London - Cutty Sark & Gipsy Moth IV

The "Cutty Sark", now a museum ship, is the last of the old tea clippers which sailed between Britain and China in the 19th C. Built in 1869, it was the finest and, with its speed of 17 knots, the fastest sailing ship of its day. It was laid up here in 1956, and now contains an interesting collection of old ships' figureheads, prints and drawings, and mementos of its voyages to China, India and Ceylon. Close by is "Gipsy Moth IV", the yacht in which Sir Francis Chichester sailed singlehandedly round the world in 1966/67. Visitors are not permitted on board from October to Easter.