‘She was the fastest ship of her day, a grand ship, a ship that will last for ever’ – Captain George Moodie, the first Master of Cutty Sark.

In 1894, Wildred Dowman was working as an apprentice seaman on the Hawksdale, owned by Iredale & Porter of Liverpool, when it was passed by the Cutty Sark. It left them to windward in a matter of seconds, and in “a manner which could not fail to impress.” Wilfred became a commander in the mercantile marine when he began his career at sea, and also served in the Royal Navy Reserve
in the First World War, owned a boatyard, and ran a sea training school for boys.

Despite all this activity, he never forgot his first captivating sight of the Cutty Sark. He would set eyes on the ship again nearly two decades later when, in January 1922, she took shelter in Falmouth while in need of repair. Bearing a new name – the Ferreira – and under Portuguese ownership, the ship was in something of a sorry state. Nevertheless, Captain Dowman purchased her, restored her to some of her past glory, and used her as a training. Completing the purchase in October 1922, he renamed her Cutty Sark. She would serve as a training ship and remain moored in Falmouth until 1938.

Wilfred and Catharine Dowman
Captain Dowman had retired from life at sea in the early 1920s. At this time, he and his wife Catherine had come to live at Trevissome House in Flushing, on the opposite side of the river to Falmouth. The latter was home to Ponsharden Shipyard, which was of interest to Wilfred. He and his wife had also utilised a 163-ton schooner for the site of a sea training scheme targeting “poor boys of good character.” The schooner, named lady of Avenel, had been built by H. S. Trethowan some years earlier in 1874, in Falmouth. It was built for Edward Dixon Anderton, a Falmouth resident, and employed as a freighter which saw a notable level of service in the granite trade from Cornwall.

She was sold out of the county in 1900, returning in 1921 under ownership of the Dowmans. They installed an auxiliary engine and refitted her as a training ship. The couple had a sentimental interest in training ships, having met on a voyage from London to Sydney in 1912. This cadet training ship, named the Port Jackson, had Wilfred for a First Mate and Catherine as one of three additional passengers.

Wilfred Harry Dowman was born in Birmingham in 1879. His father died when he was young, leaving him to grow up with his mother in Birkenhead. He was 13 at the time he first went to sea as an apprentice on Hawksdale, the vessel on which he would catch his first momentous glimpse of the Cutty Sark.

He earned his first Master’s Certificate by 1904 and remained with Iredale and Porter until 1912, during which time he had two commands for the Liverpool shipping firm. The firm found itself needing to reduce its fleet and crew complements, with life-changing results for Wilfred as he arrived at the Port Jackson and met his future wife. The pair became a couple despite Wilfred being married at the time. He joined the Royal Naval Reserve at the outbreak of war in 1914, serving at Gallipoli and the White Sea Convoys before being demobilised in 1919. It was after this he married Catherine in 1920, with the newly weds making Falmouth their home.

Catherine was born in 1878 at Bocking, near Braintree in Essex, as part of the Courtauld family. The Courtaulds arrived in England as Huguenot refugees at the end of the 17 th century, establishing themselves as silversmiths. Catherine’s uncle would launch a successful silk weaving business, based in Essex, in the 19 th century. As a result, she and her siblings – three brothers and a sister – each inherited considerable wealth. They were, as Unitarians, committed to promoting social reform with their substantial inheritance. Through this, they extended suffrage and were involved in trusts supporting hospitals, education, and a variety of charities.

The siblings also became involved with the arts and the artistic community. Establishing herself as an artist in early 1900, Catherine joined the Central Society for Women’s Suffrage and became a founding member of the Artists’ Suffrage Atelier in 1909. By the following year, she was living with her elder sister Sydney Renee Courtauld at Bocken, a house designed for them by their architect brother John, near Great Missenden in Buckinghamshire. Sydney Renee was accompanying Catharine on the Port Jackson’s voyage to Australia.

Cadet Training Ships
The Port Jackson was part of Devitt and Moore’s Ocean Training Ships scheme. The Devitt and Moore shipping line originally had sailing ships that were engaged in the passenger and cargo trade with Australia. As the use of sailing ships declined, they were instead used for naval cadet training. In 1890, Lord Brassey established a scheme which provided training for boys destined for service in the merchant navy. Devitt and Moore joined in the scheme in 1906 and purchased the Port Jackson. A wool clipper built in Aberdeen in 1882, she was refitted for training purposes while continuing in the Australian cargo trade, carrying wool, tallow, and government stores.

The first voyage to Sydney set sail from London in June 1906, arriving in Australia in early November. The ship had a crew of 36 with a chaplain and a doctor. The boys were taught by four nautical instructors and put their new skills to good use by helping work the ship and handle the sails. The scheme proved successful and, in 1909, Devitt and Moor established their Ocean Training Ships with shareholders from other shipping lines, including Cunard, Union castle, and Royal Mail Lines to train cadets for careers as officers in the merchant service. They purchased a second ship named the Medway and, before the First World War, the two training ships were frequent and popular visitors to Sydney with cadets participating in regattas, rowing competitions, and cricket matches.

Wilfred and Catherine had been brought together by the training voyage to Sydney in 1912. After marrying in 1920, Wilfred retired from active service at sea, and they together set up a training scheme using the Lady of Avenel. Upon the sight of Ferreira in Falmouth in 1922, Captain Dowman recalled the previous glory of Cutty Sark and saw the potential for her restoration and the provision of a larger training ship. His initial attempts to buy her while in Falmouth were, however, unsuccessful, and she returned to Lisbon, was sold to other Portuguese owners and renamed Maria do Amparo. Despite many hurdles being put in his way, Wilfred persisted with his purchase negotiations – the owners even placed the price well above the vessel’s commercial worth.

Cutty Sark in Falmouth Harbour, September 1936. The Weller Collection © NMMC.

Cutty Sark
Cutty Sark was built for John (Jock) Willis, a Scottish shipowner known as White Hat Willis, as a tea clipper at a cost of £16,150. The ship was designed by Hercules Linton of the shipbuilding firm of Scott & Linton of Dumbarton and built by the firm as a state-of-the-art clipper with a composite hull of iron and timber. She weighed in at a gross tonnage of 963 tons and an overall length of 280 feet, with 32 sails, 11 miles of rigging, and a 152-foot-tall main mast. The ship launched on 22 November 1869 and was registered in London to carry a crew of up to 28 under the command of Captain George Moodie, a senior captain of the Willis line.

The name of the ship was chosen to reflect the speed of her passage through water and was taken from the Robert Burns poem Tam O’Shanter. In the poem, Tam – a farmer – is pursued in a furious chase by Nannie, a witch, who snatches at his horse’s tail and wears a short undergarment known as a ‘cutty sark’. The figurehead on the bow, added at the time of the build and originally carved by Frederick Hellyer of Blackwall, represents Nannie grasping a tail of horsehair in one outstretched hand and wearing her ‘cutty sark’. Apprentices on the ship’s voyages were often required to replace the tail whilst in port with strands of unpicked rope. The figurehead adds to the ship’s streamlined profile and conveys a sense of speed through the waves which made Cutty Sark, with a maximum recorded speed 17.05 knots, one of the fastest of sailing ships.

Cutty Sark’s life at sea began in the highly competitive tea trade. The speed of the clipper’s voyage to China and the return to home port in London, with a cargo of tea on board, was paramount to meeting market demands and turning a profit. The ship’s maiden voyage left London in February 1870 bound for Shanghai and proved her sailing qualities and speed. Her time in the tea trade was,
however, limited.

The Suez Canal opened at the same time as the launch of Cutty Sark, reducing the time of the voyage to the east and making the clipper tea trade less profitable. There were to be only eight such voyages and, in 1883, the ship entered the wool trade with Australia. This proved to be the most successful period of her career, setting record voyage times and adding to her fame.

Things would however change by the 1890s as steam began to take over from sail. Cutty Sark became increasingly less profitable and, in 1892, was sold by Jock Willis to Portuguese owners, Ferreira & Co. As Ferreira, the ship was used in general cargo trade from her new home port of Lisbon. The ship had a hard-working and demanding life for the subsequent years and was in poor condition when she was seen in Falmouth by Captain Dowman in 1922.

In Falmouth and beyond
Despite failing to initially buy the ship, Cutty Sark eventually found her way into the ownership of the Dowmans in October 1922. With Catherine’s wholehearted support, a purchase for £3,750 was completed. The ship was brought back to Falmouth by Captain Edward Rooney, a Falmouth pilot, and towed into the harbour by the Falmouth tug Triton. Captain Dowman was determined to restore the ship to her original appearance, and the work was undertaken by the Ponsharden shipyard. The ship was re-rigged to the original plans by the workers of R. S. Burt of the Little Falmouth Yacht Yard. Cutty Sark was then opened as a training ship by the Dowmans and moored off Trefusis Fields, Flushing. Numerous boys were trained over the years for careers in the Royal Navy or the Merchant Marine. Cadets were instructed in nautical skills and given practical, hands-on training in seamanship. Cutty Sark became a well known and loved sight in Falmouth and a subject for artists such as Henry Scott Tuke and photographers. The ship was also open to the public as a visitor attraction.

In 1936, Captain Dowman died on a homeward voyage from the West Indies and was buried at sea. Following her husband’s death, Catharine gave Cutty Sark to the Thames Nautical Training College with a gift of £5,000 to be used for maintenance. She was used as an auxiliary ship alongside the cadet ship HMS Worcester, moored at Greenhithe on the Thames. Cutty Sark left Falmouth in 1938 to a wave of fond farewells and was sailed under tow by 12 cadets to the Thames. She would remain a cadet ship until the end of the Second World War. In 1951, Cutty Sark was on display at the Festival of Britain. Three years later, the Cutty Sark
Preservation Society and its President, the Duke of Edinburgh, were given the responsibility of preserving her for the nation, which saw the construction of a special dry dock at Greenwich. The ship was opened to the public by Queen Elizabeth II in 1957 and closed in 2006 for a conservation project during which there was a fire. Fortunately, the ship was ‘saved’ and after restoration reopened in 2012.

The Legacy
The last survivor of the clippers, renowned for her grace and speed, Cutty sark is once again opened to the public; a tribute to her designer, builders and the merchant navy, and a memorial to the men who sailed her. It’s also a fitting tribute to the foresight and determination of Wilfred and Catharine Dowman, who rescued her in 1922. In doing so, they ensured Cutty Sark’s survival, and she is now once again restored in ‘a manner which could not fail to impress’.