Our wonderful volunteer explainers generously give their time, energy and passion to help bring Cutty Sark's incredible history to life.
Whether they're running hands-on explainer activities or giving fascinating talks on a range of topics, they give visitors a peek behind the curtain of sailing, shipkeeping, and what life was like on board a historic ship.
Meet our volunteer explainers below, and make sure to join in with their activities or enjoy one of their fact-packed talks on your next visit!
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John Prescott
A former HMS Worcester cadet, John has had a long maritime career - afloat to begin with, followed by more than 25 years as a shipping journalist and maritime publisher, before joining Cutty Sark as a volunteer explainer on the Main Deck.
His deep-sea time was all with British India Steam Navigation (BI) in the company’s wide network of cargo and passenger services east of Suez and covering the Indian Ocean littoral, Gulf, South Asia, Far East, Australia and New Zealand, plus time on BI's educational cruise ships. On coming ashore, and still in the days of hot metal presses, John reported and wrote for several publications including the daily newspaper Lloyd’s List.
From being a 12-year-old on Newcastle Quayside gazing at ships to a volunteer at Greenwich has been a voyage of more than five decades. Despite a lifetime sailing and working in and around ships, John says he is still learning, alongside those interesting people who visit Cutty Sark wanting to know more.
His particular interests are navigation, cargowork, ship construction and materials, and – especially for younger 'sailors' – relating the ship's technology to today's STEM-based world. As a former purser, John has related interests in crewing, victualling, welfare and ship’s business, and he delights in hearing visitors’ maritime connections and links to Cutty Sark. Away from the ship, John can be found with dogs and family, enjoying country life; oft-times walking, writing and cooking (even ship’s biscuits!).
John hosts a variety of talks and activities, including:
- Loglines, ship speed and distance
- Where on Earth? A navigation activity, sometimes with a sextant segment
- Ship cordage and ropes: covering the sources, properties, and upcycling on board of old rope
- How Cutty Sark got a copper bottom: the story of the ship’s copper bottom brought up to date
John also writes our online Cutty Sark learning blog.
He is usually on board with us every Friday!
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John Wheeler
John has spent his life as an educator, but with a passion for history and ships. His grandfather was a Bristol Channel pilot who went around the world in sail and steam, and John grew up with all the stories of Polly, the family wooden pilot cutter. He has enjoyed being a leisure sailor and sailing on a range of classic ships including the last wooden Brixham trawler, Pilgrim. He has been a member of the Society of Model Shipwrights for many years, creating scale replicas of boats to museum standard.
Catch John on board for a variety of activities and talks, including:
- Sea sayings - the things we still say that come from the great days of sailing ships, like 'making headway', 'the bitter end', and much more. Lots of them are very surprising!
- Cutty Sark’s only murder - the sad story of how one sailor died at the hands of a zealous mate, and the dire consequences for the ship and its master
- How Cutty Sark got its name - a lively recounting of the tale of Tam O'Shanter and how it was adopted to make a magical name for a magical ship
- Ship knots for apprentices - a practical session of making three simple knots that would have been familiar to any seaman on Cutty Sark
- Looking at Cutty Sark from the Anchor Deck - What this deck was for and a little about the work that went on there
John is usually on board every Thursday!
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Tony Nixon
Tony generally engages visitors with information about any aspect of Cutty Sark's history and construction, or of the practicalities of handling a sailing ship!
Tony is usually on board every Saturday.
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Graeme Tipp
Graeme has always been an admirer of Cutty Sark since being part of the Guard of Honour from London Nautical School when the ship made its final passage into the purpose-built dock at Greenwich in November 1954.
A love of ships and shipping led Graeme to join the Merchant Navy in 1957, working on tramping vessels for Furness Withy shipping company.
When Cutty Sark reopened in 2012, Graeme was the first volunteer working both as an explainer for visitors and as part of the shipkeeping team, doing what he could to keep this beautiful ship looking at her best.
Today, in addition to answering visitors’ questions, Graeme brings to life the characters that built and sailed the fastest ship in the world, done through 'Stories from the Ship’s Log'. In these sessions, Graeme describes important incidents from Cutty Sark’s career, set into the context of the crew who were there at the time, how their career brought them to Cutty Sark, and what became of them afterwards.
Catch Graeme aboard on Tuesdays (you can also find him on Wednesdays during our Shipkeeping in Action days!). Graeme also runs a series of activities for visitors of all ages, including:
- How Cutty Sark loaded her cargo
- Blocks and tackles: covering what they do, how they work and how to rig them
- Bracing a yard: why, when and how
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Glyn Jones
Glyn started his life at sea around 1959 as a Sea Scout and later Troop Leader, where he had the opportunity to live onboard a square rigger on the River Medway. Alongside overnight expeditions sailing 27ft whalers in the Thames estuary, he sailed on a whaler to Calais, his first sea voyage under sail!
Glyn joined HMS Worcester in 1962 as a Deck Officer Cadet, graduating in 1965 and joining the P&O owned New Zealand Shipping Company as an Engineer Officer Cadet. He sailed in all ranks up to Chief Engineer on P&O fleet cargo, reefer, ferries and LPG gas carriers. Glyn also held other senior shore marine engineering roles, moving into ship building projects and then finally marine procurement.
Throughout his career Glyn found other ways to be on or in the sea, such as volunteering with his local RNLI crew, volunteering on sailing ships, and taking up scuba diving, completing around 1,500 dives and qualifying as a diving instructor.
Glyn retired nine years ago from P&O as Head of Marine Procurement and joined the Cutty Sark crew as a volunteer.
He also volunteers for several other organisations, including the Royal Yachting Association, the WetWheels Foundation, and as Launching Authority for Dover RNLI Lifeboat.
Glyn was awarded the Merchant Navy Medal for Meritorious Service by the Queen in 2016, during the first award ceremony of the medal held since the Second World War.
Catch Glyn on board, usually on a Tuesday or Wednesday, when he is not volunteering elsewhere!
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Jeremy Noble
Jeremy has been volunteering as part of the Main Deck volunteer explainer team at Cutty Sark for 11 years.
Despite spending most of his youth in London, his interest in ships and boats began when he was very young; he learnt to sail in a mirror dinghy and first went to sea on a sail training ship at age 14. At 15, he sailed in his first Tall Ships race - to Norway. Alongside a career in industry and consultancy, he has been sailing for over sixty years.
During this time he has sailed over 5,000 nautical miles and crewed in or skippered over 50 sailboats of all sizes, including racing dinghies and keelboats, vintage yachts, a Thames barge, and several square-rigged ships similar to Cutty Sark.
As a Royal Yachting Association qualified Yachtmaster, he has sailed with and been a lifelong supporter of the sail training movement as a means of developing teamwork and leadership skills in young people. He is also interested in linking the ship to the commercial, technological and political environment of the late 19th and early 20th centuries.
Jeremy is usually on board on Fridays, Saturdays or Sundays, and more frequently during school holidays.
Join the crew
Are you passionate about anything related to Cutty Sark, whether it's history, seafaring or ship conservation? Why not join our team of volunteers - we'd love to have you on board!
