After being served with an eviction notice by the owners of the slipway, the Scottish Maritime Museum sought the deconstruction of the ship on more than one occasion, while rescue proposals were developed by groups based in Sunderland and South Australia.

As this trade peaked at the same time as conflicts in Europe, a great mass of refugees sought cheap passage on the timber-trade ships, that would otherwise be returning empty, creating an unprecedented influx of new immigrants in North America.

Having been built in the years prior to Lloyd's Register publishing their rules for composite ships, City of Adelaide is an important example in the development of naval architecture.

[5][6] The UK's Advisory Committee on National Historic Ships describes the significance of City of Adelaide in these terms:[3] She highlights the early fast passenger-carrying and general cargo trade to the Antipodes.

Her composite construction illustrates technical development in 19th shipbuilding techniques and scientific progress in metallurgy and her self-reefing top sails demonstrate the beginnings of modern labour saving technologies.

This extra strength from 'over-engineering', together with the good fate to have benefited from human habitation and/or husbandry through to the late 1990s, has likely been a major factor why City of Adelaide has survived, even after being grounded on Kirkcaldy Beach in South Australia for a week in 1874 (see below).

[11] The remaining two quarter-shares were taken up by South Australian interests – Harrold Brothers[12] who were the agents in Adelaide, and Henry Martin,[13] the working proprietor of the Yudnamutana and Blinman copper mines in the Flinders Ranges.

[citation needed] Of the thousands of sailing ships involved in the timber trade between North America and the United Kingdom, City of Adelaide is the last survivor.

[24] After the war the ship was scheduled for breaking up, but through the work of Commodore James Graham, Duke of Montrose, Vice-Admiral Cedric S. Holland and Admiral Sir Charles Morgan, she was presented by the Admiralty to the R.N.V.R.

It commenced seeking ways of securing the ship's future and passing on ownership, and contacted various bodies with potential interest including the then recently established Scottish Maritime Museum.

The Clyde Ship Trust was placed in a position of embarrassment, for, being already in debt, it was unable to put forward the funds required for a major salvage operation.

[29] Faced with these potential demands, and unable to find a buyer for the vessel, in May 2000 the trustees of the Scottish Maritime Museum applied to North Ayrshire Council for listed building consent to deconstruct City of Adelaide.

The conference was chaired by Admiral of the Fleet Sir Julian Oswald, and in addition to the Duke of Edinburgh was attended by representatives of the High Commission of Australia in London, Save the City of Adelaide 1864 Group, City of Sunderland Council, Cutty Sark Trust, Department for Culture, Media and Sport, Heritage Lottery Fund, Historic Scotland, North Ayrshire Council, National Historic Ships Committee, Scottish Executive, Scottish Maritime Museum, Government of South Australia, and Sunderland Maritime Heritage.

In February 2006 the results of the feasibility studies identified that the cost to comply with current maritime passenger safety regulations for seagoing vessels would be more expensive than building a replica.

Edwards decided not to take up his original option of acquiring City of Adelaide but his charitable efforts had provided another three years of reprieve and a protective cover to shield the clipper from the elements.

[33] After three years the Scottish Maritime Museum was back in its original predicament, but the situation was worsened as the volunteer organisations that had previously been campaigning to acquire City of Adelaide had now been on hiatus since 2003.

[36] After the proposal was gazetted by the council 132 letters of objection were received, including representations from preservation groups in Sunderland and Australia, and from several Australian institutions.

[38] The North Ayrshire Council decision prompted the South Australian organization Save the City of Adelaide 1864 Action Group to reform after being in hiatus since the 2003 Edwards proposal.

In March 2009 CSCOAL launched an e-petition on the 10 Downing Street website, calling on the British Prime Minister to intervene to save City of Adelaide and gift the ship "to the people of South Australia".

[49] In May 2010 Minister Hyslop accepted from Irene Oldfather a copy of a diary kept by James Anderson McLauchlan, a 21-year-old Scot who migrated to South Australia on City of Adelaide in 1874.

The presentation was intended to highlight the importance of City of Adelaide from the human perspective, and the experiences "shared by thousands of other people who made the journey across the globe for a new life".

[50] In July 2010 The Duke of Edinburgh gave a rare radio interview reflecting on the 40th anniversary of the rescue of the SS Great Britain, and commented on the hideous trap that City of Adelaide was in.

[54] In advance of the vessel's removal, the Scottish Maritime Museum commissioned Headland Archaeology to undertake a detailed 3D laser survey of City of Adelaide.

[59] Unrelated to the SCARF protest, a delay to the project of nearly a year occurred as the Scottish Maritime Museum went through protracted negotiations with the slipway owners for access to their land to enable the removal of the clipper.

On 20 September 2013 City of Adelaide left the Irvine River aboard the barge towed by the tug Dutch Pioneer, and entered open water, commencing her journey south.

[65] CSCOAL arranged for the vessel to be towed upstream to Greenwich, and moored near Cutty Sark, a few days ahead of a ceremony on 18 October at which the Duke of Edinburgh formally renamed Carrick as City of Adelaide.

[71][72] Effectively representing her old timber trade voyages, City of Adelaide crossed the Atlantic arriving in the United States' port of Norfolk, Virginia on 9 December.

[71] On 5 January 2014,[74] the passage briefly departed from the historic route for Palanpur to take on fuel in Cape Town, South Africa, a port frequented by City of Adelaide on northbound voyages and last visited in 1890.

[71] Steaming from Cape Town, the voyage strayed from the historic clipper route a final time, calling on Port Hedland, Western Australia (between 23 and 26 January) where Palanpur offloaded six locomotives from Virginia.

[79][80] On 28 September 2015 David Brown of the Clyde Cruising Club presented the bible from the SV Carrick to the current owners in Port Adelaide for display in the ship.