page_title: City of Adelaide (1864)
section_title: Rescue proposals
hierarchical_section_title: City of Adelaide (1864) / Rescue and transport to Australia / Rescue proposals
caption_attribution_description: The City of Adelaide, the world's oldest surviving clipper ship, seen in May 2009 at the Scottish Maritime Museum in Irvine, North Ayrshire. Original Flickr description:City of Adelaide (SV Carrick) at Irvine. Sad to see this once magnificent sailing ship slowly falling apart. See Wikipedia info&#160;: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SV_Carrick
context_page_description: City of Adelaide is a clipper ship, built in Sunderland, England, and launched on 7 May 1864. It was built by William Pile, Hay and Co. for transporting passengers and goods between Britain and Australia. Between 1864 and 1887, the ship made 23 annual return voyages from London and Plymouth to Adelaide, South Australia and played an important part in the immigration of Australia. On the return voyages she carried passengers, wool, and copper from Adelaide and Port Augusta to London. From 1869 to 1885 she was part of Harrold Brothers' "Adelaide Line" of clippers.
  After 1887, the ship carried coal around the British coast, and timber across the Atlantic. In 1893, she became a floating hospital in Southampton, and in 1923 was purchased by the Royal Navy. The ship was commissioned in the Royal Navy as HMS Carrick, and based in Scotland as a training ship. In 1948, she was decommissioned and donated to the Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve Club, and towed into central Glasgow for use as the club's headquarters and remained on the River Clyde until 1989 when she was damaged by flooding.
context_section_description: The North Ayrshire Council decision prompted the South Australian organization Save the City of Adelaide 1864 Action Group to reform after being in hiatus since the 2003 Edwards proposal. Upon the subsequent news of Cutty Sark fire, the Group's Peter Roberts and Peter Christopher highlighted that the fire made it critical to save City of Adelaide.
  A group from Sunderland subsequently renewed calls to save the ship. The Sunderland City of Adelaide Recovery Foundation (SCARF) proposed to remove the vessel and store her on private land whilst working on plans to develop a maritime museum around the restored City of Adelaide. The Scottish Maritime Museum stated that SCARF were welcome to take the ship should they have the money to save her.
  The Save the City of Adelaide 1864 Action Group became formally constituted as Clipper Ship "City of Adelaide" Ltd (CSCOAL). The CSCOAL plan was to transport City of Adelaide to Port Adelaide in South Australia in time for the state's 175th Jubilee in 2011. In March 2009 CSCOAL launched an e-petition on the 10 Downing Street website, calling on the British Prime Minister to intervene to save City of Adelaide and gift the ship "to the people of South Australia". Federal and state e-petitions were also launched in Australia. The former was later featured in an exhibition of "Living Democracy" at the Museum of Australian Democracy, Canberra. In November 2009 an open letter, signed by 66 eminent Australians, was sent to the British Prime Minister and the First Minister of Scotland, urging them to prevent the demolition of City of Adelaide. Led by the Governor of South Australia, Rear Admiral Kevin Scarce, other notable signatories included the current and four former Lord Mayors of Adelaide; former Australian Prime Minister Bob Hawke, national and state politicians including Senator Simon Birmingham (who was to figure prominently in the clipper's rescue later), Alexander Downer, Robert Hill, and John Bannon; senior Australian Navy officers; academics; business figures and Australian Living Treasures Dr Basil Hetzel, Jack Mundey and Julian Burnside.
  Meanwhile, SCARF member and Sunderland councillor Peter Maddison sought to raise awareness through a four-day 'occupation' of the vessel in October.
  The Scottish Maritime Museum called for tenders for the demolition or deconstruction of City of Adelaide, which closed on 23 November 2009. Deconstruction of the vessel would involve scientific recording and potential preservation of sections of the ship. CSCOAL submitted a tender, though unlike the other tenders its proposal involved removing the ship as a whole rather than in pieces.
  The Scottish Maritime Museum found itself in a Catch-22 position: the punitive charges arising from their failure to vacate the slipway were now sufficient to bankrupt the museum, but they did not have sufficient funds to scientifically deconstruct the vessel. Had the museum gone into administration its nationally significant collection would have been dispersed. The alternative for the Scottish Government was to fund either the deconstruction of City of Adelaide, or her removal from Scotland. A conference was held in December 2009 at which the main stakeholders discussed the possible options for saving the ship.
caption: City of Adelaide in May 2009
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