20 Jun 2016
What is the secret behind Cutty Sark’s survival? Marketing volunteer Gina visited the Cutty Sark workshop in Greenwich and got chatting with Senior Ship Technician Piran Harte about some of the ongoing tasks involving the wooden fire buckets and wedges. Here’s what she found out.
On entering the workshop, I was instantly drawn to the long line of wooden wedges that were evenly spread out across one of the work benches. I wasn’t sure where the wedges were located on the ship, but Piran explained they are from the hatch on the Main Deck. If you’d like to go and find them on the ship, they are placed around the hatch coaming, which is a raised section around the hatch that prevents water from entering the ship. Altogether there are 16 wedges, which individually need to be oiled; not only to keep them looking presentable, but most importantly to stop them getting weathered. Doing this in the workshop allows the wedges to receive a sufficient amount of oil, and it avoids closing a section of the ship, which would impact on our visitors’ experience.
In front of the wedges I noticed two wooden fire buckets, which were stripped of varnish. The fire buckets are usually found on the Main Deck by the water pump, and in front of the Captain’s cabin. There are more than ten buckets on the Main Deck and each one needs to be individually worked on to help keep them preserved. Originally, they would have been used to decant water if a fire broke out on board the ship. These days, I have noticed that our younger visitors like to pretend they have water for scrubbing the deck. With so many visitors to the ship each year it’s no wonder the buckets need so much work. Piran explained that on average, the buckets need to be taken to the workshop every two to three years. In the case of extremely bad weather, like frost or snow, the buckets may require extra care. The maintenance process involves sanding the buckets down and adding several new coats of paint and varnish.
The buckets are now back up on the Main Deck looking brand new, make sure you try and spot them when you next visit the ship!
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About Gina
My name is Gina and I have been working at Royal Museums Greenwich for just over a year. I am a Visitor Assistant on board Cutty Sark, which has been an amazing experience as I have met so many people from all over the world, who each have their very own fascinating Cutty Sark memory or story. I am also a Volunteer within Cutty Sark’s Marketing department, and I have been assisting the Marketing Manager on a one day a week basis since October. This role has taught me so much, and has given me the opportunity to work on some amazing projects such as the series of blogs about the Cutty Sark workshop - I hope you enjoy them.