HMS CARRICK
In 2003 I wrote about the fate of HMS Carrick and some 4 years on little progress has been made and the threat of either her break up or sale to Australia remains.Likewise the Cutty Sark a well-loved sight in Falmouth before the War is also in desperate need of further financial assistance due to the disastrous recent fire.
The Cutty Sark Trust, which looks after the vessel, gets no support from central or local government despite the ship’s designation as a World Heritage Site and a listing in the Maritime Heritage Trust Core Collection.
Richard Doughty the chief executive of the CST gambled all on a bid to the Heritage Lottery Fund modeled on a successful bid submitted by SS Great Britain after having an earlier bid in 1999 turned down.
Having secured funding work commenced and the fire is a major setback.
There are surprisingly few antique sailing ships afloat in Europe or indeed the World. HMS Carrick is one of the few left and is currently under threat of disposal to South Australia as despite being the oldest merchant ship afloat the UK has no plans or money to restore the vessel.
Originally launched in Sunderland in 1864 as the City of Adelaide she established a fine reputation as a wool clipper with a voyage of 65 days being the best of over 23 runs to and from London and Adelaide.
She was reduced to a barque rig in 1881 with little loss in speed but a considerable reduction in manpower. By then however the writing was on the wall for sailing ships and by 1887 she had been converted to a Hospital Ship although never actually used for such a purpose.
In 1923 she was converted into a Drill Ship and renamed HMS Carrick. Extensive reconstruction at Troon preserved her old hull and allowed for the installation of guns, searchlights, torpedoes and wireless facilities.
Formally commissioned in 1925 by the Marchioness of Graham, HMS Carrick was operational up to the end of the Second World War. Many young men and women were trained for the RNVR and Defensively Equipped Merchant Ships on HMS Carrick and she finally ended up as the Headquarters for Wren personnel in Scotland.
On the conclusion of the War the Admiralty decided that HMS Carrick should be scrapped only to be saved by the ex RNVR Officers of Scotland.
In 1946 these ex servicemen where looking for a shore base in the West of Scotland which had proved fruitless until they learnt of the HMS Carrick lying unwanted in the James Watt Dock at Greenock.
Under pressure from the late Duke of Montrose and Admiral Sir Charles Morgan the Admiralty presented the Ship to the embryo Club.
Membership of the Club declined and ownership of HMS Carrick has passed to the Scottish Maritime Museum, which has owned the ship for the past 11 years.
The Scottish Maritime Museum recovered HMS Carrick from a watery grave as she had sunk at her moorings in Govern in 1991. Plans were announced to restore the vessel in 1994 at an estimated cost of £4 million pounds but the project never took off and indeed the SMM went into bankruptcy in 2000.
The problems have steadily mounted as the SMM controversially tried to have the now A-Listed ship demolished as the Museum’s trustees decided they could not afford the rent on the ship’s berth at Irvine or raise the money to restore the ship.
This is where the Australians enter the picture and decide to mount a bid to recover the vessel and ship her back to Adelaide. The City of Sunderland also become interested because of the build history and both parties are in submitted bids to the Maritime Heritage Trust who have assumed ownership of the vessel on the demise of the SMM.
The Duke of Edinburgh chairman of the MHT convened a meeting in September 2001 to discuss the future of the vessel at which representations from Adelaide and Sunderland argued their respective corners.
Since then some Australian Government support has been forthcoming but there is an obvious reluctance to dispose of such an historic vessel already included on our Historic Ships Registry.
Four years down the line and nothing much has changed although the SMM or its replacement is still trying to have the clipper broken up.
Avid readers of the West Briton may recall reading last year about plans by a Somerset businessman to convert the ship into a restaurant and possibly bring her down to Falmouth but that also seems to have stalled.
If I were to place money I would have to say the odds are in favour of HMS Carrick being sold to Australia.
Don’t get me wrong as I genuinely like Australia and Australians but I believe that it is criminal if through lack of Government or lottery support this vessel is allowed to leave the UK.
It is unrealistic to ever expect the Cutty Sark to ever sail again but I believe that HMS Carrick offers the UK Government a unique opportunity to restore a working Clipper ship from the days of wool and grain runs from Australia to the UK via Cape Horn.
HMS Carrick is about to be lost to this country and I would suggest that its retention is important to the nation’s maritime history.
The Australian interest should act as a spur for Government action but I feel a deep foreboding in my bones that it will be encouraged and used as neat way of solving a problem and yet allowing a unique part of our maritime heritage to be lost.
Having studied the Australian web site and read their case for the Carrick to be relocated to Adelaide I am struck by the willingness of both national and state authorities to mobilize resources to secure the vessel.
This is in stark contrast to the UK authorities that seem to stuck in a quagmire of red tape and bureaucracy and unable to offer help in any shape or form.
Given the choice between a Rubens or HMS Carrick which would mean more to most people? If we can stop the export of works of art then surely an old hulk representing the last of probably the world’s finest sailing ships deserves some historical status especially given the A grade listing.
Successive governments appear hell bent on erasing our historic past and especially connections with our colonial Empire. The Australians would appear to embrace and celebrate that history whereas we chose to be apologetic or embarrassed.
I would concede the Empire was not perfect but the loss of the last Clipper is of such historical significance that for once we should fight for it to remain in the UK.
As Falmouth was the first landfall in the UK for such vessels I wonder whether HMS Carrick could not be brought down here and restored in the Docks.
The clipper would have paid many visits to the Port on her way to London and she would provide a magnificent attraction for the Dock Redevelopment Scheme.
A Clipper Route Interpretation Centre could also be included and show why and how Falmouth For Orders was the abiding directive for all UK merchant sailing vessels.
Given our chosen status as an EEC regeneration area the preservation of such a classic vessel a project that Carrick and Cornwall could embrace whole heatedly and with aplomb?
It would be a mouth-watering project and a wonderful addition to our waterfront despite the ongoing costs of maintaining such a vessel.
As a possibility how about a joint initiative with Adelaide and the clipper actually sailing between the two ports and spending 12 months in Oz and 12 months in Falmouth?
It would certainly prove a distraction for more mundane issues such as car parking, sewage and council tax!
The sad state of both HMS Carrick and the Cutty Sark although not crucial to the UK in political or economic terms does I think underline the sad demise of colour in this country.
By all means continue to pour millions into the health service and education but it is so black and white and mundane and for the sake of £25 million, which is peanuts in terms of national expenditure some colour and light could be introduced into much neglected legacy of our past namely maritime history.
We continue to fail to acknowledge our past our lives are becoming increasingly monochrome, boring and dull.
I do not think for one moment that the French or the Australians would allow either the Cutty Sark or Carrick to rot away and national pride and awareness would ensure their full restoration.
The circulation of the West Briton is circa 65,000 copies a week and currently there is a petition to Gordon Brown asking him to make the restoration of the HMS Carrick/City of Adelaide a priority.
To date some 761 people have signed that petition. This will cost no money but all I ask is that you sign it on http://petitions.pm.gov.uk/cuttysarksister/sign and if 650 or 6,500 or even 65,000 sign the petition it might just persuade Gordon to actually make it happen.
Thank you.