The Australian campaign to adopt the clipper ship City of Adelaide has gained momentum with a visit to the UK by two leading members of the group. Peter Roberts and Tom Chapman came over with the intention of “eyeballing” the ship itself – they got no further than the rusting barbed-wire fence – and the various bodies involved its its fate, where they were much more successful.
The passion behind the South Australian campaign is evident – it is founded on the City of Adelaide’s original role of carrying emigrants from the UK and Europe to the new territory in the late 19th century – over 250,000 South Australians, or one in five of the population, can trace their ancestry back to, or through the ship. But the campaign also appears well-resourced in terms both of capability (both Roberts and Chapman have engineering backgrounds for instance) and state and private support.
They have costed the logistics of moving the ship at around £1.5 million, with the cost of transport to Australia, at about £700,000, less than that of getting the City of Adelaide off the slip and out of the river in Irvine. They already have about half of that, and are “ready to launch a major fundraising programme once we have control of the ship.”
A prime site in Adelaide has already been earmarked for a display area which would also include the preserved 1883 tug Nelcebee, built in Scotland and shipped out to provide services to the clippers, including City of Adelaide.
Pressure to resolve the City of Adelaide’s situation has intensified with the demand from the owners of the slip where she sits for the return of the site. Scottish Maritime Museum, current owner of the ship, recently called for tenders to ’scientifically desconstruct’ her. However, Martyn Heighton of National Historic Ships has confirmed that none of the tenders to deconstruct the ship met its criteria, and it will oppose any application for demolition. It is shortly due to to evaluate proposals, from both the Sunderland and South Australian campaigns. If the City of Adelaide is to leave the UK it would be subject to an export licence, unless declared to be of no value.