Condensed history

1864 - 1886

Between 1864 and 1886, the City of Adelaide made 23 voyages to South Australia carrying passengers on her southern leg and cargo and the odd passenger on the homeward journey.

1887 - 1889

During 1887, she spent some time laid up and worked for a while as a collier between Tyne and Dover in England

1889

She was sold to T. Dixon and Son, of Belfast, Ireland who re-rigged her as a barque and set her to work on the North Atlantic Timber Trade runs, under the command of Captain J. McMurtry.

1893

The Southampton Corporation purchased her for £1,750 and converted her into a hospital isolation ship on the River Test, off Millbrook

1923

She was sold again to the British Admiralty for £2,500 and re-named HMS Carrick. They moved her to the Firth of Clyde and converted her into a training ship for the Clyde division of the Royal Navy Volunteer Reserve.

1949

Still later, she was moved to Greenock and commissioned as a Navy Drill Ship. When they deemed her past her usefulness in this situation, the Admiralty presented her to the R.N.V.R. Club of Scotland, who used her as a meeting room/club rooms for some time.

1990

After nearly 70 years in the employ of the Admiralty and various spin-offs thereof, she was sold by the R.N.V.R. Club to the Clyde Ship Trust for £1. At this time, she was still at Glasgow Customs House Quay.

1992

She was identified as part of the National [U.K.] Historic Ships Core Collection and was given an 'A' class heritage listing. At that time, she was the only 19th century sailing ship which was still capable to floating. The 'City' is the only sailing ship on the core list.

She then became the property of the Scottish National Maritime Museum, after the Clyde Ship Trust was dissolved. They undertook to make restorations to the City of Adelaide, and moved her to her present location, which is a slipway at Irvine, Scotland. Over the next few years, some restoration work was carried out. But now there is a desperate fight to save her from destruction because of the lack of funds to maintain the restoration program.

1999

The cost of repairing the ship, the on-going cost of site rental and other overheads have forced the Scottish Maritime Museum to justify the costs and as a result an appeal to raise funds was started in Scotland.

2000

In an attempt to raise funds, the Scottish Maritime Museum offered the City of Adelaide for sale to various historical shipping organisations and museums throughout the world, without a single offer being received.

On 24 May, the Trustees of the Scottish Maritime Museum applied to the North Ayrshire Council to have her 'A' class heritage listing removed to allow them to demolish her.

A hearing to determine whether this will be granted was to be heard on 23 August in Glasgow. If the SMM was successful in this bid, then the oldest remaining composite clipper ship of th two that survive in the world would cease to exist.

A support group was set up in Adelaide with a view to obtaining the ship and returning it to South Australia for restoration. This group includes the great-granddaughter of the first master, the great-grandson of an 1874 passenger, and others who ardently believe that this part of our heritage should be preserved at all cost.

References

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