Cutty Sark to be a sponsored black-tie corporate venue

One of Britains greatest maritime attractions, the Cutty Sark, is to become a black-tie corporate venue, with sponsoring company logos beamed on to its floodlit masts, under ambitious conservation plans.

London, Aug.27 : One of Britain's greatest maritime attractions, the Cutty Sark, is to become a black-tie corporate venue, with sponsoring company logos beamed on to its floodlit masts, under ambitious conservation plans.

According to The Independent, a marketing drive entitled "Cutty Sark at Night" will see the fire-damaged Victorian tea clipper, in dry dock at Greenwich, host events ranging from champagne dinners and wedding banquets to product launches and "bespoke" tea parties once the current 35 million pound lottery-funded project to encase its lower hull in a "glass bubble" is completed in 2009.

The Cutty Sark was gutted in blaze on May 21 this year.

Fire fighters took several hours to control the blaze in Greenwich, southeast London where the historic ship has been dry-docked since 1954.

Initial reports said 80 per cent of the structure had been damaged or destroyed and there are particular concerns the iron framework has sustained irreparable damage.

The 137-year-old vessel was to undergo a massive restoration courtesy a whopping 12 million pound grant from the Heritage Lottery Fund.

Fifty percent of the ship had been previously removed as part of the renovation process.

Designed by Hercules Linton and built in 1869 by Scott and Linton of Dumbarton, Scotland, the Cutty Sark set sail on November 23 that same year.

Since 1954 she was preserved as a museum ship, and was a popular tourist attraction. However, the site had been closed since 2006 and is due to open again to the public in 2009.

Cutty Sark is also preserved in literature in Hart Crane's long poem "The Bridge", published 22in 1930.

ANI