Nannie the Witch (Cutty Sark's Figurehead)

Part of the Spotlight series, exploring key objects in the collection of Royal Museums Greenwich

One of the most recognisable figureheads in the National Maritime Museum’s world-leading collection is Nannie the witch, who leans with outstretched arm from the bow of Cutty Sark towards the River Thames. Nannie, who has provided protection to the ship in at least three different forms over the course of its history, is at the centre of this book. Traditionally, figures mounted at the heads of vessels provided protection and displayed speed and ferocity. Later, they came to symbolise a vessel’s - and nation’s - wealth and power, but the sense of a talismanic force guiding a ship and its crew through dangerous seas endured. In this light, the decision of John Willis, Cutty Sark’s owner, to name his vessel after a figure who is unable to cross running water from Robert Burns’s poem ‘Tam O Shanter’ is perplexing. Cutty Sark experts Louise Macfarlane and Claire Denham explore the history of the figurehead, including its original design by Hercules Linton and construction by carver Frederick Hellyer. Using drawings and archival photographs, they show how the figure morphed into the version at the ship’s bow today. With a contribution from master carver Andy Peters, responsible for the Nannie that was installed in 2021, the book documents the process of creating a figurehead and considers the art of figurehead carving as an endangered skill.