Clipper Ship 'City of Adelaide'

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These images are provided to assist artists wishing to paint the 'City of Adelaide'. Various images, paintings and models of the 'City of Adelaide' are provided to assist with technical accuracy.  In addition, general views of Port Adelaide and Port Augusta are provided, as well as photographs of the 'Nelcebee' - the tug-lighter based at Port Augusta which used to tow clipper ships in and out of the mangrove-lined outback harbour.

Please note that many images have been provided by third parties who hold copyright for the images, and who have provided their permission to display the images on this website.

Details for the images are provided imediately beneath the images.  If you have your browser's status bar visible, by mousing over the image you should be able to see the name of the image in the status bar which may assist with identification.  Hopefully most are fairly self-explanatory.

At the bottom of this page is a newspaper report relating to the arrival of the maiden voyage of the City of Adelaide.  It provides a vivid description of the interior and exterior of the clipper.

Legend

Details for the images above are provided here. Images are numbered from left to right and then row by row from top to bottom.

  1. 1864 Lithograph of 'City of Adelaide' by Thomas Dutton.
  2. 1874 Newspaper photograph of 'City of Adelaide' aground at Kirkaldy Beach (between Adelaide's Grange and Semaphore beaches).
  3. 1874 Lithograph of 'City of Adelaide' aground at Kirkaldy Beach.
  4. 1874 Newspaper pictorial of 'City of Adelaide' aground at Kirkaldy Beach (courtesy of State library of South Australia - see SLSA Images for details).
  5. 1883 photograph of 'City of Adelaide' at Port Augusta (courtesy of State library of South Australia - see SLSA Images for details).
  6. 1883 photograph of 'City of Adelaide' at Port Augusta (courtesy of State library of South Australia - see SLSA Images for details).
  7. 1883 detail from photograph above).
  8. 1893 photograph showing Adelaide's coat of arms on stern of 'City of Adelaide'. Photograph taken when 'City of Adelaide' was being used as an isolation hospital at Southampton (courtesy of State library of South Australia - see SLSA Images for details).
  9. 1893 photograph showing bow of 'City of Adelaide'. Only known photograph showing kangaroo as part of figurehead. (other side was lion from Adelaide's coat of arms.)  Photograph taken when 'City of Adelaide' was being used as an isolation hospital at Southampton.
  10. c1894 photograph showing 'City of Adelaide' when being used as an isolation hospital at Southampton (courtesy of State library of Sourh Australia - see SLSA Images for details).
  11. 1922 photograph of 'City of Adelaide' after purchase by British Admiralty for use as a drill ship and renamed 'HMS Carrick' at Glasgow (courtesy of National Maritime Museum - Greenwich).
  12. 1948 photograph showing 'City of Adelaide', now named 'Carrick', being towed upriver from Greenock to Harland & Wollf's shipyard at Scotstoun on April 26th.
  13. 1980s photograph showing 'City of Adelaide', now named 'Carrick', as Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve mess clubrooms (courtesy of Gordon Hardy - Glasgow).
  14. 2007 photograph showing 'City of Adelaide', renamed back to 'City of Adelaide' in 2001, on slipway at Irvine, Scotland (courtesy of Rob Calaghan).
  15. 2008 photograph showing 'City of Adelaide' on slipway at Irvine, Scotland (courtesy of Tim Beckett of Beckett Rankine - London).
  16. 2008 photograph showing 'City of Adelaide' on slipway at Irvine, Scotland (courtesy of Douglas Wilcox).
  17. 2009 photograph showing 'City of Adelaide' on slipway at Irvine, Scotland (courtesy of John Keeman - Irvine).
  18. 2009 photograph showing 'City of Adelaide' on slipway at Irvine, Scotland (courtesy of John Keeman - Irvine).
  19. 1938 painting by John Alcott (commissioned by Wilcox family; courtesy of Wilcox family - Sydney).
  20. 1948 depiction of 'City of Adelaide' (courtesy of State library of Sourh Australia - see SLSA Images for details).
  21. 'City of Adelaide' (details not known).
  22. c2001 painting by Ted Walker (courtesy of Ted Walker - UK).
  23. c2001 painting by Ted Walker (courtesy of Ted Walker - UK).
  24. c1938 model commissioned by Wilcox family (courtesy of State library of South Australia - see SLSA Images for details).
  25. c1938 model commissioned by Wilcox family (courtesy of State library of South Australia - see SLSA Images for details).
  26. c1910 model assumed to have been built by Laurence Tulloch, sailor on the crew of the 'City of Adelaide' in 1882 (courtesy owner - Adelaide).
  27. c1900-50 model, origin unknown (courtesy Freemason's museum - Adelaide).
  28. 2001 model by Eric Colman (courtesy owner - Barossa Valley, South Australia).
  29. 2003 model by Tim Nguyen - Melbourne (courtesy owner - Adelaide).
  30. Model of saloon (details not known).
  31. c1922 photograph of saloon looking aft, when being used as nurses quarters.
  32. c1900 Donkey teams used at Port Augusta to carry wool and copper for loading oto clippers in harbour for export to London markets (courtesy of State library of South Australia - see SLSA Images for details).
  33. 2007 photograph of 'Nelcebee' post configuration as an auxiliary ketch (courtesy of Tony Kearney - Adelaide).
  34. 2007 photograph of 'Nelcebee' post configuration as an auxiliary ketch (courtesy of Tony Kearney - Adelaide).
  35. c2004 photograph of 'Nelcebee' post configuration as an auxiliary ketch (courtesy of Tony Kearney - Adelaide).
  36. 1916 photograph of tug-lighter 'Nelcebee' (courtesy of State library of South Australia - see SLSA Images for details).
  37. 1884 photograph of 'City of Adelaide', arrowed, at Port Augusta (courtesy of State library of South Australia - see SLSA Images for details). Image provided to give impression of shipping in Port Augusta harbour.
  38. 19th century shipping at Port Adelaide (courtesy of State library of South Australia - see SLSA Images for details).
  39. 19th century photograph of Northern Parade, Port Adelaide (details not known).
  40. 19th century passengers approaching shore (courtesy of State library of South Australia - see SLSA Images for details).
  41. c1898 images onboard clipper ships at sea during storms (from Painted Ports).
  42. 1874 ships on Fletchers Slip, Port Adelaide.  The 'City of Adelaide' was up on Fltcher's Slip at least twice - after 1874 grounding and after losing ruder on other voayage (courtesy of State library of South Australia - see SLSA Images for details). 
  43. Workers at Fletchers Slip (courtesy of Kevin Jones, South Australian Maritime Museum). 
  44. 2007 photograph of Fletchers Slip.  The actual slip is under the trees (courtesy of Peter Roberts - Adelaide).
  45. 1910 photograph of Cruickshank's Corner with Birkenhead Tavern (courtesy of Dave Tuckwell - Adelaide).
  46. 2008 photograph of Cruickshank's Corner with Birkenhead Tavern (courtesy of Peter Roberts - Adelaide). 
  47. 2008 photograph of Cruickshank's Corner with Birkenhead Tavern (courtesy of Peter Roberts - Adelaide).
  48. 2008 photograph from Birkenhead Tavern looking towards Adelaide hills (courtesy of Peter Roberts - Adelaide).

Newspaper Reports

Upon the arrival of the maiden voyage of the City of Adelaide, much commotion was made of her arrival as is evidenced in the news paper reports of the day:

THE SOUTH AUSTRALIAN REGISTER TUESDAY NOVEMBER 8, 1864

THE CITY OF ADELAIDE – It is many years ago since Captain Bruce took up his station on the berth from Adelaide to London, and after giving general satisfaction in the Irene he resolved to build expressly for the trade a new vessel in which all the requirements his experience could suggest should be met. The order was given to Messrs. Pile & Co., the eminent shipbuilders of Sunderland, and the result has been the production of a ship of which the colony may well be proud. The frame is of iron, with teakwood planking, 195 feet over all, 19 feet depth of hold, and 33 feet 6 inches beam, with lines and proportions which will ensure fast sailing. Nor is speedy progress the only aim, for in her passenger appointments every means have been taken to ensure perfection. The main saloon is a handsome appointment decorated with white and gold, and furnished with settees, tables and sideboard of solid teak. Mirrors and pianoforte add to the general effect; while a visit to the state-rooms, of which there are six on each side, show at a glance that nothing is wanting to promote the comfort of voyageurs, even down to hot water warming apparatus.

While in tropical regions there are large ports to afford ventilation and light, and two excellent bath-rooms for ladies and gentlemen provided – one under the break of the poop; and the other abaft the main saloon. Her appearance to a nautical man is extremely pleasing; for while possessing the fine lines of a clipper vessel, there is a neatness about the spars and rigging which adds materially to her appearance. In the matter of people it was a mere fac simile of the old Irene – Captain Bruce on the poop, his son in the waist, and the same providore (Mr. Claxton) in the cabin; indeed it seemed from this but a resuscitation of the old blue- sided trader, though at a glance at the craft decided her superiority and

aroused pleasurable feelings that the Port Adelaide trade warranted the building of such a ship.

Patent steering gear, patent topsails, windlass and pumps were adopted, and it also seems as if Captain Bruce had served his time but to produce the beau ideal of what an Adelaide trader should be – in cargo space liberal and ample for wool freight; in second cabin 30 and in saloon accommodation 35 passengers will find ample space. The excellence of the arrangement is highly eulogized by the passengers, of whom a number are very old colonists, who return with pleasure to Australia, and testify to the merits of captain and ship in our advertising columns.

She left London on August 6, and touched afterwards at Plymouth, from which port she has made a passage of 87 days, having had light and fair winds from the Channel to the Bay of Biscay, but in the early trades instead of a continuation of favourable weather it blew but three days from the N.E. Thirty-three days elapsed before crossing the Line, and the meridian of the Cape was passed on October 8, without a single incident to break the monotony of a trip beyond a hurricane which assailed the ship when off the Cape Verde Islands, in which she behaved admirably, she reached the lightship on Monday afternoon, but as her draught of water is over 17 feet some days will elapse before she can cross the bar.

Source: The South Australian Register, 8 November 1864

 

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The main base of the giant 100 tonne transportation cradle, that will be used to transport the 'City of Adelaide' to Australia, has arrived in Scotland, and a trial assembly for certification assembly undertaken.  Read more >>

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