Meet the captains of Cutty Sark

Cutty Sark was a trading ship under the red ensign of the British merchant fleet for 25 years. During this time the ship had seven captains, all of whom had to pass the stringent examinations to become a master-mariner.

In 1872 Moodie had gained a certificate to captain steam-driven vessels. After returning to Scotland he began to make good use of that qualification. He never captained a sailing ship again and worked exclusively on steam vessels. His first steam captaincy was on Virginia, which carried passengers across the Atlantic.

His career had some colourful moments with several collisions; in one a man died and Moodie was found to be culpable. His Master's certificate was suspended for three months for this.

He retired from the sea at the age of 62 in 1891.

In 1860 he passed the examination for his Master’s Certificate and was immediately given the captaincy of Merse, a 690 ton vessel in the China trade. Moore was late in gaining his Master’s Certificate. He was 38 years old and already had 24 years’ experience at sea, so by the time he captained Cutty Sark he was 50 years old. In Willis's eyes this made him a very reliable and experienced seaman.

Moore might never have had the chance to take command of Cutty Sark had it not been for Captain Moodie arguing with Robert Willis and resigning.

Francis William Moore captained Cutty Sark for just one voyage. He arrived back in London on the 3 November 1873 and never sailed again. He died on the 24 December 1874.

Institutions of this type were designed to remove children from the workhouses and give them skills which would help them in later life. The institution no doubt both educated Tiptaft and encouraged him to seek a better life. By 1856 he had left. In 1859 he was a crew member on a vessel called Racer, registered in Jersey, and was recorded in the crew list as ‘boy’.

This was the start of Tiptaft's nautical training. Although he never had an indentured apprenticeship, he began his quest to become an officer in the merchant marine. In 1866 he gained his Second Mate’s certificate. Still only 24, he could at last feel he had, by his own efforts, raised himself out of the poverty into which he had been born.

He went on to gain his First Mate’s certificate and then his Master’s in December 1869, just 27 years of age and, coincidentally, just as Cutty Sark launched.

Tiptaft had worked on Willis ships before gaining his Master’s certificate. Therefore, his return to White Adder as captain was to a ship he knew well, having worked on her at every level. After one voyage he moved to Merse, another Willis ship, where he made three voyages before being transferred to Cutty Sark.

Tiptaft made a success of his time aboard. He was no record breaker or chancer, but a steady hand over the six voyages he made. History will record him as being the second longest-serving captain on the Cutty Sark. It would probably have been longer, but on his sixth voyage he succumbed to an outbreak of dysentery in Shanghai and died on 31 October 1878.

So ended a promising life and career. Having achieved so much in his relatively short life, it was a sad ending for a man of such ability.

James Smith Wallace

Born: 1853

Qualified as Master: 1877

Retired: Died by suicide at sea

Captain James Smith Wallace was a young man with a very promising career before him. He gained his Second Mate's certificate at 19, his Master's certificate at 24, and at 25 found himself the captain of Cutty Sark.

Wallace came from a family of standing, as they might have said in the mid-19th century. His father, also James, held the position of Inspector of Poor. This made him an important local figure, dealing with the Poor Law administration and the distribution of poor relief.

Wallace was born on 9 January 1853 in Aberdeen and began a four-year apprenticeship in the ship Bundaleer, registered in Aberdeen, in April 1870. Three weeks after completing his apprenticeship he started working as Second Mate on steam-powered vessel Gordon Castle. A month later he passed his examination. Two years later he had his First Mate’s certificate.

On 29 November 1877 Wallace joined Cutty Sark as First Mate, even though by this time he had his Master’s certificate. It was not unusual for those holding a Master’s qualification to also accept positions as First Mate, and sometimes even Second Mate. This was particularly true if there was a shortage of Master’s positions available. The voyage began on 2 December 1877 bound for Australia; the ship reached Sydney in 69 days. From there to Shanghai with a cargo of coal, arriving in October 1878. Five days later on 30 October, the Master, Tiptaft, died of dysentery and Wallace was promoted to captain of Cutty Sark. He was now 25 years of age and this was his first command.

Wallace completed the voyage, returning to London in January 1880. The following voyage was very short due to a storm in the English Channel causing damage which required the ship to put back to London for repair.

The third voyage was to be Wallace's last.

Wallace's First Mate was a man called Sydney Smith, who had a reputation as a bully. John Francis was a crew member who was under-qualified and resisted Smith’s authority. This unfortunate combination of personalities led to Francis disobeying an order from Smith. This escalated into a physical fight, which culminated in Francis being seriously injured and dying three days later. Smith was confined to his cabin.

When the ship reached Anjer in modern-day Indonesia, Wallace disposed of the murder weapon and allowed Smith to jump ship and escape. The reasons he did this were, and remain, unclear. The crew were incensed by Wallace’s actions and some had to be constrained in irons.

Wallace realised his career was over; his actions had been indefensible. He was bound to lose his Master’s certificate and the shame he had brought on his family could never be expunged. He calmly stepped over the taffrail at the stern and drowned. His official death record states death at sea by suicide. Thus, a promising career was cut short by one very curious decision.

From London Bruce continued to work and spent the next three years aboard Himalaya as either Second or First Mate.

He earned his Master's certificate on 1 July 1869, almost ten years to the day since receiving his First Mate’s certificate.

To find qualified masters who worked as mates was quite common, but Bruce seems to have avoided using his new status. It was another five years before his first Master’s position, when he became captain of Agnes in 1875, a small ship of 104 tons out of Sydney, New South Wales. Six years later he was First Mate on Willis’s ship, Halloween, when Willis needed a replacement for Cutty Sark after Wallace's death.

Halloween was nearby and Bruce was transferred as Wallace’s replacement. He found himself captain of a ship with a reputation and high expectations. Cutty Sark was midway through a voyage which had already had more than its fair share of drama. It did not go well.

Bruce joined the ship on 24 September 1880 and the voyage terminated on 10 April 1882. During this time his shortcomings as a sailor became very apparent. The crew had lost confidence in him, but worse, Bruce and the First Mate Rutland began drinking heavily and became incapable of running the ship. They failed to properly provision and the crew’s rations ran out. A hungry crew and a drunken captain is a poor combination and when the ship reached New York the crew lodged an official complaint. Following an inquiry into their grievances the Port of New York Authority upheld the complaint in favour of the crew. They were then paid off and discharged. Bruce and Rutland had their certificates suspended and were discharged.

The length of the time over which Bruce's Master’s certificate was withdrawn isn’t known, but he was still permitted to work as a Mate. He did this on several vessels. His last voyage out of a British port was as First Mate on Chilena, registered in Liverpool and bound for Australia. It is possible that he left the Chilena without returning to the UK as his next, and last, ship operated only south of the equator.

Bruce was captain of Chow Paya, a steamer registered in Singapore, when he died from a stroke in Penang General Hospital on 3 September 1901.

The dismissal of Bruce meant there was a need for a replacement captain quickly. Willis decided to transfer Captain Moore to Cutty Sark with the apprentices and officers. This was to be the first of three voyages Moore made as Master of Cutty Sark. He found the ship to be seriously in need of maintenance and repair due to the lack of care taken by the previous officers. It was a process that continued throughout his captaincy.

Moore was also to leave us an interesting legacy with regard to his personal log records. Unusually, his logs continued while the ship was in port and he made notes on many events that would have been considered mundane at the time. Today, they give us a very good understanding of how a clipper ship worked and how the crew were employed. It is the ordinary day to day events that are rarely recorded but he did so, and to our benefit.

Moore's time on Cutty Sark concluded with the first wool cargo from Australia. This was a voyage made in excellent time and which convinced Willis that he should be given the captaincy of his favourite ship, Tweed. It is probable he remained master of Tweed for four years before leaving Willis's employ.

He continued sailing until his death on 29 April 1896. Master on the ship Hilston bound for London from Brazil, he died of ‘heart disease’ off the coast of Brazil.

This page features content from Roger Hodge, one of our volunteers.