Cutty-sark (witch) Cutty-sark (witch) "Cutty sark" is 18th-century Scots for "short chemise" or "short undergarment". Hyphenated, Cutty-sark was a nickname given to the witch Nannie Dee, a fictional character created by Robert Burns in his "Tam o' Shanter", after the garment she wore. The figurehead of the tea clipper "Cutty Sark" is named after the character and a brand of Scotch whisky is named in turn for the ship. "Cutty" or "cuttie" (the diminutive form of "cuttit", from Early Middle English "cutte", "kutte", "cute" "ugly") is "short" or "stumpy". "Sark" or "serk" (from Old English "serc"; Old Norse "serk") is a "shift",
Great Tea Race of 1866 between tea clippers to catch public attention was between "Thermopylae" and "Cutty Sark" in 1872. "Erl King" was the first ship to carry a cargo of tea through the Suez Canal, arriving in London on 4 August 1870 after a passage of 61 days. She later served on the route to Australia and then on transatlantic routes. She was lost off the coast of Florida on 16 Dec 1891. Captain MacKinnon of "Taeping" was taken ill with rheumatic fever on his next outward passage and was put ashore in South Africa. He died of complications whilst travelling home to Britain.