Fire causes heavy damage to historic British clipper ship Cutty Sark

A fire caused heavy damage to the clipper ship Cutty Sark on Monday, leaving one of London's proudest maritime relics a blackened hulk.

Firefighters responded to an alarm at 4:45 a.m. at the ship's dry dock. The fire was out by 7 a.m., and the cause was under investigation.

"We are treating this as a suspicious incident," said police Inspector Bruce Middlemiss, who added that a number of people were known to be in the area at the time the fire started.

Chris Levett, the chairman of Cutty Sark Enterprises, said half of the ship's planking and many historic artifacts had been taken away during restoration work. He expressed confidence that the vessel could be restored.