Hercules Linton is best known as the designer of Cutty Sark, once one of the fastest merchant sailing vessels in the world. During its lifetime, Cutty Sark was famous for its speed, innovative design and complex construction. Now located in Greenwich and open to the public, it is one of the most popular visitor attractions in London.
Linton was born in Inverbervie on the east coast of Scotland on 1 January 1837. At the age of nineteen, he became an apprentice with the Aberdeen clipper-building firm of Alexander Hall & Sons before joining Liverpool Underwriters and qualifying as a marine architect and surveyor. Linton worked for various firms in Aberdeen, Dundee and Glasgow, before partnering with William Dundas Scott to launch the shipbuilding firm, Scott & Linton, in 1868. The firm built nine ships in their Glasgow shipyard. Cutty Sark was the last: delays caused mounting costs and the firm ran out of money. Cutty Sark eventually launched on 22 November 1869, six months behind schedule. With its bow modelled on an East India Company naval vessel and its stern squared off to improve buoyancy, Cutty Sark was built for speed. Named after the short shirt worn by the witch in Robert Burns' 1791 poem ‘Tam o' Shanter’, the clipper was used to transport tea and wool before such boats were superseded by the rise of steamships.
Linton went on to work for several other shipbuilding companies before returning to Inverbervie in the 1890s and moving into local politics. He was elected to the town council in 1895.
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