During the London Olympics, the CuttySark, one of the best known and only surviving tea clippers in existence, was opened for public viewing at the National Maritime Museum after a lengthy restoration.
The ship's future owner, John Willis, walking into one of the art galleries, saw a painting depicting a young witch in a short nightgown flying over the marshes for a coven. When the captain was deciding how to name the ship, he first wanted to give it the name of a witch. But sailors are a superstitious people (especially in the XIX century), and on a ship named after a witch, it would be impossible to recruit a crew. That's when Willis had the idea of a name that would both not annoy the superstitious and still fit his wish. Besides, the bow figure of the clipper represented this witch.
According to another version, the captain had intended to name the clipper "Sea Witch", but it turned out that another ship was already registered under that name. So he chose Cutty-sark, the nickname of the young witch, the heroine of Robert Burns' poem Tam O'Shanter.
