Cutty Sark - Greenwich (London, UK)
N 51° 28.972 W 000° 00.576
30U E 707628 N 5707764
This British post stamp issued in 2014 by UniversalMail, from series devoted to Royal Museums at Greenwich, depicts one of the key Greenwich landmarks - tea clipper Cutty Sark.
Waymark Code: WMQATV
Location: London, United Kingdom
Date Posted: 01/25/2016
Views: 21
This British post stamp issued in 2014 by UniversalMail, from series devoted to Royal Museums at Greenwich, depicts one of the key Greenwich landmarks - tea clipper Cutty Sark.
Cutty Sark is a British clipper ship. Built on the Clyde in 1869 for the Jock Willis Shipping Line, she was one of the last tea clippers to be built and one of the fastest, coming at the end of a long period of design development which halted as sailing ships gave way to steam propulsion.
The opening of the Suez Canal (also in 1869) meant that steam ships now enjoyed a much shorter route to China, so Cutty Sark spent only a few years on the tea trade before turning to the trade in wool from Australia, where she held the record time to Britain for ten years. Improvements in steam technology meant that gradually steamships also came to dominate the longer sailing route to Australia and the ship was sold to the Portuguese company Ferreira and Co. in 1895, and renamed Ferreira. She continued as a cargo ship until purchased by retired sea captain Wilfred Dowman in 1922, who used her as a training ship operating from Falmouth, Cornwall. After his death, Cutty Sark was transferred to the Thames Nautical Training College, Greenhithe in 1938 where she became an auxiliary cadet training ship alongside HMS Worcester. By 1954 she had ceased to be useful as a cadet ship and was transferred to permanent dry dock at Greenwich, London on public display.
Cutty Sark is listed by National Historic Ships as part of the National Historic Fleet (the nautical equivalent of a Grade 1 Listed Building). She is one of only three remaining original composite construction (wooden hull on an iron frame) clipper ships from the nineteenth century in part or whole, the others being the City of Adelaide, which arrived in Port Adelaide, South Australia on 3 February 2014 for preservation, and the beached skeleton of Ambassador of 1869 near Punta Arenas, Chile.
The ship has been damaged by fire twice in recent years, first on 21 May 2007 while undergoing conservation. She was restored and was reopened to the public on 25 April 2012. On 19 October 2014 she suffered minor damage in a smaller fire. [excerpted from Wiki]
The stamp was issued by UniversalMail United Kingdom Ltd., not by Royal Mail.
Some information from their web:
With the liberalisation of the postal market in the United Kingdom in 2006 UniversalMail United Kingdom Ltd was formed. UniversalMail United Kingdom has grown to be the premier producer of tourism related and bespoke stamps in the UK. Our stamps can be used to send postcards to any destination outside of the UK.
An access agreement with Royal Mail enables any postcard bearing a UniversalMail postage stamp to be mailed through Royal Mail’s extensive network of red post boxes and Post offices located throughout England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland.
Our customers include regional tourist authorities, historic places and trusts, museums, art galleries, hotels, general retailers and souvenir stores.