AROUND THE WORLD.

Auckland Star, Volume LXII, Issue 156, 4 July 1931, Page 4

AROUND THE WORLD.

GOSSIP CF THE PORTS.

LINK WITH BLACKBALLERS

(By LEE FORE BRACE.)

Is there a seaman with a mind all attuned to the glory and prestige his forefathers earned in the early days of sail who has not heard of the famous line of British clippers—ships without peers, the most celebrated and reliable of their day, and worthy of the best traditions of the Briton afloat? "Liverpool on her stern and bound to go" was a well-worn phrase in the 'sixties, and to 110 idle bravado or fo'c'sle boast was it due, for of the hundreds of vessels sailing out of the Mersey iu_ the days of the colonial boom, those of the celebrated Blackball Line were probably the best known, and more than any deserved the proud compliment, "Bound to go. During the 'fifties, and several years after, while the Australian gold rush was at its height, with the Crimea and the Indian Mutiny, British shipping had plenty to do, yet with the large numbers of experienced firms competing, fortunes in the shipping' business could not have been easily won, which makes the story oi the rocketing rise to fame of James Baines and his "Blackballed all the more remarkable. To my great surprise and delight, 1 met an old shipmaster this week, who, in his early manhood had sailed in Baines' ships. Captain George Harvey, of Arklc s Bay, is 83 years young, and there was a pardonable glow of pride on his face as he gave me his reminiscences of the great days when it was "Hell or Melbourne in Sixty Days." Captain Harvey's story is a deeply interesting one, and the details with which he was able to supply me regarding Baines and his clippers will fill many gaps in the meagre history we have concerning the colonial clippers. Captain Harvey's Story.

Here is Captain Harvey's story: "Baines was a little man with few pretentions to ship owning. His mother owned a small but profitable cook shop in Upper Duke Street, Liverpool, and Baines earned a precarious living by doing Customs clerical work for shipping firms. When going about his business he noticed a broom hoisted at the mainmast head of a dirty little stump-masted Nova Scotiaman. She had been seized by the bailiff for debt, and the mast-headed broom was the sign to all and sundry that she was to be sold by auction. Bluff bowed was the little ship, round as a barrel, and scorned by every nautical passer-by. Whether James Baines liked her appearance or not no one knows, but he borrowed her purchase price—a few hundred pounds—from his mother, and lie thus became possessed of his first vessel —the Sceptre. He placed her 011 the loading berth for Melbourne, and with a full cargo and passenger list she made a colonial voyage, returning Baines a net profit of over £10,000. The Sceptre was the modest beginning of the Blackball Line, the year being 1851. Gold had been discovered in Australia in 1850, but it was two years later when the real rush began. No power on earth could keep men away from the diggings; doctors, lawyers and every type of professional men, together with the police, the Customs official, even down to the Governor's cook, all forsook their usual round and went seeking gold, where, by report, they couldn't avoid finding it. I wasn't old enough to go sailing at that time," said Captain Harvey, "but when I made my first voyage in the great Marco Polo the story was just the same. As we sailed into Hobson's Bay in 1862 more than fifty deserted ships lay at anchor, their captains, and perhaps a few of their officers, being all that was left of their crews. Australia was the world's El Dorado to which every man took ship, and every firm had something to send out to this new land of wealth, and, therefore, a ship, running to the colonies was a speedy road to fortune such as James Baines clearly realised when his Marco Polo brought him both fame and riches. * "Baines. bought the Marco Polo from a marine store dealer, and like her predecessor, the Sceptre, she looked like nothing more than a square-sterned lump of a Quebec timberman, but here again this | wonderful little man scored, for not only had he a dark horse in this unsuspected flyer, but also from obscurity, he unearthed Captain James Nicol Forbes, the renowned 'Bully Forbes,' the man who made it a practice to padlock his topsail halyards when running the easting down, and who threatened to disrate an officer if he dared furl a sail or ease a sheet. "Fastest in ths World."

' "I remember the Marco Polo lying at the dockside in Liverpool with a huge banvas banner spread between her masts, on which was printed, "The Fastest Ship in the World." Hundreds went down to see her, and we were all filled with awe and admiration as we respectfully gazed as the redoubtable Forbes, majestically pacing the poop of his flyer, bedecked with gold and brass button like an admiral of the fleet. I would be about 10 years of age at that time, email for my age, and I shall never forget my disappointment when the mate of the Marco Polo chased me up the gangway when 1 had the audacity to ask him for a berth as deck-boy. I remember the day when Baines stowed 1000 people aboard tho Marco Polo; she was only 185 ft long and 38ft in beam, and as she pulled out of the dock there was a brass band playing, and thousands of people were assembled there to cheer her on her way. That was the beginning of a voyage which is talked about even to this day, but great as was the excitement at the departure of the Marco Polo it was nothing to what happened when she arrived back in the Mersey 5 months and 21 days later. Spcfcial editions of the newspapers were issued to tell the world that the Marco Polo was home again with £300,000 worth of gold in her holds, and had succeeded in breaking the record to Australia and back again. Special excursions were run from all over the Midlands to Liverpool to see the"great ship. The Lord Mayor of Liverpool gave 'Bully Forbes' a civic welcome, and he, with the dapper little Baines sitting by his side, made a triumphant procession in a carriage with four horses through the principal streets of Liverpool. , , , . , , . "After the Marco Polos arrival admission could only be obtained to enter the dock by a card issued by the authorities, and there were long queues of people nearly a mile in extent waiting their turn to the 'Blackballers' were the finest and the enter. There was touch of the theatrical about Baines and his doughty lieutenant. They knew the power of advertisement, and they took every advantage of their triumph to blazon forth to the world that speediest ships sailing the seven seas. On this occasion another canvas sign was spread between the Marco Polo's masts. This time it read, 'Melbourne or Hell in Sixty Days,' and the slogan caught on with the populace, so much so that the ship's passenger list was filled up in three days. The daring spirit of 'Bully Forbes' made him the most popular man in Liverpool. Despite the fact that passenger fares in the Marco Polo had been almost doubled by the subtle and boosting method of Baines' advertising, so keen were the gold seekers to reach Australia that they offered substantial premiums for berths in the famous vessel. On her sailing day Baines suggested to the dock authorities that 2/6 should be charged to all who wished to see the Marco Polo depart, and within an hour of the dock gates being opened every vantage point was crammed with sightseers. Never before, and certainly never again, will such a cheer be heard as the Marco Polo cast off her mooring and swung through the dock gates into the Mersey. There were three bands on this occasion, and when they massed together at the pierhead and played 'Rule Britannia.' the spectators went delirious with excitement. Baines was there in his carriage- and pair, andwhen his ship disappeared down the river the horses were taken from his carriage, long ropes attached '"-o the shafts, and accompanied by cheering hundreds he was dragged back to his office —the proudest man in all England." (To De concluded.)