Fyddeye (fid-i)

Excitement is growing in South Australia over the pending arrival of the clipper City of Adelaide, even as rivals in the UK have pledged not to abandon the ship. On Saturday, Scotland's minister of culture Fiona Hyslop announced that an Australian group had won the right to move the decaying clipper ship from Irvine, Scotland to her namesake city Down Under. "We are all delighted, and are doubling our efforts to raise the extra funds needed to establish her in a maritime precinct in Port Adelaide," wrote one supporter to Fyddeye.

That precinct would be near an area called Cruickshanks Corner on the Adelaide waterfront. City of Adelaide Preservation Trust director Peter Christopher told AdelaideNow that the cost of preserving and transporting the ship to the city is about AUD$5 million (USD$4.5 million). Restoring the vessel will cost another AUD$25 million (USD$22 million). Christopher said the vessel could arrive in Adelaide within 12 months, just in time for the 175th anniversary of the city's settlement on Dec. 26, 2011.

Meanwhile, the group in Sunderland, England that lost out to the Australians says it is not giving up its claim on the City of Adelaide. Peter Maddison, head of the Sunderland City of Adelaide Recovery Foundation, has been leading the fight for a dozen years. In emails to supporters, he said "can take a broadside now and then," referring to the punishment meted and taken by wooden warships. "The City of Adelaide story has not ended yet and I have not abandoned the ship," he wrote. "SCARF and our great supporters, mainly in Sunderland but many abroad, have succeeded in saving the clipper from the wreckers ball. We concentrated minds in Scotland as well as Australia. We ensured that there could not be deliberate 'deconstruction' done on the cheap. Millions of pounds have suddenly been found to save the wonderful Sunderland-built clipper, and I and my SCARF colleagues remain on standby in case of need."

Australian Broadcasting Corporation radio interview of Peter Christopher:

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What do you think of the Hyslop decision? Comment below.

Activists in Sunderland, England vowed to continue fighting to get the clipper City of Adelaide even though the Scottish government has approved a plan to move the ship to Australia. Scottish culture minister Fiona Hyslop announced today that the Australian group Clipper Ship 'City of Adelaide' would be allowed to put the 1864 vessel on a barge and tow it to its South Australia namesake for restoration and display. Hyslop rejected a bid by the Sunderland City of Adelaide Recovery Foundation to restore and display the clipper in a museum on the River Wear.

"The City of Adelaide has an illustrious past shared by two nations, Scotland and Australia. This bid gives us the opportunity to save the ship build on that link and open up the potential for both countries to recognise partnerships and shared heritage on an international scale," Hyslop said.

Peter Maddison, the leader of the Sunderland team which has been working to get the CoA for a dozen years, told the BBC that Hyslop's decision was "heartbreaking," adding that he will continue the fight to bring the vessel to where she was constructed. Peter Christopher, part of a leadership group in Australia, says AUD$1 million needs to be raised to bring the ship Down Under, according to AdelaideNow. The Scottish government has reportedly pledged AUD$1.5 million to the project, with the Port of Adelaide adding another AUD$1 million. (About USD$3.2 million, all told.)

The Scottish government rejected two other ideas for City of Adelaide: 'scientific deconstruction', and moving the vessel to another location in Scotland. Made of a composite iron and wood construction, City of Adelaide is five years older than the Cutty Sark, the most famous of the clipper ships. CoA ferried immigrants to South Australia for decades before she was sold to the Royal Navy and eventually wound up on a slip in Irvine, Scotland.

Fyddeye received a copy of Scottish minister for culture Fiona Hyslop's letter to Sunderland (UK) City of Adelaide Recovery Foundation, the losing side in a bid with an Australian team to move the clipper ship City of Adelaide to a new home. Here's the letter, slightly edited to protect the privacy of a Hyslop staff member.

Minister for Culture and External Affairs
Ministear airson Cultair agus ChuiseanTaoibh A-muigh
Fiona Hyslop MSP/BPA
T/F:0845 7741741
E: This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it

Mr Peter Maddison
Chair, Sunderland City of Adelaide Recovery Foundation
By email: This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it

27 August 2010

Dear Mr Maddison:

As you know, earlier this year I charged my officials at Historic Scotland to commission a detailed appraisal of the different options before us with regard to the future of the clipper ship City of Adelaide. The purpose was to see if there is a realistic alternative to the consented scheme for managed deconstruction of the vessel and retention of key elements. This letter is to inform you of the outcome of the exercise and to suggest a course of action as we go forward.

The conclusion of the appraisal is that the Australian group are to be identified as preferred bidders for removal of the vessel. The outcome of the appraisal was that their proposal to remove the vessel from its current location and transport it to Adelaide for conservation and public display represented the only potentially viable alternative to deconstruction within the constrained timescale in which we find ourselves to preserve the Scottish Maritime Museum and its national collection.

I know that this decision will cause you great disappointment. Your commitment has at no point been in doubt and I was very impressed by your passion for your City and its important maritime heritage. Unfortunately, your proposals did not contain sufficient detail in practical terms and we are not in a position to be able to give any more time to preparation at this stage. However, given that we are all seeking the best future for the vessel, I hope that we can all now work together to ensure the success of the project, and I would very much welcome any potential for the two groups to work together. I have therefore asked my officials to consider any ways in which this might be achieved and to maintain contact with you. I intend to announce the outcome of the exercise more widely given the considerable interest in the future of the vessel tomorrow morning.

In closing I would like to say again that I do appreciate that this will be a great disappointment to you but I would nonetheless like to thank you for your interest and commitment to the City of Adelaide, and hope that the possibility of its future being secured is a consolation.

If you would like to discuss this further I know that my officials at Historic Scotland would be very happy to speak to you.

FIONA HYSLOP
St Andrew's House, Regent Road, Edinburgh EHl 30G
Taigh Naomh Anndrais, Rathad Regent. Dun Eideann EHl 30G
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Scottish minister of culture Fiona Hyslop will announce the preferred bid to save the 1864 clipper ship City of Adelaide Saturday in Irvine, Scotland, according to a news release. Two groups--one in Adelaide, Australia, the other in Sunderland, England--want to move the historic ship to their respective cities. Both have been vying for the right to move the ship after the Scottish Maritime Museum announced it could no longer care for the vessel, which is on a slipway in Irvine. The landowner wants to redevelop the property and has asked that CoA be moved.

The City of Adelaide (also known as HMS Carrick during its time in the Royal Navy) is an 'A' listed nineteenth century ship, one of only two surviving clippers, and it is on the UK national history register of ships. (The other is Cutty Sark.) It is considered by naval experts to be one of the most significant historic vessels to survive to the present day, both for its age and rarity, and for its historic connections. It has a close cultural association with South Australia many of whose present day residents can trace their ancestors’ outward voyage from the UK on the vessel. It was constructed on the banks of the River Wear in Sunderland.