Posted by Peter Ceresole on May 23, 2007 at 15:40:24 from 83.104.55.189 user PeterC.
In Reply to: Re: The Cutty Sark - The ship that died of shame. posted by JLabaree on May 23, 2007 at 02:13:38:
What is the inherent connection between preservation and seaworthiness? Aren’t they two separate concepts? You can preserve something in a complete state of disrepair.
Indeed. Isn't a good example of that the 'Vasa', pickled in glycol and under water sprays in Stockholm harbour?
I may well be wrong about her state nowadays, but I remember visiting her many years ago. It was a hugely impressive experience. She could never sail again, or even float (her problem in the first place), but I'd say it was a tremendously worth while effort.
I also remember visiting the 'Cutty Sark' a few times. Although her masts may have been stepped all the way down to the concrete bottom of the dry dock (as I read here- I didn't know that), and there were new openings to let in the visitors, it was still a moving experience- which is the whole point. If you cared to do so, you could imagine conditions on a passage, imagine what it might have been like. If I wanted to know about her properly, I'd look it up in print, but that emotional connection is the way human beings relate to the past. Going to Verdun taught me nothing about the horrible battle that I didn't know, and know well, but the visit was really valuable to me, and I'm sure it's valuable to others too.
So I think that preservation, even with a fair bit of reconstruction, is a valid and proper thing to do.