Footnotes

Literature :
'Samuel Walters, Marine Artist Fifty Years of Sea, Sail, & Steam'
A.S.Davidson 1992 p.87 www.jones-sands-publishing.com


The ‘Marco Polo’ was the most celebrated ship of the famous Black Ball Line of Australian packets and it was she who made the Line’s reputation with the travelling public. Under her equally famous commander, Captain J.N.Forbes, she was one of the most celebrated vessels of the period and was the subject of paintings both by Samuel Walters and also Thomas Dove of Liverpool. Built by James Smith at Marsh Creek, St. John, New Brunswick, she was launched in February 1851 at which time she grounded and was slightly damaged, a factor held by some to account for her legendary speed. Registered at 1,625 tons, she measured 185 feet in length with a 35 foot beam, and was designed as a flier intended to be driven hard. As soon as she was completed, Smith loaded her with timber and despatched her to Liverpool where he hoped to sell her; initially, no buyer was forthcoming but after a trip to Mobile for cotton, she was purchased by James Baines & Co. in June 1852. Baines owned the Black Ball Line and in his attempt to monopolise the Australian passenger trade, they sumptuously refitted ‘Marco Polo’s’ entire accommodation and then felted and coppered her hull before putting her back to work.

On 4th July 1852, with 950 passengers packed aboard her, she was towed out of the Mersey to begin her maiden voyage to Port Philip, a journey which proved a milestone in the history of commercial sail. The usual passage time to Australia then averaged 120 days yet ‘Marco Polo’ did the run in an astonishing 76 days although an epidemic of measles resulting in the tragic death of 52 babies marred the otherwise unqualified success of the new ship. Turning around in three weeks, she made the journey home in identical time thus completing the round trip in 5 months 21 days, not only the first such return within 6 months but smashing all previous records by an enormous margin. Her arrival back in Liverpool on Boxing Day 1852 caused a sensation and the Black Ball Line’s reputation for fast passages was established at a stroke.

After this flying start, ‘Marco Polo’s’ subsequent career could be said to lack excitement yet she resolutely retained her reputation for speed and steadiness even when driven hardest. Despite several groundings and collisions, including one with an iceberg when homeward bound in 1861 with a full complement of passengers and £260,000 in gold, she was never involved in a major accident and was only withdrawn from regular sailings in 1867 after failing to pass her passenger survey. Transferred to general freight cargoes, she was by then beginning to show her age and, after being damaged off South America in 1871, Baines put her up for sale. Her last years were a rather depressing catalogue of poor maintenance and general deterioration; changing hands several times in as many years, she ran ashore on Cavendish Beach, Prince Edward Island, on 22nd July 1883, whilst en route from Quebec to Liverpool carrying deals and broke up before she could be salvaged.

Her unrivalled reputation attracted the attention of the Illustrated London News, the issue of 23 February 1853 including a woodcut depicting the ship about to drop anchor against the background of the Liverpool waterfront. Apart from minor differences in the supporting vessels and other details,
the resemblance of the above painting to the published woodcut of the 'Marco Polo' suggests that this was the contemporary prime source. Particularly striking features in this connection, are the disposition of the sails and the unusual combination of a white ensign at the stern, a red ensign at the mizzen gaff, a Union Jack on the bowsprit, and the same anomalous Marryat flag hoist at the mizzen masthead.

We would like to thank Dr. Sam Davidson for his help in cataloguing this lot.