Originally built to transport passengers between Britain and Australia, the HMS Carrick, otherwise known as the City of Adelaide, sat on the Clyde for over 40 years.
First launched on May 7, 1864, the HMS Carrick made 23 annual trips between London and Adelaide - and was an integral part of the immigration to Australia. After 1887, the ship had a new role of carrying timber across the Atlantic.
Before finding a home on the Clyde, the clipper became a floating hospital in Southampton. Here in Glasgow, her anti-aircraft gun defended the city during the Clydeside Blitz.
The ship was purchased by the Admiralty in 1923 and changed its name from the City of Adelaide to HMS Carrick, to avoid confusion with the newly built HMS Adelaide.
During the air raids, the Clyde bore the brunt of Scotland’s attacks - due to the high volume of shipbuilding in the area.
While the Carrick was an asset for the city, little could be done in the horrific bombings of Glasgow. In Greenock, where the ship sat, 271 were killed and over 10,200 were injured during two nights of raids in May 1941.
After the war, she became a permanent fixture on the Broomielaw. The ship sat proudly on the Clyde until 1989, when flooding threatened the structure.
The Royal Navy Volunteer Reserve realised they couldn’t afford to maintain the vessel, and she was given to the Clyde Ship Trust and moved to Prince’s Dock. In order to safeguard the historic ship, it was given protection as a listed building.
Just one year later, she sank at her mooring - but was recovered by the Scottish Maritime Museum and moved to a private dock near the museum in Irvine. While restoration works seemed hopeful, the ship’s future was questionable.
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For years, the ship was rotting away on a slipway - with repairs costing over £10million pounds. With bills piling up, experts said the operation was almost like ‘building a new ship’.
Several attempts were made to dismantle the ship, and in May 2000 the museum applied to North Ayrshire Council for permission to deconstruct the structure. The council received over 100 objections, including statements from significant maritime heritage organisations.
Despite the objections, the council agreed to the deconstruction of the boat - subject to certain conditions. After a disastrous fire on the Cutty Sark, the country's only other clipper ship, HMS Carrick’s fate changed.
In 2001, during a conference led by the Duke of Edinburgh, the ship reverted to its original name. A decision that seemed fitting when it was eventually moved to Adelaide, to be preserved as a museum ship in 2013.
The Scottish Government made the decision that the country's resources were insufficient to ensure the survival of the ship, and after repeated attempts to deconstruct the clipper, it made the three month journey down under.
David Mann, the director of the Scottish Maritime Museum, said at the time: “We are pleased she has reached her new home in Adelaide and that she will become an important part of the culture there.
“It’s nice that she travelled as a working vessel and is now there for people with historic ties to her to see and cherish.”
