THE world's only surviving tea clipper, The Cutty Sark, has been severely damaged by fire.

Police are treating the blaze on board the 19th century vessel as suspicious after the fire broke out in the early hours of this morning.

The blaze damaged the entire ship but police are waiting for investigators to inspect the wreckage before they could make any judgment on the cause.

Residents in Greenwich, south east London, where the ship is kept in a dry dock, were evacuated and police installed a 200-yard cordon around the ship after they were alerted to the blaze at around 4.45am.

The ship has been closed for a £25 million renovation and the Cutty Sark Trust said that half of the planking had already been removed, along with all historic artefacts on board, for conservation work.

It has been closed since November and was due to reopen in 2009 after substantial repairs because sea salt had speeded up the corrosion of her iron framework.