The Cutty Sark

更新：2023-11-22

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[00:01.45]Lesson 25
[00:03.39]The Cutty Sark
[00:11.22]What piece of bad luck prevented the Cutty Sark from winning the race?
[00:18.84]One of the most famous sailing ships of the nineteenth century, the Cutty Sark, can still be seen at Greenwich.
[00:26.90]She stands on dry land and is visited by thousands of people each year.
[00:32.80]She serves as an impressive reminder of the great ships of the past.
[00:39.01]Before they were replaced by steamships, sailing vessels like the Cutty Sark were used to carry tea from China and wool from Australia.
[00:49.58]The Cutty Sark was one of the fastest sailing ships that has ever been built.
[00:55.04]The only other ship to match her was the Thermopylae.
[00:59.05]Both these ships set out from Shanghai on June 18th, 1872 on an exciting race to England.
[01:07.49]This race, which went on for exactly four months, was the last of its kind.
[01:13.38]It marked the end of the great tradition of ships with sails and the beginning of a new era.
[01:20.68]The first of the two ships to reach Java after the race had begun was the Thermopylae, but on the Indian Ocean, the Cutty Sark took the lead.
[01:30.66]It seemed certain that she would be the first ship home,
[01:34.63]but during the race she had a lot of bad luck.
[01:38.17]In August, she was struck by a very heavy storm during which her rudder was torn away.
[01:44.44]The Cutty Sark rolled from side to side and it became impossible to steer her.
[01:50.46]A temporary rudder was made on board from spare planks and it was fitted with great difficulty.
[01:56.92]This greatly reduced the speed of the ship, for there was danger that if she travelled too quickly, this rudder would be torn away as well.
[02:06.45]Because of this, the Cutty Sark lost her lead.
[02:10.48]After crossing the Equator, the captain called in at a port to have a new rudder fitted, but by now the Thermopylae was over five hundred miles ahead.
[02:20.92]Though the new rudder was fitted at tremendous speed, it was impossible for the Cutty Sark to win.
[02:27.24]She arrived in England a week after the Thermopylae.
[02:31.38]Even this was remarkable, considering that she had had so many delays.
[02:36.84]There is no doubt that if she had not lost her rudder she would have won the race easily.