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",
Basil Lubbock man who purchased the Cutty Sark back from the Portuguese; their friendship sprang from examining the work log of the Cutty Sark. He wrote two works that deal with that famous clipper: "The Log of the Cutty Sark" and "Sail: The Romance of the Clipper Ships". Lubbock is not regarded as a completely reliable source as a historian. He relied too much on correspondence and interviews with crews and captains, rather than documents and fact-checking. He sometimes confused the names of ships and captains, or gave incorrect dates. However, Lubbock's correspondence and interviews are themselves a unique source. His book