The Cutty Sark - the world's only surviving tea clipper - went up in flames this morning at its dock in Greenwich. Eight fire engines were needed to control the fire, and residents of the local area had to be evacuated from their homes.
The blaze has inevitably left its mark, although the Cutty Sark Trust say the damage isn't as bad as they first feared.
Half of the ship's original planking had fortunately been removed before the fire broke out, as part of a £25 million restoration project, and so it wasn't at the scene of the blaze. The remaining planking is charred in places, but by no means destroyed.
Any enduring damage would be "irreplaceable", according to Richard Doughty, chief executive of the Cutty Sark Trust. After all, the Cutty Sark has great historical significance - she was one of the last ships built to transport tea from China to Britain in the 1870s, and one of the fastest. She now attracts over 15 million tourists a year.
Peter Van der Merwe, of the National Maritime Museum in Greenwich, said of the Cutty Sark:
"It's the first merchant ship which was deliberately saved for preservation to represent ... the fast sailing ships of the nineteenth century. It is also constructionally very important. It's a composite ship built of teak on an iron frame and it was in its time an extraordinary, famous ship."
Police fear the damage may have been deliberate. Local borough CCTV footage shows the presence of people around the area just before the fire broke out, and detectives are seeking to interview them as potential witnesses.
In the meantime, the Cutty Sark restoration project, begun at the end of last year, has become a more daunting task than ever.
More news and images at BBC News, including a summary of the ship's history.
Photos thanks to BBC News.
