Fire has ripped through the Cutty Sark, reducing the iconic 19th century tea clipper to a charred wreck. Scores of firefighters battled to save the ship but flames 100 feet high engulfed the hull ...

Historian Jerry Brotton explores how Britain's maritime heritage has shaped us, even now the sailing ships have gone. Show more The Mary Rose, The Mayflower, The Cutty Sark, The Golden Hind ...

The Hall brothers tested various hull shapes in a water test tank before settling of the design that would revolutionise fast sailing ships for ... 1868) and "Cutty Sark" (Dumbarton 1869).