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
Cutty Sark on the outward journey "Cutty Sark" set a record time of 73 days from London to Sydney. In November 1877 the ship was anchored off Deal in the English Channel along with sixty other vessels, waiting out a great storm. The anchor failed to hold and "Cutty Sark" was blown through the ships, damaging two others before grounding on a mud bank. Fortunately she was pulled clear by the tug "Macgregor" before too much damage was caused and she was towed to the Thames for repairs. In December 1877 the ship sailed from London to Sydney, where she took on