THE Cutty Sark, one of the world’s last surviving 19th-century clipper ships, now looks set to be saved from rapid decay, despite fears that the ship was doomed. A technique that uses electrolysis to protect the ship’s iron frame promises to prevent the historic vessel falling apart.
The Cutty Sark was built in 1869, a period when iron-hulled ships were beginning to replace wooden ones, and therein lies problem. The clipper has a teak hull fixed to an iron frame, and what helps to preserve one material does not necessarily help the other.
For the past 50 years, the vessel…
