Historic clipper to head to Adelaide The world's oldest clipper ship is being readied in Scotland for a final voyage back to Adelaide. THE world's oldest clipper and the only surviving purpose-built sailing ship to bring migrants from Europe to Australia is being readied in Scotland for its final voyage back to Adelaide. After languishing near Glasgow for about 20 years, the hull of the City of Adelaide ship will be transported to London next month where it will moor for several days on top of a large barge near its famous sister ship, the Cutty Sark. The clipper will then make the 22,000 kilometre trip to Adelaide and is expected to arrive by April next year. The voyage will end a 14-year campaign by engineers, maritime historians, enthusiasts and descendants of the ship's original passengers to bring it back to South Australia. "I can almost picture the spectacle as the clipper is transported up the River Thames to Greenwich, bringing together the two last original 19th century clipper ships," project director Peter Christopher said. I am sure it will create international media interest in South Australia and in Adelaide's determination to save the ship. The City of Adelaide has strong links to South Australia, having brought thousands of settlers and their supplies to the new colony in the 19th century, each time returning cargo to England, including copper from local mines. The clipper's sailing days ended in 1893, but it continued to serve as a training ship and a floating hospital at one stage before it sank in a dock in Glasgow in 1990. It was later raised and moved to the banks of the River Irvine from where it was long regarded as unrecoverable. Demolition appeared the likely option until the Adelaide group stepped in, offering an alternative. Since then engineering firms across SA have worked together to create a $1.2 million prefabricated steel cradle that would allow the ship to be rolled across a temporary bridge over river mudflats and onto a low-draft barge. Once returned to Adelaide it will become the centrepiece of the Seaport Village in Port Adelaide, welcoming tourists and other visitors.