Cutty-sark (witch) "chemise", or "shirt". The earliest recorded literary usage of the term "cutty sark" (as opposed to older usage of the two separate words) is by Dougal Graham in c. 1779 (the year of his death): "A cutty sark of guide harn sheet, My mitter he pe spin, mattam." In Burns' 1791 poem Tam o' Shanter, the drunken Tam, riding home on his horse, happens upon a witches' dance. Among the dancing figures is a particularly beautiful young witch named Nannie (Scots pet-form of Anna), "ae winsome wench and wawlie" (line 164). She is wearing a "harn" (linen) "sark" (nightshirt) which
Cutty Sark October in London via the Cape of Good Hope. "Cutty Sark" sailed in eight "tea seasons", from London to China and back. "Cutty Sark"s launch coincided with the opening of the Suez Canal to shipping. Her first trip encountered significant competition with steamships. The route from the Far East to London (and many other European ports) through the Suez Canal was shorter by about , compared to sailing round the Cape of Good Hope. The route round Africa is in excess of . Typically a clipper might log significantly more than that by planning her route for favourable winds. Whilst