Standing next to the charred remains of the Cutty Sark in London on Monday, the UK culture secretary, Tessa Jowell, was moved to pay tribute to this grand dame of British maritime heritage. "It's absolutely devastating," she said of the fire, with restrained exasperation. "This is an icon, not just here in Greenwich but right around the world."

Few would disagree - least of all the trustees of the Scottish Maritime Museum in Irvine who have sought to save the Carrick, the only other remaining clipper of its kind, from rotting away. Yet for the friends of the Carrick there was also a sharp irony in the reaction of public and government to the Cutty Sark fire and the talk of fundraising appeals that followed. The Cutty Sark has been undergoing restoration since last year which is projected to cost more than £25m, £18m of which has already been raised; next week, the Carrick is to be dismantled because a 15-year quest to find £10m for restoration has failed.

The ship has deteriorated so badly that any conservation work now would produce a replica rather than a restored original. For that reason, the museum's trustees have reluctantly come to terms with the Carrick's fate.

Yet Graham Kennison, one of the trustees, is still saddened by the contrasting fortunes of the two vessels. "If you added up all the capital grants the Scottish Maritime Museum has had, I don't think it would come to anywhere near £18m, and we've been in existence for a quarter of a century," he says.

At root, he and the museum's chairman, the former Scottish Executive minister Sam Galbraith, are saddened by what they see as a failure in Scotland to give due weight to the country's seafaring and shipbuilding importance since the age of sail, a heritage of international significance. "Scotland invented industrialised shipbuilding," says Kennison, pointing to the father of Clyde shipbuilding, Robert Napier, who at one time employed 8000 people. "The triple expansion engine which reused steam three times, thereby making fuel go further opened up the world's oceans to ships, and all the critical work on it was done in Govan."

He highlights the success of Norway in preserving its seafaring history, particularly skills such as building wooden ships and riveting, backed by national government. "My take on it is that in Scotland, if it ain't fine art or football, we're not interested."

Sam Galbraith regards what he sees as the failure to protect Scotland's maritime heritage as "an absolute disgrace". He explains: "Shipbuilding on the Clyde didn't just change this country, it changed the world. Of that legacy we have preserved almost nothing."

He accuses the National Museums of Scotland of showing not the "slightest interest" in maritime history. "Why do we have a fully funded museum of flight but not one on maritime history?" he asks. He is also critical of previous council administrations in Glasgow for preferring to give grants to other cultural concerns.

For the Scottish Maritime Museum, the Carrick has been a much-loved but expensive house guest. Built in 1864 in Sunderland and originally named City of Adelaide, it is one of only three composite vessels - ie made of wooden planking on an iron frame - left in the world (again, the Cutty Sark is another.) It holds the record of 65 days for the 12,000-mile trip from Adelaide to London, and carried a range of cargoes including wool and even Australian wine as early as the 1870s.

It was bought by the Admiralty in 1923, renamed HMS Carrick and later made into the Royal Navy Volunteer Reserve club. It spent 50 years berthed at Custom House Quay in Glasgow before sinking, mysteriously, in Princes Dock in 1990 (when it was raised a year later, there were no holes in it). It was acquired by the Clyde Ship Trust in 1990 for £1 and taken to the Irvine museum in 1992 - and the quest for funding began.

The Carrick is listed as one of Britain's 46 most important vessels by the National Historic Ships Committee, but in spite of serious approaches by businessmen keen to save it, it was finally deemed to be "beyond repair".

"We have scoured the world for 15 years looking for funding. Prime Ministers have discussed it," says Kennison. "But to me, now, she's gone. It's important to give her a dignified end. Without a solution, she's likely to drag down the rest of the museum."

Jim Tildesley, former director of the museum, believes that, in part, the Carrick has suffered by being where it is. Funders look at potential visitor numbers, which are much greater in the south-east of England. And then there's the question of profile. As Kennison puts it: "The Cutty Sark is a celebrity and the Carrick has never been."

Galbraith is not convinced, doubting there is enough funding out there to restore two clippers. But he does believe there should be a UK-wide maritime conservation policy to overcome "the problems of a wee country".

Those problems will not disappear with the Carrick. Scotland has a number of important vessels including the Discovery in Dundee, sailed by Captain Robert Scott to the Antarctic in 1902; Britannia, launched in Clydebank in 1953 and now moored in Leith; the Waverley paddle steamer; the Spartan, Scotland's only Scottish-built puffer, at the Scottish Maritime Museum; the Glenlee, the tall ship at Yorkhill Quay; and HMS Unicorn, a frigate built at the end of the Napoleonic wars, in Dundee. A recent outbreak of woodworm in Discovery's hull was found to be far less serious than first feared; it's the Unicorn whose future looks most uncertain.

The designated funding source for historic ships is the Heritage Lottery Fund. Dr Christopher Mason, chairman of the Clyde Maritime Trust, which looks after the Glenlee, says the fund is "overstretched". "There needs to be a recognition by government that the Heritage Lottery Fund cannot meet all the needs of maritime conservation. There ought to be, in my view, direct government funding," he says.

While this might sound like a big request, he points out the UK has a "rather small historic fleet". Conservationists currently chase money from local and central government, public fundraising and the munificence of millionaire benefactors. "With this haphazard system of funding, we have three Scottish ships on the national register - the Carrick, HMS Unicorn and the Discovery - and all three need substantial capital investment," says Mason. He is also concerned about maintenance and running costs. "No-one has the statutory obligation to maintain the maritime heritage with revenue funding."

As for the maritime museum, Sam Galbraith is "optimistic" about its future. As well as local authority funding, and generous extra support from Braehead shopping centre, the Scottish Executive has started supporting the land-based collection and vessels. He is relaxed, too, about the new riverside transport museum in Glasgow, which he does not see as a threat.

Even so, as the Carrick is broken up, many will be hoping against hope that none of Scotland's other great historic vessels suffer a similar fate.

Scottish Maritime Museum

The Unicorn: a rare beast indeed

HMS Unicorn in Dundee is described as "probably the most valuable vessel in Scotland," by Sam Galbraith, chairman of the Scottish Maritime Museum, a view echoed by Christopher Mason, chairman of the Clyde Maritime Trust. She urgently requires funding for conservation work.

The Unicorn was built in Chatham in 1824, shortly after the Napoleonic wars ended, using techniques that had hardly changed since the 1770s. For 130 years, she has been in Dundee. She was never masted and gunned; instead she was roofed over and laid up in reserve, meaning she was kept in excellent condition. Hers is almost certainly the best preserved wooden hull in the world. Her authenticity as a ship of the period is unrivalled.

The only ship older than the Unicorn afloat in the UK is the frigate Trincomalee, which has been restored in Hartlepool.

The Unicorn is at Victoria Dock, Dundee. Call 01382 200900 or visitFrigate Unicorn