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 external timbers were secured by Muntz metal (brass) bolts to the internal iron frame and the hull covered by Muntz sheeting up to the depth mark. The stem () and sternpost () were of teak while the rudder was of English oak. The keel was replaced in the 1920s with one constructed from pitch pine. The deck was made of thick teak while the 'tween deck was yellow pine. Her length was with a draft of and a deadweight of 921 tons. The maximum logged speed for "Cutty Sark" was . The speed of a sailing ship is not so