City of Adelaide

[Sarongman]

No, I'm not talking about the capital city of South Australia, but I am talking about the oldest clipper ship. This, at the moment would, to the untrained eye, resemble a very large amount of firewood, however she is to be shipped back here to Australia where she will be restored to beat the Cutty Sark for age by 5 years---see www://cityofadelaide.org/ Just in case it isn't coming up (as it isn't on my trial) here is a picture.

Clipper%20Ship%20IMG_2782_e63bcc9f7c8099d0a12bf3d79a3cbd05.jpg

[Big and Bashful]

Is that the one which was lying abandoned on or near the Clyde, insearch of someone with the funds/ambition to rescue her, I knew she had been taken off somewhere for rescue.

[beachlion]

If you put .au behind org, the link will open.
Being Dutch and having worked in shipbuilding, it gives me pleasure to see a barge from a Dutch company as the transporter. But it gives me more pleasure to see that a crappy hulk will be restored to one of the nicest sailing ship types of all times.

[pleated]

Try-
http://cityofadelaide.org.au/

Departed just over seven hours ago.

[pleated]

Try-
http://cityofadelaide.org.au/

Departed just over seven hours ago.

Correction - it departed Scotland a month ago and has now left London after being renamed.

[Sarongman]

has now left London after being renamed.

Actually, after the ritual expunging of the Naval renaming, she had the original name restored.

[crfriend]

A "dreadful job of restoration" ahead or not, the lines of that hull grabbed my attention completely. Think about it for a moment -- a fine bow to cut the water, nice lines to allow the sea to flow 'round the hull, and a nice deep draught to carry cargo -- just what the doctor ordered. Couple that with a tall rig to catch the wind and rigging to manage it properly, that hull's a nice one.

Recall that these things weren't yachts -- they were revenue ships in every sense of the word, and needed to "make their nut" on every passage. Due to the stresses on them, however, and especially the more extreme clippers, they usually had short lifetimes before being sold off to "less stressful" duties. It's the latter point that explains why as many of the hulls survive today as do, else they'd likely have been lost at sea.

Who designed her and where was she built?

(Where's the "drooling" smiley?)

It's worth noting that as much as I love sailing, I have no desire to return to the "days of yore" when Tall Ships were killers of the men who went down to the sea in them. Steam slew the windjammers for a reason. Perhaps, just perhaps, with our much-vaunted technology we could automate the operation of the sails and rigging and not require flesh-and-blood to "run the rigging" aloft; however, Mother Nature has no pity, and salt-water seems to be an avowed enemy of all things technological (we learnt that little lesson this past July when the GPS on the boat quit because it got wet -- and nobody trusted the navigator until his prediction of "shallow water ahead" came true). Give me a warm berth on a proper steamer for a passage (or, even, a lowly motorship) as I do not want to contemplate the rigours required aloft in freezing salt-spray 50 feet above the waterline and heeling at 40 degrees trying to furl a sail. You see, the nasty stuff never happens in clean weather and it almost always happens at night.

[Sarongman]

You see, the nasty stuff never happens in clean weather and it almost always happens at night.

Well, with the Titanic (or was that really the Olympic! there's some debate that there was a clandestine switch made by the company due to technical problems!!!) there was calm weather then, but excessive speed, in the dark, to break records, coupled with the icebergs moving further south than they were supposed to--and the rest is history as they say. So at least the night bit rings true.

As you all may be aware, our eccentric multi billionaire and politician, Clive Palmer, is all set to replicate this ship, the Titanic, hopefully with the best navigation technology and more efficient, less labour intensive, engines. However if it was me wasting that huge amount of money, I'd replicate something else from just a few years later, namely the H.M.S. Renown. After a salvo from those 15 inch guns, I'd say "Look, Johnny Hoplophobe, oops, sorry Howard, I've got guns!" She was scrapped in 1948, the year I was born. Here she is in 1916.Titanic was a cart horse compared to this thoroughbred. I say beautiful

hmsrenownmpl572.jpg

[Big and Bashful]

Now that's a piece of hardware! quite a machine in it's day. The Fighting top seems like a really vulnerable feature though!

However, if going for a rebuild of WW2 armour I would be torn, I think the Bismarck was a wonderfully shaped ship, maybe technically not the best but her silhouette was to me the perfect battleship. I just had a look at a photo of HMS Vanguard, no, not as well shaped, but about the best RN Battleship to look at from that era. We Brits came up with some less than beautiful battlewagons.

Yep, Bismarck or Scharnhorst classes, basically steel mountains covered in guns. I certainly wouldn't pick a fight with one on a dark night!

[Sinned]

.... or any other time, day or night, dark or light, for that matter.

[Milfmog]

I think the Bismarck was a wonderfully shaped ship, maybe technically not the best but her silhouette was to me the perfect battleship. I just had a look at a photo of HMS Vanguard, no, not as well shaped, but about the best RN Battleship to look at from that era. We Brits came up with some less than beautiful battlewagons.

My stepfather served on HMS Rodney; she was not a pretty ship, but her guns made quite a mess of the Bismark once the ancient stick and rag flying machine had jammed the German's steering...

Have fun (and don't irritate gunnery officers with three triple 16 inch guns trained in your direction),


Ian.

[beachlion]

For over 20 year I worked for a shipyard that mainly made tugs and transporters. But we made also three sailing ships.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eendracht_(1989_ship)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stad_Amsterdam
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cisne_Branco

For me it was a real pleasure to work on those ships, even if it was only designing and purchasing parts.

[Big and Bashful]

Ah! tallships, now they are truly beautiful!

[Jack Williams]

What absolutely lovely ships! They bring tears of joy to my eyes.

[Jack Williams]

Here's a nice boat in Auckland harbour right now.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/80568331@N ... /lightbox/