Cambridge IELTS 13 · Academic · Test 4 · Passage 1
Cutty Sark: The Fastest Sailing Ship Of All Time — IELTS Reading Answers
All 13 answers for Cutty Sark: The Fastest Sailing Ship Of All Time, Cambridge IELTS 13 Academic Reading Test 4 Passage 1, with the passage evidence and an explanation for each.
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Cutty Sark: The Fastest Sailing Ship Of All Time answer key at a glance
Questions 1–13. Tap an answer to see the evidence.
What this passage tests
This passage is tested with True / False / Not Given (Q1–8), Sentence Completion (Q9–13). Each section below gives the strategy for that question type, the answers, and the sentence that proves them.
Questions 1–8: True / False / Not Given
Strategy: Judge the whole statement against the text. FALSE contradicts the passage; NOT GIVEN means the passage never addresses that specific claim.
Clippers were originally intended to be used as passenger ships.
“The fastest commercial sailing vessels of all time were clippers, three-masted ships built to transport goods around the world, although some also took passengers”
FALSE: clippers were 'built to transport goods around the world, although some also took passengers', so passengers were secondary, not the original purpose.
Cutty Sark was given the name of a character in a poem.
“Cutty Sark’s unusual name comes from the poem Tam O’Shanter by the Scottish poet Robert Burns. Tam, a farmer, is chased by a witch called Nannie, who is wearing a ‘cutty sark’ – an old Scottish name for a short nightdress.”
FALSE: the name comes from a witch's 'cutty sark' — an old Scottish term for a short nightdress — not from a character's name.
The contract between John Willis and Scott & Linton favoured Willis.
“To carry out construction, Willis chose a new shipbuilding firm, Scott & Linton, and ensured that the contract with them put him in a very strong position. In the end, the firm was forced out of business, and the ship was finished by a competitor.”
TRUE: Willis 'ensured that the contract with them put him in a very strong position', and the firm was eventually forced out of business.
John Willis wanted Cutty Sark to be the fastest tea clipper travelling between the UK and China.
“Willis’s company was active in the tea trade between China and Britain, where speed could bring shipowners both profits and prestige, so Cutty Sark was designed to make the journey more quickly than any other ship”
TRUE: Cutty Sark 'was designed to make the journey more quickly than any other ship' in the China-Britain tea trade.
Despite storm damage, Cutty Sark beat Thermopylae back to London.
“Cutty Sark reached London a week after Thermopylae”
FALSE: the text says 'Cutty Sark reached London a week after Thermopylae', so despite the storm damage she lost the race.
The opening of the Suez Canal meant that steam ships could travel between Britain and China faster than clippers.
“Steam ships reduced the journey time between Britain and China by approximately two months”
TRUE: steam ships using the Suez route 'reduced the journey time between Britain and China by approximately two months', making them faster.
Steam ships sometimes used the ocean route to travel between London and China.
“steam ships could make use of the quick, direct route between the Mediterranean and the Red Sea”
NOT GIVEN: the passage mentions steam ships using the Mediterranean-Red Sea route, but never says they sometimes took the ocean route.
Captain Woodget put Cutty Sark at risk of hitting an iceberg.
“As a sailing ship, Cutty Sark depended on the strong trade winds of the southern hemisphere, and Woodget took her further south than any previous captain, bringing her dangerously close to icebergs off the southern tip of South America”
TRUE: Woodget took her 'further south than any previous captain, bringing her dangerously close to icebergs' — a real risk of collision.
Questions 9–13: Sentence Completion
Strategy: Find the stem's keyword in the passage, then complete the sentence with the exact words the grammar requires, within the word limit.
“This marked a turnaround and the beginning of the most successful period in Cutty Sark’s working life, transporting wool from Australia to Britain”
The successful period involved 'transporting wool from Australia to Britain', so wool is the cargo the sentence needs.
“The ship’s next captain, Richard Woodget, was an excellent navigator, who got the best out of both his ship and his crew”
Woodget is described as 'an excellent navigator, who got the best out of both his ship and his crew'.
“Badly damaged in a gale in 1922, she was put into Falmouth harbor in southwest England, for repairs”
She was 'badly damaged in a gale in 1922' and put into Falmouth for repairs, so gale caused the damage.
“Dowman used Cutty Sark as a training ship, and she continued in this role after his death”
Dowman 'used Cutty Sark as a training ship', the role the sentence describes.
“The ship suffered from fire in 2007”
The sentence needs the disaster of 2007; the text states 'The ship suffered from fire in 2007'.
Learn the question types in this passage
Frequently asked questions
Where does the Cutty Sark: The Fastest Sailing Ship Of All Time passage come from?
It is Passage 1 of Cambridge IELTS 13 Academic Reading Test 4, and it covers Questions 1–13.
What question types appear in Cutty Sark: The Fastest Sailing Ship Of All Time?
The passage is tested with True / False / Not Given, Sentence Completion. Each type is explained on this page, alongside the answers.
Are these reading answers reliable?
Every answer is paired with the sentence that proves it, so you can check each one against the passage yourself. Use the page after a timed attempt, not instead of one.
Cambridge IELTS is published by Cambridge University Press & Assessment. Band9Prep is not affiliated with Cambridge. This page is an independent study aid: it gives the answer key, the passage evidence and an explanation so you can review an attempt you have already made.