Cutty Sark Reading Answers, IELTS Passage

Cutty Sark Reading Answers: The IELTS Reading section tests how well you can understand and analyze different types of texts. One passage you might find in the test is about the Cutty Sark, a famous ship known for its speed and role in the tea trade during the 19th century. The passage talks about the ship’s construction, its voyages, the challenges it faced, and how it became a museum. The questions in this IELTS Reading module often include True/False/Not Given and sentence completion tasks. Practicing these question types will help you improve your reading skills, find answers quickly, and understand the text better. Keep reading to learn more about the Cutty Sark Reading Answers and prepare for the IELTS 2025.

Free IELTS Reading Practice Tests, Cambridge Sample Test PDF

Cutty Sark Reading Answers Passage

Cutty Sark: the fastest sailing ship of all time

1. The nineteenth century was a period of great technological development in Britain, and for shipping, the major changes were from wind to steam power, and from wood to iron and steel.

2. The fastest commercial sailing vessels of all time were clippers, three-masted ships built to transport goods around the world, although some also took passengers. From the 1840s until 1869, when the Suez Canal opened and steam propulsion was replacing sail, clippers dominated world trade. Although many were built, only one has survived more or less intact: Cutty Sark, now on display in Greenwich, southeast London.

3. Cutty Sark’s unusual name comes from the poem Tam O’Shanter by the Scottish poet Robert Burns. Tam, a farmer, is chased by a witch called Nannie, who is wearing a ‘cutty sark’ – an old Scottish name for a short nightdress. The witch is depicted in Cutty Sark’s figurehead – the carving of a woman typically at the front of old sailing ships. In legend, and in Burns’s poem, witches cannot cross water, so this was a rather strange choice of name for a ship.

4. Cutty Sark was built in Dumbarton, Scotland, in 1869, for a shipping company owned by John Willis. To carry out construction, Willis chose a new shipbuilding firm, Scott & Linton, and ensured that the contrast with them put him in a very strong position. In the end, the firm was forced out of business, and the ship was finished by a competitor.

5. Willis’s company was active in the tea trade between China and Britain, where speed could bring shipowners both profits and prestige, so Cutty Sark was designed to make the journey more quickly than any other ship. On her maiden voyage, in 1870, she set sail from London, carrying large amounts of goods to China. She returned laden with tea, making the journey back to London in four months. However, Cutty Sark never lived up to the high expectations of her owner, as a result of bad winds and various misfortunes. On one occasion, in 1872, the ship and a rival clipper, Thermopylae, left port in China on the same day. Crossing the Indian Ocean, Cutty Sark gained a lead of over 400 miles, but then her rudder was severely damaged in stormy seas, making her impossible to steer. The ship’s crew had the daunting task of repairing the rudder at sea and only succeeded at the second attempt. Cutty Sark reached London a week after Thermopylae.

6. Steamships posed a growing threat to clippers, as their speed and cargo capacity increased. In addition, the opening of the Suez Canal in 1869, the same year that Cutty Sark was launched, had a serious impact. While steam ships could make use of the quick, direct route between the Mediterranean and the Red Sea, the canal was of no use to sailing ships, which needed the much stronger winds of the oceans, and so had to sail a far greater distance. Steamships reduced the journey time between Britain and China by approximately two months.

7. By 1878, tea traders weren’t interested in Cutty Sark, and instead, she took on the much less prestigious work of carrying any cargo between any two ports in the world. In 1880, violence aboard the ship led ultimately to the replacement of the captain with an incompetent drunkard who stole the crew’s wages. He was suspended from service, and a new captain was appointed. This marked a turnaround and the beginning of the most successful period in Cutty Sark’s working life, transporting wool from Australia to Britain. One such journey took just under 12 weeks, beating every other ship sailing that year by around a month.

8. The ship’s next captain, Richard Woodget, was an excellent navigator, who got the best out of both his ship and his crew. As a sailing ship, Cutty Sark depended on the strong trade winds of the southern hemisphere, and Woodget took her further south than any previous captain, bringing her dangerously close to icebergs off the southern tip of South America. His gamble paid off, though, and the ship was the fastest vessel in the wool trade for ten years.

9. As competition from steamships increased in the 1890s, and Cutty Sark approached the end of her life expectancy, she became less profitable. She was sold to a Portuguese firm, which renamed her Ferreira. For the next 25 years, she again carried miscellaneous cargoes around the world.

10. Badly damaged in a gale in 1922, she was put into Falmouth harbour in southwest England, for repairs. Wilfred Dowman, a retired sea captain who owned a training vessel, recognized her and tried to buy her, but without success. She returned to Portugal and was sold to another Portuguese company. Dowman was determined, however, and offered a high price: this was accepted, and the ship returned to Falmouth the following year and had her original name restored.

11. Dowman used Cutty Sark as a training ship, and she continued in this role after his death. When she was no longer required, in 1954, she was transferred to a dry dock at Greenwich to go on public display. The ship suffered from fire in 2007, and again, less seriously, in 2014, but now Cutty Sark attracts a quarter of a million visitors a year.

Cutty Sark Reading Answers Sample Questions 

Questions 1-8

Do the following statements agree with the information given in Reading Passage 1?

In boxes 1-8 on your answer sheet, write
TRUE if the statement agrees with the information
FALSE if the statement contradicts the information
NOT GIVEN if there is no information

1. Cutty Sark was the fastest sailing vessel for the entire 19th century.

2. The name "Cutty Sark" is a reference to a Scottish legend.

3. Cutty Sark was the first clipper ship to be built by Scott & Linton.

4. John Willis wanted Cutty Sark to complete the tea journey more quickly than any other ship.

5. Cutty Sark had a successful maiden voyage in 1870 without any difficulties.

6. Steamships were a major competitor for Cutty Sark after the Suez Canal opened.

7. By the late 1870s, Cutty Sark was primarily carrying wool from Australia to Britain.

8. Cutty Sark remained in commercial service until the 1920s, mostly carrying tea.

Questions 9-13

Complete the sentences below.

Choose ONE WORD ONLY from the passage for each answer.
Write your answers in boxes 9-13 on your answer sheet.

9. Cutty Sark was built in __________, Scotland.

10. Cutty Sark was designed to make the journey from China to Britain more __________.

11. The ship’s figurehead depicts a woman wearing a __________.

12. The captain of Cutty Sark who took risks and sailed close to icebergs was named __________.

13. Cutty Sark was primarily used as a __________ ship after being sold to a Portuguese company in the 1890s.

Cutty Sark Reading Answers with Explanations 

1. Cutty Sark was the fastest sailing vessel for the entire 19th century.

• Answer: FALSE

• Location: "The fastest commercial sailing vessels of all time were clippers, three-masted ships built to transport goods around the world... Cutty Sark never lived up to the high expectations of her owner..."

• Explanation: Cutty Sark was one of the fastest, but she did not live up to expectations on multiple occasions and wasn't consistently the fastest throughout the 19th century.

2. The name "Cutty Sark" is a reference to a Scottish legend.

• Answer: TRUE

• Location: "Cutty Sark’s unusual name comes from the poem Tam O’Shanter by the Scottish poet Robert Burns."

• Explanation: The name "Cutty Sark" directly refers to the poem by Robert Burns, which is part of Scottish legend.

3. Cutty Sark was the first clipper ship to be built by Scott & Linton.

• Answer: NOT GIVEN

• Location: "Willis’s company was active in the tea trade between China and Britain... to carry out construction, Willis chose a new shipbuilding firm, Scott & Linton..."

• Explanation: The passage does not state whether Cutty Sark was the first clipper ship built by Scott & Linton.

4. John Willis wanted Cutty Sark to complete the tea journey more quickly than any other ship.

• Answer: TRUE

• Location: "Willis’s company was active in the tea trade between China and Britain, where speed could bring shipowners both profits and prestige, so Cutty Sark was designed to make the journey more quickly than any other ship."

• Explanation: The passage clearly states that John Willis wanted the ship to be faster than others in completing the tea trade.

5. Cutty Sark had a successful maiden voyage in 1870 without any difficulties.

• Answer: FALSE

• Location: "On her maiden voyage, in 1870, she set sail from London, carrying large amounts of goods to China. She returned laden with tea, making the journey back to London in four months. However, Cutty Sark never lived up to the high expectations of her owner, as a result of bad winds and various misfortunes."

• Explanation: The maiden voyage faced difficulties due to bad winds and misfortunes.

6. Steamships were a major competitor for Cutty Sark after the Suez Canal opened.

• Answer: TRUE

• Location: "Steamships posed a growing threat to clippers, as their speed and cargo capacity increased. In addition, the opening of the Suez Canal in 1869, the same year that Cutty Sark was launched, had a serious impact."

• Explanation: The passage mentions the growing threat of steamships, especially after the opening of the Suez Canal.

7. By the late 1870s, Cutty Sark was primarily carrying wool from Australia to Britain.

• Answer: TRUE

• Location: "By 1878, tea traders weren’t interested in Cutty Sark, and instead, she took on the much less prestigious work of carrying any cargo between any two ports in the world. ...she was transporting wool from Australia to Britain."

• Explanation: The passage states that by 1878, the ship began carrying wool instead of tea.

8. Cutty Sark remained in commercial service until the 1920s, mostly carrying tea.

• Answer: FALSE

• Location: "For the next 25 years, she again carried miscellaneous cargoes around the world."

• Explanation: The ship carried miscellaneous cargoes after being sold, not tea.

9. Cutty Sark was built in __________, Scotland.

• Answer: Dumbarton

• Location: "Cutty Sark was built in Dumbarton, Scotland, in 1869..."

• Explanation: The passage specifically states that Cutty Sark was built in Dumbarton, Scotland.

10. Cutty Sark was designed to make the journey from China to Britain more __________.

• Answer: quickly

• Location: "...so Cutty Sark was designed to make the journey more quickly than any other ship."

• Explanation: The passage highlights that the ship was built to make the journey faster.

11. The ship’s figurehead depicts a woman wearing a __________.

• Answer: Cutty sark

• Location: "...the witch is depicted in Cutty Sark’s figurehead – the carving of a woman typically at the front of old sailing ships."

• Explanation: The figurehead represents the witch from the poem, wearing a "cutty sark" (a short nightdress).

12. The captain of Cutty Sark who took risks and sailed close to icebergs was named __________.

• Answer: Richard Woodget

• Location: "The ship’s next captain, Richard Woodget, was an excellent navigator, who got the best out of both his ship and his crew."

• Explanation: Richard Woodget is described as the captain who took risks by sailing close to icebergs.

13. Cutty Sark was primarily used as a __________ ship after being sold to a Portuguese company in the 1890s.

• Answer: cargo

• Location: "For the next 25 years, she again carried miscellaneous cargoes around the world."

• Explanation: After being sold to a Portuguese firm, the ship carried cargo rather than specializing in a specific trade like tea or wool.

Also Read:

• Should You Use All Capital Letters in the IELTS Listening and Reading Tests
• IELTS Reading Mistakes
• How to Improve IELTS Reading Score
• How to Manage Time in IELTS Reading

Guidance of PW IELTS

Physics Wallah offers multiple online IELTS courses for all students. Follow the IELTS pages to better prepare for the exam.