Geraldine Absalom, Crouch Kent
