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Conservation experts pledged today that the Cutty Sark will rise from the ashes of this morning's catastrophic fire that engulfed the 19th century tea clipper.

Up to 80 per cent of the vessel, one of Britain’s best-preserved maritime treasures, was damaged in the blaze, which police are treating as suspicious.

Fortunately, half of the timbers and the artefacts kept on board had been removed from the site as part of a three-year conservation project which began last November.

The skeleton of the vessel has been substantially damaged, but this afternoon Richard Doughty, the chief executive of the Cutty Sark Trust, said that he had now been able to inspect the ship and that he saw no sign of significant buckling in the unique vessel's wrought iron frame.

"We have lost a lot of fabric from the decks, but planks from the hull are very substantial and much of it seems to have suffered just surface burning," said Mr Doughty.

"Buckling of the hull remains a big fear, but until we do the measurements we are not going to know. With my naked eye, as far as I have been able to see, the structure of the ship seems to be intact."

It emerged that prompt action by firefighters saved the ship's ornate figurehead, which was on display inside the exhibition centre next to the ship. The fire crews directed their jets of water to save the white, tented structure from going up in smoke.

Firefighters were called to the historic ship, preserved in dry dock in Greenwich, south-east London, at 4.45am when the ship's security guard and 15 members of the public all placed emergency calls.

The fire is believed to have begun at the centre of the bottom deck and, at the peak of the blaze, the flames stood 6ft above the top deck, according to Cyril O’Brien, the borough fire commander who was in charge at the scene of the blaze.

Police believe the fire may have begun in suspicious circumstances. They are appealing for witnesses who saw people near the ship early this morning, and a silver car that was reported driving away from the scene.

The Duke of Edinburgh - who co-founded the Cutty Sark Society in 1951 to save the historic vessel when it was in danger of rotting away, and is president of the Cutty Sark Trust - is due to visit Greenwich tomorrow with the Queen. It is not known if they will extend their stay to see what has happened to the ship.

Inspector Bruce Middlemiss, from Greenwich Borough police, said: "We are treating the fire as suspicious as we would any fire of this scale and importance. There are indications from local borough CCTV that there were people in the area at the time that this fire started. There’s no indication at this stage that these people were involved, they may merely be witnesses."

A 200-metre cordon was placed around the ship on the banks of the Thames, and Scotland Yard confirmed that nobody was injured. The security guard has been interviewed and CCTV footage from nearby cameras has been taken for analysis.

Chris Livett, the chairman of Cutty Sark Enterprises, the fundraising arm of the Cutty Sark Trust which is running the conservation work, said that the ship would be restored to better than her condition before the fire.

“We are absolutely devoted to the ship and will be progressing with her conservation," said Mr Livett. “We are determined to put it back together.”

He confirmed that some of the most important parts of the ship, including the masts, the jolly boat, half the planking and artefacts including paintings of the ship, were all safely in storage because of the renovation work.

Mr Livett defended the security measures in place to protect the ship, saying that a 10ft hoarding had been erected around the site and a security guard was on patrol.

The ship was insured, but Mr Livett said that the existing £7m gap in funding for the £25m conservation project would have widened substantially as a result of the fire. He appealed for donations via the ship's website, www.cuttysark.org.uk.

This morning workmen carried out urgent repairs on the shoring timbers which hold the ship upright in dry dock, to allow fire investigators and conservation experts on board.

By 6.20am the blaze was declared under control, and by 8am it was out, but throughout the morning fire officers were still directing cooling sprays into the smoking ruins. Little could be seen of the ship itself except the white bowsprit still sticking out towards the river - the woodwork around it was a blackened mess.

The building erected around the ship while conservation work went on was gutted, with nothing left but a skeleton of blackened iron girders. Yards away, however, the white-tented entrance building remained untouched except for a light dusting of ash.

The stink of burning hung around the scene despite a breeze. Helicopters hovered overhead as police maintained the barriers sealing off Greenwich town centre.

Mr Doughty said that the distinctive tang of timber and ropes familiar to all visitors to the vessel had been destroyed. "She was the Ferrari of her day because she was the epitome of speed under sail. When you lose the original fabric, you lose the touch of the craftsmen. You lose history itself."

Asked if the fire could have been started deliberately Mr Doughty said that he did not believe that it had been caused by the conservation work, which had stopped as usual on Friday afternoon, leaving the ship empty over the weekend.

"I find it hard to believe that anything we’ve done could have set the ship alight," he said. "There isn’t anything electrical at the heart of where the fire started, which was pretty much in the middle at the bottom. I can’t think of anything there apart from wood and metal."

The fire caused transport chaos, with all eastbound road traffic barred from the town centre and only a trickle of vehicles allowed through in the direction of London. Buses were being diverted. Cutty Sark station was briefly closed, but soon reopened and the Docklands Light Railway was said to be running as normal. Greenwich Foot Tunnel, also shut earlier, also reopened.

The fire brigade was initially unable to tackle the fire fully after finding gas cylinders and chemicals used in the conservation work stored near the ship, and fearing that some might have been left on board over the weekend. Residents in nearby buildings were evacuated because of fears of an explosion.

Ian Allchin, a press officer with London Fire Brigade, told Times Online that the firefighters' efforts were hampered. "Initially, we were in defensive mode, with crews standing well back from the flames," he said. "We were able to confirm within about 45 minutes that there were no hazards on board, and began to fight the fire aggressively."

Buckingham Palace issued a statement on behalf of the Duke of Edinburgh: "The Duke was sorry to hear of the fire, this sad setback to an important example of our national maritime heritage.

"The Duke takes a close interest in historic ships and their preservation for future generations and as president of the Cutty Sark Trust since 2000 he has been working closely with them in support of their fundraising."

The 280ft ship has been closed since November 2006 and was due to reopen in 2009. It needed substantial repairs because sea salt had speeded up the corrosion of her iron framework.

The Cutty Sark is the last remaining tea-clipper, one of hundreds of ships that would sail to China carrying manufactured goods and return to the UK laden with tea from Shanghai.

First launched in 1869, the Cutty Sark was built for Jock Willis, known as 'White Hat Willis' for his trademark white top hat. He named the ship after the Scots phrase for a short petticoat, worn by a fleet-footed witch in Robert Burns' poem Tam O'Shanter.

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