Mutiny on the clipper

[TimH]

By DAVID GOODWIN
Published: 13 Oct 2009





A CAMPAIGNING councillor was last night occupying the world's oldest clipper ship in a last-ditch effort to save it.

Peter Maddison clambered aboard the crumbling City of Adelaide - set to be scrapped at the Scottish Maritime Museum in Irvine, Ayrshire.
His one-man sit-in comes after museum bosses said they can't afford to restore the famous vessel, now known as the Carrick.
The ship - built on Wearside - was rescued after sinking in the Clyde but was damaged by fire in 2007.
Now Sunderland councillor Peter is bidding to raise £2million to take the rotting boat back to the North-East of England.
He said: "We need to get this ship on a barge with a couple of tugs and take her safely back to Sunderland.
"We will have safe harbour there and that does not cost a great deal of money.
"Instead of a so-called 'scientific deconstruction' of the vessel, let's spend that money on a recovery operation."


Peter heads up the Sunderland City of Adelaide Recovery Foundation - but the cost of a full restoration has been estimated at £20million.

Jim Tildesley, of the maritime museum, said he'd love to give the ship away - but it comes at a cost.
He added: "They have to find the cash to take her away before the end of the timetable when she has to disappear from here. And there's not much time left."


http://www.britsattheirbest.com/blog_adelaide_ship.jpg

[peter radclyffe]

museum stupidity, they spend all the money to build a warehouse to store things, you can build that anytime
then cant afford to save the ship

[TimH]

Once she is gone she is gone forever.
I cant believe people are willing to toss their history to the wind like they are.

This is a significant vessel. Especially to the Aussies.

[peter radclyffe]

there cant be many things aussies want to hear from a wingin pom,
but that may be one of them
the scots certainly dont want to hear it

[martin schulz]

IMHO Museums are not the right institutions to care for ships - floating ships.

They like to have everything nicely conserved and presented in showcases - floating, or perhaps even sailing exhibition pieces make them nerveous.

I asked the director of the Flensburg maritime museum once, why the Museum doesn't own any boats/ships. He said that he never saw the need, since the Museumharbour with its restored privately owned boats & ships provides a much better showcase, especially because you can actually see those boats sailing...I then said that I would like a bit from his budget then, where he just laughed...