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The ship is named after the fleet-footed witch featured in the poem Tam o' Shanter written by Robert Burns. She was built in 1869 at Dumbarton in Scotland, by the firm of Scott & Linton, for Captain John Willis , and launched November 23 of that year. She was destined for the China tea trade , at that time an intensely competitive race across the globe from China to London, with immense profits to the ship to arrive with the first tea of the year.

However, the Cutty Sark did not distinguish herself in the Derby; in the most famous race, against Thermopylae in 1872Events January 2 Brigham Young, is arrested for bigamy (25 wives). February 20 In New York City the Metropolitan Museum of Art opens. March 1 Yellowstone National Park is established as the world's first national park March 5 George Westinghouse patents t, they left ShanghaiAlternate meanings: See Shanghai (disambiguation Shanghai ( Chinese: , pinyin: shang hi; Shanghainese IPA: /z h/) is China's largest city and is situated on the banks of the Chang Jiang delta. In Chinese, Shanghai's abbreviations are H ( or ) and Shen . together on June 18June 18 is the 169th day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar (170th in leap years), with 196 days remaining. Events 1178 Five Canterbury monks see what was possibly the Giordano Bruno crater being formed. It is believed that the current oscillations of, but after two weeks Cutty Sark lost her rudder after passing through the Sunda StraitThe Sunda Strait is the strait between the islands of Java and Sumatra in Indonesia. It connects the Java Sea to the Indian Ocean. It is about 30km wide at its narrowest point, which at the north end, but this is a short section, about 30km long, and then, and arrived in London on October 18October 18 is the 291st day of the year (292nd in Leap years). There are 74 days remaining. Events 1009 The Church of the Holy Sepulchre, a Christian church in Jerusalem, is completely destroyed by the "mad" Fatimid caliph Al-Hakim bi-Amr Allah, who hacke, a week after Thermopylae, for a total passage of 122 days.

In the end, clippers lost out to the steamships, which could pass through the recently-opened Suez CanalThe Suez Canal ( Arabic, Qan al-Suways , west of the Sinai Peninsula, forms a 163 km (101 mile) ship canal in Egypt between Port Said Bur Sa'id on the Mediterranean and Suez al-Suways on the Red Sea. The canal allows water transport from Europe to Asia wi and deliver reliably, if not quite so quickly, which as it turned out was better for business.

The Cutty Sark was then used in the Australian wool trade , and did very well, posting Australia-to-England times of as little as 67 days. Her best run, of 360 nautical miles in 24 hours, was said to have been the fastest of any ship of her size.

In 1895Events January events January 5 Dreyfus Affair: French officer Alfred Dreyfus is stripped of his rank and sentenced to life imprisonment on Devil's Island. February events February 14 First showing of Oscar Wilde's last play The Importance of Being Earnes Willis sold her to the Portuguese firm of Ferreira , where she was renamed after the firm, then in 1916 she was dismasted off the Cape of Good Hope, sold, re-rigged in Cape Town as a barquentine, and renamed the Maria do Amparo.

In 1922 she was bought by Captain Wilfred Dowman , who restored her to her original appearance and used her as a stationary training ship. In 1954 she was dry-docked at Greenwich as a museum ship, and is today a popular tourist attraction. She has deteriorated considerably, and conservation efforts are underway. She flies signal flag s on her ensign staff reading "JKWS", which is the code representing Cutty Sark.