In May 2007, a fire tore through the Cutty Sark in Greenwich, and the world feared the last of the great tea clippers was gone for good.
Five years and around £50 million later, Queen Elizabeth II reopened her in April 2012, raised high above her dry dock so visitors could walk right beneath her gleaming hull.
This month, the grand old ship turns 157, and she’s celebrating in style: with a day of sea shanties, twinkling festive lights and a mast transformed into a Christmas tree.
14 November 2026 10:00 + more dates
The Cutty Sark
Kicking off London’s festive period with a bang, it’s seriously a historically-packed treat to visit before London goes full Christmas mode!
Here’s the full story, what to expect out of the big birthday bash, and how to secure a spot yourself.
The world’s only surviving tea clipper
Built in Dumbarton, Scotland, the Cutty Sark was launched in November 1869, the same week the Suez Canal opened.
She was one of the fastest ships of her day, racing tea from Shanghai to London on eight voyages before switching to the Australian wool trade.
Her name has a cheeky backstory, too. It comes from Robert Burns’s poem Tam O’ Shanter, in which a witch called Nannie dances in a “cutty sark”, an old Scots term for a short nightdress. Nannie still leads the way as the ship’s figurehead.
She arrived in Greenwich in 1954 and opened to visitors in 1957.
Luckily, when the fire struck, many of her original planks and her masts had already been removed for conservation, and around 90% of the ship you see today is original, according to Royal Museums Greenwich.
A 157th birthday with sea shanties
To mark her birthday, the Cutty Sark is hosting a Sea Shanty Festival on Saturday 21 November, from 10 am to 6 pm.
Shanty groups including The HogEye Men, The Silver Darlings and the London Sea Shanty Collective will take over the Dry Berth and the Tween Deck.
There are big sing-alongs at 1.30 pm and 5.30 pm, so warm up those vocal cords!
The festival is included in your Cutty Sark ticket. You can stay all day or pick a morning or afternoon session.
Christmas lights and a lantern parade
Once the festive season kicks off, the ship is decked out in twinkling lights, with her mast transformed into a Christmas tree.
It’s an especially magical sight after dark.
Greenwich’s free lantern parade and Christmas lights switch-on takes place on Wednesday 18 November.
Local schoolchildren parade handmade lanterns from the Old Royal Naval College through Cutty Sark Gardens to Greenwich Market, where the lights switch on at 5 pm.
On board, there are festive talks and tales of Christmas at sea. For something extra special, you can book afternoon tea right beneath the hull.
How to visit
The Cutty Sark is open daily from 10 am to 5 pm, with last entry at 4.15 pm, and stays open between Christmas and New Year, if you decide to go on a regular night outside the shanty.
The nearest stop is Cutty Sark for Maritime Greenwich on the DLR, or you can hop on a riverboat to Greenwich Pier.
