Fire tears through historic Cutty Sark

One of Britain's maritime treasures, the Cutty Sark, suffered severe damage when fire ripped through the ship today.

Police said they were treating cause of the blaze as suspicious after the fire broke out on board the 19th century tea clipper in the early hours of this morning.

Firefighters said the blaze damaged the entire ship but they were waiting for investigators to inspect the wreckage before they could make any judgment on the cause.

Residents in Greenwich, south east London, where the ship is kept in a dry dock, were evacuated and police installed a 200-yard cordon around the ship after they were alerted to the blaze at around 4.45am.

The ship has been closed for a £25 million renovation and the Cutty Sark Trust said today that half of the planking had already been removed, along with all historic artefacts on board, for conservation work.

It has been closed since November and was due to reopen in 2009 after substantial repairs because sea salt had speeded up the corrosion of her iron framework.

Richard Doughty, chief executive of the Cutty Sark Trust, said he had been told the blaze is being treated as suspicious.

"The chief fire officer on the site has told me the ship is 100% alight in the hold. They are treating it as suspicious at the moment," he told BBC Radio 4's Today programme.

He expressed shock at what has happened.

"When you lose the original fabric, you lose the touch of the craftsmen. You lose history itself," he said.

"What is special about Cutty Sark is the timber, the iron frames, that went to the South China Sea."

Mr Doughty, project manager for the restoration, said the structures around the ship had been completely destroyed.

However, the beams of the vessel were much more difficult to damage and seemed to have suffered only surface charring.

THe said: "Our biggest concern is the wrought iron structure of the ship, which gives her backbone and shape. She was the Ferrari of her day because she was the epitome of speed under sail.

"This is a ship that helped to make the wealth of London. She travelled the world, she belongs to the world. She is the first ship anywhere that was conserved for the nation."

Asked whether he thought the fire was suspicious, Mr Doughty replied: "I find it hard to believe that anything we've done could have set the ship alight. There isn't anything electrical at the heart of where the fire started. can't think of anything there apart from wood and metal."

Chris Livett, chairman of Cutty Sark Enterprises, said that while the ship's decks were "unsalvageable", the damage did not appear as bad as originally feared.

He said that half of the planking, as well as all the historic artefacts on board, had been removed for the conservation project currently under way and he expressed confidence that the ship could be fully restored.

"It will be the old ship. The ship has been through many things in its lifetime. It has sailed the oceans of the world, it has battled with nature through its life," he told the BBC Radio 4 Today programme.

"This is going to make us even more determined to get this ship back up and running and keep her as original as possible."

Inspector Bruce Middlemiss, from Greenwich borough police, said: "We are treating this as a suspicious incident. We have no intelligence about suspects.

"We are aware that there were a number of people in the area at the time. We would urge anyone with information to contact police immediately."

He had no description of the people but said there was possibly a silver car in the area at the time.

Police were examining CCTV footage, but Mr Middlemiss said the picture quality was not of a high standard.

A spokesman for London Fire Brigade said it was "pure speculation" to say the cause of the fire was suspicious.

He said it was too early to say what had caused it.

He said: "At the moment we are trying to put the fire out.

"Once the fire is out, we will send our fire investigators in to establish what started it. It is pure speculation to say that it is suspicious at the moment."

Ian Allchin, an officer with London Fire Brigade, told BBC Breakfast: " We attended to a quite well-developed fire that was throughout the ship.

"Initially, we were in our defensive mode because we had reports that there were cylinders and some chemicals on board.

"We were able to confirm within about 45 minutes that there were no hazards on board.

"We went into offensive mode. We used four jets and an aerial appliance and at about 6.20am we sent the 'fire surrounded' message (the fire is contained) this morning."

Asked about his view of the cause of the fire, he said: "I have not got any idea of the cause at the moment but our fire investigation team will be investigating it."

He said he could not confirm reports that the fire might have been suspicious.

Asked about the extent of the damage to the Cutty Sark, he said: "I can certainly confirm that there was a substantial fire and a lot of the ship obviously has been involved."

The world's last tea clipper

By James Watson, PA

The Cutty Sark, one of London's best-loved maritime landmarks, is 137 years old, making it the world's sole surviving tea clipper.

It now resides in dry dock in Greenwich, London, and is a popular tourist attraction.

In September last year it was given a £11.75 million National Lottery grant for a massive restoration project that would see the vessel being lifted three metres above her current position.

The ship was said to be in a serious state of deterioration before it was closed in November for restoration work such as mechanical cleaning and applying preventative coatings to begin.

A glass "bubble" was also going to be attached at the ship's waterline to give year-round protection to visitors in the dry berth and to the lower hull itself.

The Cutty Sark was originally used to deliver tea from China in the 1870s and later travelled on many journeys to fetch wool from Australia.

Built 1869 by Scott & Linton, Dumbarton, the Cutty Sark is the sole surviving extreme clipper, designed to be very fast.

She was one of the last tea clippers built, but as this trade was taken over by the steamers using the Suez Canal, she turned to general trading including transporting wool from Australia.

It was during this time that she made her legendary fast voyages.

Captain Dowman of Falmouth decided she should be preserved and in 1922 bought the ship and made her part of a floating nautical school he was operating.

In 1938, his widow presented the ship to the Thames Nautical Training School at Greenhithe. They maintained the ship until 1952 when the Cutty Sark Preservation Society was formed under the leadership of Frank Carr, Director of the National Maritime Museum, and the patronage of HRH the Duke of Edinburgh.

The ship was permanently installed in a stone dry-dock at Greenwich on the Thames, and fully restored to her appearance as an active sailing vessel.

In the 1990s, structural problems were first identified in her hull and, since then, plans have been put in motion for a full restoration. She was awarded a grant of £13 million by the Heritage Lottery Fund and, in November 2006, her rig was dismantled before work commenced.

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