The City of Adelaide is rotting in a shipyard in Scotland

The City of Adelaide was built in 1864 by a Sunderland shipyard.

The vessel is the oldest surviving clipper in the world - the only other is the Cutty Sark.

Enthusiasts had urged city councillors in Sunderland to fund a restoration project, which would have seen the vessel return to Wearside as the star of a floating maritime museum.

But a feasibility study has sunk any chance of seeing the 140-year-old tall ship return to the River Wear.

Sunderland City Council commissioned the �25,000 study to see if the 176-feet long former passenger and cargo sailing ship could be brought home.

But the study concluded the vessel could never service the cost of its restoration.

But campaigners dispute the restoration costs, and also point out that the consultants believe the ship would make �80,000 profit a year as an attraction.

Alec Renwick, chairman of Sunderland Maritime Heritage, a group set up to save the Adelaide, said the fight to restore the ship would continue.

The City of Adelaide, later renamed The Carrick, made 23 voyages to South Australia transporting families from Britain and Ireland to the colony.

After serving as a passenger ship, cargo vessel and Royal Navy training clipper, she was eventually sold to the Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve on the River Clyde in Scotland.