Lot Essay
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. 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 which could 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 their 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 4 July 1852, with 950 passengers packed aboard her, she was towed out of the Mersey to begin her maiden voyage to Port Phillip, a journey which soon proved a milestone in the history of commercial sail. The usual passage time to Australia at that period 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 six months but smashing all previous records by an enormous margin. Her arrival 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 resloutely retained her own 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1861 with a full complement of passengers and (260,000 in gold, she was never involved in a major accident and was only withdrawn from regular sailings in 1867 after failing to pass her passenger survey.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 22 July 1883, whilst en route from Quebec to Liverpool carrying deals and broke up before she could be salvaged.
On 4 July 1852, with 950 passengers packed aboard her, she was towed out of the Mersey to begin her maiden voyage to Port Phillip, a journey which soon proved a milestone in the history of commercial sail. The usual passage time to Australia at that period 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 six months but smashing all previous records by an enormous margin. Her arrival 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 resloutely retained her own 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 22 July 1883, whilst en route from Quebec to Liverpool carrying deals and broke up before she could be salvaged.