City of Adelaide | History

The City of Adelaide is not only the state capital of South Australia, but also one of the oldest surviving clipper ships in the world.

"As the only surviving sailing ship built to give regular passenger and cargo service between Europe and Australia, she represents a whole foundation era of Australian social and economic history. It is difficult to imagine a more vital icon of the making of modern Australia and of the relationship between Britain and the Australian colonies."

The City of Adelaide (1864) and Cutty Sark (1869) are the last two composite clippers surviving in the world today. The Cutty Sark is famous for carrying tea from China and wool from Sydney, Australia, to Britain. The City of Adelaide is famous for being specially designed as a passenger ship. Over a quarter of a century the City of Adelaide carried English, Scottish, Cornish, German, Danish, Irish and other migrants to South Australia. Today, the descendants of her passengers can be found throughout Australia.

The City of Adelaide also imported trade goods into South Australia as well as carry South Australian exports such as copper, wool and wheat to Britain on the return voyages.

We plan to bring the City of Adelaide back to South Australia and display her as part of a heritage, sense of place, sense of time, experiential, and not-for-profit Seaport Village in Port Adelaide.

All members of the Clipper Ship City of Adelaide Limited are 100% volunteers and do not receive any remuneration in any way, in any form, at any time. They are dedicated community members who donate their own time, own materials and own money to support the clipper. Thus 100% of your support will go directly towards the efforts to save the historic clipper ship City of Adelaide.

City of Adelaide

In its heyday, the City of Adelaide carried immigrants from Scotland to Australia, and an estimated 250,000 people can trace their origins to its passengers.

For years, the City of Adelaide has lain rotting on a slipway in Irvine, Scotland. But now, nearly 150 years after the ship was built, preparations are under way for one last voyage - to Australia, where the vessel is to become a tourist attraction in Adelaide.

According to the UKs National Historic Ships Committee , the 53-metre passenger and cargo ship is one of the most important in British maritime history, the last survivor of the timber trade between North America and Britain.

Despite its early splendour and pedigree, the future had looked bleak for the City of Adelaide after it sank in the River Clyde.

It became a political issue, with various parties laying claim to ownership untila bid from Australia secured its future.

The ship was built in 1864 in Sunderland, England, and launched on May 7 that year. It spent 23 years making 16,000-kilometre trips to and from Australia, and played a fundamental role in the development of the young nation.

In 1893, the City of Adelaide was converted toa hospital ship at Southampton on Englands south coast, and after being commissioned into the Royal Navy in 1924 was converted to a training ship at Irvine and renamed HMS Carrick.

The ship was moored at Greenock, on the River Clyde, until 1950 and later in Glasgow, where it was used asa clubhouse for the Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve.

It becamea landmark on the Clyde before it sank in 1991. After a year under water, it was raised by the Scottish Maritime Museum and later moved to its site in Irvine, Ayrshire. The Carrick was repaired and opened to the public in 1995 but there were problems with funding and the museum applied for consent to dismantle the vessel, which has listed-building status, in May 2000.

Experts said the amount of restoration required was so extensive it would be akin to building a new ship.

They suggested breaking it up, but the proposal provoked a fierce campaign to save the ship.

In 2010, the Scottish government announced that the vessel - once more named the City of Adelaide - would not be dismantled , and that the South Australian capital had been identified as a preferred bidder.

Engineers in Australia constructeda special 100-tonne cradle, costing $1 million, which has now arrived in Irvine. Once assembled and checked, the hull of the ship will be jacked up to allow the cradle to slide underneath.

The clipper will be transported to Australia ona lift ship to become the centrepiece of a maritime heritage display in Port Adelaide. GUARDIAN