Cllr Maddison on-board the Adelaide

A DETERMINED campaigner who has fought for ten years to save the Carrick has moved aboard the historic clipper in a last ditch bid to save it from certain destruction.

Councillor Peter Maddison travelled up from Sunderland on Monday and has began living on the 150-year-old-ship in an effort to bring wider attention to the plight of the 150-year-old boat, which now faces demolition after the task of dismantling it was put out to tender last week.

The persistant politician and chair of the Sunderland City of Adelaide Recovery Foundation told the Times he had brought a sleeping bag and enough food and water for a week for his fight to rescue the boat. As police officers approached him, he said:

"After ten years of persevering and ten years of talking with all these people and agencies it hasn't worked.

"All this talking hasn't worked and the ship will be destroyed. In just six or seven weeks it will be taken to pieces.

"The ship is far, far too important and that cannot be allowed to
happen."

Meanwhile, in recent months the City of Sunderland councillor had been making headway with his plans to have the boat returned to the Wearside where it was originally constructed.

He had won the backing of his council leader and had gleamed several high-profile business backers and celebrity endorsements.

Councillor Maddison, who named his daughter Adeliade after the boat, said: "We have to think long and hard about this. The ship isn't just very dear to me but also very, very dear to the people of Sunderland."

The Carrick was previously the responsibilty of the Scottish Maritime Museum and sits on a Harboursde mooring owned by Ayrshire Metals, who now want the area vacated.