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",
Cutty Sark the owners: the 'tea race' was widely reported in contemporary newspapers and had become something of a national sporting event, with money being gambled against a winning ship. In earlier years, Willis had commanded his father's ships at a time when American designed ships were the fastest in the tea trade, and then had owned British designed ships, which were amongst the best available in the world but had never won the tea race. In 1868 the brand new Aberdeen built clipper "Thermopylae" set a record time of 61 days port to port on her maiden voyage from London to