City of Adelaide, later known as HMS Carrick, and now officially SV Carrick, is the oldest surviving clipper ship in the world, and one of only a few to exist. Like the Cutty Sark and the Ambassador (built 1869 in Rotherhithe but now a wreck on San Gregorio beach North of Punta Arenas in Chile) she is of composite construction with timber planking on a wrought iron frame; the method provides the structural strength of an iron ship combined with the insulation of a timber hull.
Composite ships were built for a relatively short period from circa 1860 - 1880; they were some of the fastest ships afloat as unlike iron ships they could have their bottoms coppered to prevent fouling while their iron frames enabled them to carry large rigs. Unfortunately they were not built for longevity and the combinationof timber planks fixed to iron frames, usually with bronze bolts, resulted in accelerated corrosion of the iron.
Although listed by the National Historic Ships as part of the "Core Collection" of ships of the United Kingdom, as of 2006 she is a decrepit hulk in the possession of the Scottish Maritime Museum, and was due to be scrapped, but may be saved and brought to Falmouth, Cornwall as a tourist attraction.Шаблон:Fact
She was built by William Pile, Hay, and Company of Sunderland, and launched in 1864. A composite hull vessel like the Cutty Sark built several years later, City of Adelaide was designed to carry both passengers and cargo between England and Australia. She included first-class and second-class passenger quarters, and the hold could be filled with emigrants if desired.
The ship spent many years making annual runs to and from South Australia, playing an important role in the development of the colony; researchers have estimated that 60% of South Australians can trace their origins to passengers on City of Adelaide. On August 24, 1874, she was stranded on the Henley Beach, six miles south of the Semaphore opposite Adelaide. Refloated on September 4 after some of the cargo had been discharged. In 1887 the aged ship was sold for use in bulk cargo transport, first carrying coal from Tyne to Dover, and then carrying timber in the North Atlantic.
Her sailing days ended in 1893, when she was bought to serve as a floating hospital in Southampton. From 1923 she was brought into the Royal Navy as HMS Carrick and used as a Royal Naval Reserve drill ship at Greenock. Moved to Glasgow in 1956, she was used by the local RNVR club.
By 1990 the hull had seriously deteriorated, and Carrick actually sank at her mooring in the River Clyde, in central Glasgow. The Scottish Maritime Museum salvaged the remains and moved them to Irvine, North Ayrshire, with the expectation to preserve them and eventually restore the vessel.
After using up its initial grant, the museum had no further funding and by 2001 had applied to the local council to demolish the ship so to make the maintenance expenses available for other projects. This plan was rejected, and at a conference later that year various organisations offered to support restoration, but no funds materialised until 2003 when businessman Mike Edwards donated funds for preservation and a feasibility study for the ship's restoration. It was hoped that the vessel could be returned home for permanent exhibition in Sunderland, but in February 2006 it was announced that as the hull was in worse condition than anticipated, an application would be put forward for recorded deconstruction.
in Irvine. August 2007.The proposals for demolition were due to be discussed at the end of May 2007, but plans may be put on hold due to the fire on the Cutty Sark.
In February 2008 Sunderland City of Adelaide Recovery Foundation (SCARF) announced that the National Historic Ships had agreed to fund a feasibiliy study into returning the City of Adelaide to Sunderland.
The group plans to initially keep the Adelaide in storage on private land in the City whilst working on plans to develop Maritime Museum around a restored City of Adelaide. www.cityofadelaide1864.co.uk
