Cutty Sark wind. The ship was named after Cutty-sark, the nickname of the witch Nannie Dee in Robert Burns's 1791 poem "Tam o' Shanter". The ship's figurehead, the original of which has been attributed to carver Fredrick Hellyer of Blackwall, is a stark white carving of a bare-breasted Nannie Dee with long black hair holding a grey horse's tail in her hand. In the poem she wore a linen (Scots: a short chemise or undergarment), that she had been given as a child, which explains why it was "cutty", or in other words far too short. The erotic sight of her dancing
Sir Lancelot (clipper) Sir Lancelot (clipper) Sir Lancelot was a clipper ship which sailed in the China trade and the India-Mauritius trade. Built in 1865 by Robert Steele & Company, Greenock, "Sir Lancelot" was "a beautiful tea clipper" called the "Yacht of the Indian Ocean". There is some discussion as to whether "Sir Lancelot" was an exact sister ship of Ariel, but it is clear that the two ships were very similar. "Sir Lancelot" was typical of all of Steele's ships, celebrated for their beauty of model, perfection of build, and superb finish. In the poem "By the Old Pagoda Anchorage," she is