Fast Facts

01.

The world heritage passenger ship City of Adelaide is the older of only two surviving composite clipper ships in the world - the Cutty Sark is the other.

Less than twenty pre-1900 historic merchant ships involved in deep-water trade survive today. Of these, only two are composite clippers. The City of Adelaide, built in 1864, is nearly six years older than the Cutty Sark, built in 1869.

The Cutty Sark is a very famous clipper used to transport tea from China to London. The City of Adelaide is a very rare passenger ship that in addition to people also used to carry wool, copper, and other produce to London from Port Adelaide and Port Augusta, and deliver goods to South Australia necessary for the young colony's survival.

02.

The City of Adelaide is in remarkably sound condition.

The City of Adelaide is in remarkably sound condition for a 147 year old colonial clipper ship.

Thanks to the efforts of the Scottish Maritime Museum, a water-tight membrane was installed across the entire upper deck area of the City of Adelaide several years ago.

An inspection of the ‘clipper’ in recent weeks indicates that she is “bone dry” and in better structural condition than the younger ‘Cutty Sark’.

Deck of 'City of Adelaide' after cladding

Preservation rather than restoration is the goal for the City of Adelaide.

Two cities have previously been vying for the City of Adelaide:

Sunderland in the United Kingdom where the City of Adelaide was built in 1864.
Adelaide, South Australia, the city that the clipper was built to serve and was named after.

Whilst both cities have valid claims to the City of Adelaide the two approaches are very different. The Sunderland proposal is for full reconstruction like the Cutty Sark, whereas the South Austalian approach is just to preserve the City of Adelaide in much the same way as the Edwin Fox.

Unfortunately, some Media reports do not appreciate this very important difference in philosophy and erroneously suggest that the South Australian aim is to see restoration, or a full reconstruction.

The South Austalian approach is just to preserve the City of Adelaide

04.

Transportation options are readily available and feasibility studies have verified how easily the City of Adelaide can be moved.

We have a wealth of experience amongst our group with specialists in heavy lifting and marine transportation. Examples of this experience includes:

The detailed study for moving the 800 tonne World War II Corvette HMAS Whyalla overland at Whyalla, South Australia.
Shipping sections of the Royal Austraian Navy's Frigate Modules (900 tonnes max) from fabrication yards in NSW and SA by sea to Victoria.
Lifting the Nelcebee to its present position on land at Port Adelaide.
Feasibility of moving the Falie (both lifting and slipping).
The detailed study for jacking and skidding an Oberon Class Submarine (1,100 tonnes) to a new location on land at Fremantle for the Western Australian Maritime Museum.
Retrieving the Royal Australian Navy's new Armidale Class Patrol Boats (350 tonnes) using wheeled bogies on the shiplift at the Darwin Naval Base.

There also exist a large number of shipping companies around the world, each with its own fleet of specialist heavy lift ships that can undertake the type of work required to relocate the City of Adelaide using a variety of different techniques. This video represents just one of these many options:

The following video explains how dockships work:

05.

Tenders had been called to demolish the City of Adelaide because the owners of the slipway where the historic clipper sits served notice on the museum to vacate the site.

The owners of the slipway terminated the lease as at 30th April 2005 and served notice on the Trustees of the Scottish Maritime Museum at Irvine to vacate the site by 2007. The slipway owners had also prohibited any access to the City of Adelaide.

Unfortunately, some Media reports suggest that the reason that the Scottish Maritime Museum is seeking to destroy the City of Adelaide is because they cannot afford a reconstruction. This overlooks that simple preservation is still an extremely low cost option.

The reality for the Scottish Maritime Museum is a simple matter of geography that prevents them from being able to relocate the City of Adelaide from the slipway onto their own museum site. On one side they are constrained by an elevated railway line, on the other by residential housing. It is impossible to move the clipper, which weighs hundred of tonnes, inland down the narrow suburban streets.

Housing encroaches on 'City of Adelaide'; photo courtesy Peter Roberts, 2008

View Clipper Ship 'City of Adelaide' in a larger map

06.

Burra Charter (1979) principles suggest that Sunderland, UK, or Port Adelaide, South Australia, are the most appropriate places to present and interpret City of Adelaide.

Under the principles of the Burra Charter (1979), items of cultural significance should be retained and interpreted in a setting where the item has an association. The city of Sunderland in the UK where the City of Adelaide was built in 1864, or Adelaide, South Australia, the city the historic clipper was built to serve and named after, are the logical places to interpret the City of Adelaide. As there still survives much rich colonial history in the form of diaries and accounts of migrants who travelled onboard the City of Adelaide, the most appropriate place to present and interpret the clipper is Adelaide, South Australia.

07.

The primary goal is to prevent the City of Adelaide being destroyed in the United Kingdom. Bringing the ship back to Port Adelaide is the secondary goal.

08.

The Clipper Ship 'City of Adelaide' Ltd. is a non profit organisation.

09.

The organisation enjoys the support of many eminent Australians and Britons, as well as support from all sides of politics.

10.

The City of Adelaide is 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.

This description of the City of Adelaide is paraphrased from a letter jointly written by three eminent Australian Professors of history:

Professor Geoffrey Bolton AO, former Chancellor Murdoch University, Fellow of the Royal Historical Society (London).
Professor Tom Griffiths, Australian National University, joint winner Prime Minister’s Prize for Australian History 2008.
Professor David Carment AM, Northern Territory University.

11.

Approximately a quarter of a million Australians can trace their roots to passengers who arrived on the City of Adelaide.

For 23 years the City of Adelaide brought large numbers of British and German migrants to the fledgling colony of South Australia. It is calculated that today approximately a quarter of a million South Australians, or one in five, can trace an ancestor that migrated, or was a passenger, on the City of Adelaide.

The links below will take you to:

a webpage that shows how the calculations were made; and,
an example of the (incomplete) genealogy for a Cornish mining family who migrated to Australia in 1873. This page demonstrates the size of the descendant base for one family only two generations beyond the original passengers. Beyond these, another three or four generations also exist today.

Please note that these calculations focus on the passengers travelling in the direction of Adelaide. Frequently passengers travelling on the voyages to London were colonists who were visiting Great Britain on business or to see loved ones.

Please also note that we have not attempted to work out the number of descendants of crew. Many of the >1200 known crew settled in Australia including a number of the Captains.

12.

The City of Adelaide is a vital icon of the making of modern Australia and of the relationship between Britain and the Australian colonies and an extraordinarily important part of our common heritage. It must not be demolished.

Clipper Ship 'City of Adelaide'

The world heritage passenger ship City of Adelaide is the older of only two surviving composite clipper ships in the world - the Cutty Sark is the other.

The City of Adelaide is in remarkably sound condition.

Preservation rather than restoration is the goal for the City of Adelaide.

Transportation options are readily available and feasibility studies have verified how easily the City of Adelaide can be moved.

Tenders had been called to demolish the City of Adelaide because the owners of the slipway where the historic clipper sits served notice on the museum to vacate the site.

Burra Charter (1979) principles suggest that Sunderland, UK, or Port Adelaide, South Australia, are the most appropriate places to present and interpret City of Adelaide.

The primary goal is to prevent the City of Adelaide being destroyed in the United Kingdom. Bringing the ship back to Port Adelaide is the secondary goal.

The Clipper Ship 'City of Adelaide' Ltd. is a non profit organisation.

The organisation enjoys the support of many eminent Australians and Britons, as well as support from all sides of politics.

The City of Adelaide is 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.

Approximately a quarter of a million Australians can trace their roots to passengers who arrived on the City of Adelaide.

The City of Adelaide is a vital icon of the making of modern Australia and of the relationship between Britain and the Australian colonies and an extraordinarily important part of our common heritage. It must not be demolished.

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