Cutty Sark. Not arson at least.

[alexlitandem]

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/uk/article4853723.ece

Quote:

Officers could find no records of fire checks taking place at the end of each working day, as specified in the plan, and construction workers employed at the site could not recall hearing the required weekly fire alarm tests.

End Quote.

What, does anyone - like Peter L - know is done to secure Victory from such a tragedy?

Is the jewel as fully protected as she should be? [ The CS most clearly wasn't, before anyone says `it couldn't happen here...']

[PMarione]

The poor chaps will probably be hanged at the yardarm when the restauration is completed in some years.

[Peter]

HMS Victory is protected by a complete fire alarm system with sensors throughout the ship. They are sometimes set off by moths and spiders.

There is or was a QM on duty inside the ship twenty four hours a day, doing regular rounds of the ship.

Uncle Albert remembers the evening when the Officer of the Day put some toast in the toaster and then went to sleep. He was awoken by a fire officer complete with team and fire engine. We he left the ship he was presented with a piece of laquered toast mounted on a piece of Victory Oak.

I once had an off the record chat with a very senior fire officer. He said that he would send every tender in Hampshire if necessary. He wouldn't lose Victory on his patch!

The oak in the hold of Victory is now very seasoned, it is like concrete and would be very difficult to set alight. However there are other fitments that would be easily burnt.

[PMarione]

3 October 2008 Lloyds List

London, Oct 2 -- A press report, dated Oct 1, states: Custodians of clipper Cutty Sark said it is too early to decide whether they will take legal action over a series of failures blamed for a fire which gutted the historic ship.Cutty Sark Trust communications director Stephen Archer said the organisation needed time to examine a report on the cause of the fire released today by London's Metropolitan Police. The report criticised two security guards on duty at the site on the night of the fire, one of whom fell asleep in the closed cafeteria. It found a log book used to record hourly patrols had been falsely written before the end of their shift. The final entry, for 0700, May 21, said "all is in order," more than two hours after firefighters had arrived to fight the blaze.
Detective Chief Inspector Dave Garwood said: "Had they patrolled properly that night we believe the effects of the fire could have been prevented. They did not do the job they were paid to do." There were no sprinklers on the ship and a fire-alarm system either failed to sound or only rang for a short time.
Renovation of the ship is expected to be finished in 2010.Since the fire, the project has received money from insurance and the Heritage Lottery Fund, as well as public and private donations.