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Hope for 'City of Adelaide'


carlt

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BBC story about City of Adelaide/ Carrick

 

Next week the historic ship 'gravediggers' (sorry, experts) were supposed to be meeting to discuss the 'deconstruction' and disposal of 'The City of Adelaide'. The probable fate of the last intact clipper ship would probably have been to be dissected and bits given to various museums around the world.

 

In a bizarre twist of fate, because of the near destruction of Cutty Sark, she may be given a reprieve.

 

If the Cutty Sark's iron framing is badly distorted from the fire then the heart of the ship is lost, and any reconstruction would be merely a replica, which makes 'C of A' the last remaining Clipper and suddenly a bit more important than a rotting hulk on an Ayrshire slipway.

 

Estimates of £10 million to restore 'CofA' lead 'experts' to say that she would be no more than a replica. But if that's the case wouldn't £25million to restore Cutty Sark make her equally a modern replica, just two and a half times more expensive.

 

I may surprise people (being a bit of a wooden boat enthusiast) when I say the important pat of these ships are the floors, knees and frames; the ironwork, which makes up the shape and soul of a boat. There will always be arguments in the Classic boat world about the definition of a restoration but the CofA would be closer to the original than a Cutty Sark with new or misshapen framing.

 

I hope the Cutty Sark can be saved but, with the outpouring of grief and shock displayed following the fire, I think we can be assured that the name will live on, even if it's in the shape of a facsimile boat.

 

Let's hope that this disaster will mean the rescue of the oldest, fastest and maybe the last Clipper ship.

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Hear Hear!

 

I agree that as many older boats should be saved as possible to help remember our countrys long association with the sea and inland waters.

 

I'd still like to see more replicas, though. Seeing HM Bark Endeavour coming into Whitby Harbour was one of the most moving sites I've ever seen and she graced the harbour perfectly when she was docked there. Even the Grand Turk, built for the TV series Hornblower, evoked something deep in the soul, and Whitby dock looks empty now she's away.

Edited by Chris J W
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Yes, when i heard about CS in the other thread(s) i did think that this might become a possability.

- Hopefully they do indeed save C of A. I for one would be happy to donate an amount of money to the cause if nothing else.

 

 

 

Daniel

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I new this ship when it was a clubhouse on the Clyde, in fairly good nick and floating. It was allowed to sink at its moorings and became a wreck. I understand the £10 million was to refurbish it then, when it was floating , in the 70,s. Because of inflation and the terrible state of her, that would now be umpteen million pounds.

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I new this ship when it was a clubhouse on the Clyde, in fairly good nick and floating. It was allowed to sink at its moorings and became a wreck. I understand the £10 million was to refurbish it then, when it was floating , in the 70,s. Because of inflation and the terrible state of her, that would now be umpteen million pounds.

this £10m came from a survey for a businessman who wanted to reburb her into a floating hotel. £2m would get her floating so she could be transported to somewhere more appropriate (Sunderland or Adelaide are favorites) and the real restoration undertaken.

 

£25m has been raised to replicate Cutty Sark into a static, landlocked folly. Let's split that money and produce two clippers. One, the C of A, afloat and sailing and Cutty Sark a longer term, decorative replication.

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Thats far too sensible a suggestion Carl, surely £20 million for Cutty sark and £5 million for a policy structure/document on what to do with CofA before deciding to try and raise £2 million to do as you suggest and get her floating and transported to Adelaide where I am sure they would raise the money to restore her without a problem.

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I can't understand why people are not campaigning for both these ships to be not only saved, but restored into sailing condition. Timber boats or ships are never happy out of the water, if they were properly restored they would be good for at least another 100 years.

 

Other countries seem to be able to manage these projects and we can find tens of millions to hand over to the toffs at the Royal Ballet or whatever.

Edited by John Orentas
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Thats far too sensible a suggestion Carl, surely £20 million for Cutty sark and £5 million for a policy structure/document on what to do with CofA before deciding to try and raise £2 million to do as you suggest and get her floating and transported to Adelaide where I am sure they would raise the money to restore her without a problem.
I'm not sure Adelaide (as a town) would raise the money though. The've had a campaign going now for years and haven't even raised the Scottish Maritime Museum's dock bill to stop it being broken up.The main City of Adelaide problem is that is has bankrupted the museum, just storing it. Which has put other vessels at risk. If C&A doesn't get restoration money, the museum will close and other boats could be destroyed, as a result.The irony is, they are talking about raising enough money to rebuild the Mary Rose, from the twigs that have survived, and yet they can't rebuild a, substantially complete, vessel.
I can't understand why people are not campaigning for both these ships to be not only saved, but restored into sailing condition. Timber boats or ships are never happy out of the water, if they were properly restored they would be good for at least another 100 years.Other countries seem to be able to manage these projects and we can find tens of millions to hand over to the toffs at the Royal Ballet or whatever.
Couldn't agree more John. Funny thing is there is 'toff' support. Prince Phillip, as patron of the NHSR has voiced his concern at the C of A's plight (though getting the wallet out could help, too).
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I cant believe there is talk of 'rebuilding' the Mary Rose, like you say a few waterlogged and substantially rotten timbers which surely cannot be used for both practical and historic terms cannot be considered a basis for a rebuild, like you said about CS it will be a new ship although in the case of Mary Rose it will be a total new build whereas CofA could be restored for a fraction of the cost and would save a number of other boats as well.

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I cant believe there is talk of 'rebuilding' the Mary Rose, like you say a few waterlogged and substantially rotten timbers which surely cannot be used for both practical and historic terms cannot be considered a basis for a rebuild, like you said about CS it will be a new ship although in the case of Mary Rose it will be a total new build whereas CofA could be restored for a fraction of the cost and would save a number of other boats as well.

I put it down to the "Diana effect".

 

Cutty Sark, Mary Rose etc. caught the imagination of the public, so the press run with it. There was a huge outpouring of grief when the Cutty Sark burnt, yet most of the public don't know about the plight of equally important boats.

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I put it down to the "Diana effect".

 

Cutty Sark, Mary Rose etc. caught the imagination of the public, so the press run with it. There was a huge outpouring of grief when the Cutty Sark burnt, yet most of the public don't know about the plight of equally important boats.

My received experience of the press is that they are ill-informed and have a very narow view of the world. Their main aim is to get people (the great majority of whom read the Sun) to watch their programmes or buy their newspapers and the content of these is tailored to that end. The same is broadly true of politians in terms of vote catching. Ideas of leading or informing the Nation towards more interesting, rewarding and meaningful subjects with a longer term benefit have almost completely disappeared and this results in the appearance of things like the Millenium Dome and the Diana memorial puddle.

There -I feel better for that!

SteveE

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I do not believe that any money should be spent on rebuilding sunken, rotten, or burnt out boats as mentioned. The money should be spent on building new copies of these boats using trained local labour for the purpose of using them for sail training.

 

This way none can say that money would be wasted on any scheme. We are in need of sail training ships so as not to loose our heritedge.

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I do not believe that any money should be spent on rebuilding sunken, rotten, or burnt out boats as mentioned. The money should be spent on building new copies of these boats using trained local labour for the purpose of using them for sail training.

 

This way none can say that money would be wasted on any scheme. We are in need of sail training ships so as not to loose our heritedge.

As most wooden boatbuilders are more interested in restoration than newbuild, you would struggle to get a team of skilled craftsmen together to take on such a project.

 

There also isn't the demand for sailing tallships in this country, unlike the states or australia where it thrives, and tallships are being scratch built.

 

And how is teaching someone to sail 'preserving our heritage'?

 

(City of Adelaide isn't sunk by the way, it's on a slipway)

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England is a seafaring nation and although there appears to be no demand, there are no ships available to train youngsters. The truth is that given the chance, many people would love to take part in ocean sailing.

 

Money spent doing up old hulks could be better spent on training young carpenters, shipwrights, marine electricians, navigators, engineers, sailmakers, ropemakers and a chance to give people a life opportuunity that hasn't existed for many years.

 

On-job training to build ships would give a cost effective way of producing sail training ships. Not a penny lost or wasted to overseas contractors.

 

Even Russia has more sail training ships than we have.

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England is a seafaring nation and although there appears to be no demand, there are no ships available to train youngsters. The truth is that given the chance, many people would love to take part in ocean sailing.

 

Money spent doing up old hulks could be better spent on training young carpenters, shipwrights, marine electricians, navigators, engineers, sailmakers, ropemakers and a chance to give people a life opportuunity that hasn't existed for many years.

 

On-job training to build ships would give a cost effective way of producing sail training ships. Not a penny lost or wasted to overseas contractors.

 

Even Russia has more sail training ships than we have.

Your knowledge of the wooden boat restoration industry is obvious. The best shipwrights, engineers, sailmakers are busy restoring historic vessels, and training up young apprentices. It isn't a cottage industry like the wooden narrow boat scene.

Lulworth, Bloodhound, Vere, Gypsy Moth iv, Helen, Kathleen & Mary all recent restorations performed by the finest craftsmen and shipwrights in the business.

 

And take a look round the coast on Google Earth to see just how many yachts are out there, being used.

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OK so where are the great sail training ships then? Where are all of the schemes to train people? Where do I sign up to sail Gipsy Moth? There are none.

 

I said that it is better to spend the money on training people and building new ships than regurgitating old crap.

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