SHIPS AND THE SEA

Evening Post, Volume CXX, Issue 155, 28 December 1935, Page 17

SHIPS AND THE SEA

Back in the fifties, the ideal ship was one which could stand any amount of driving, and which could combine the ability of, taking punishment with j that of showing a reasonable speed. The ship which came the nearest to reaching the ideal was the Marco Polo, which combined the strength of a frigate with the speed of a racing yacht.

The first of the big American clippers, she was built in the St. John yards of James Smith, and so was an vessel. Strength was built into her from the start, and could be seen in her bulldog bow, her square construction, and her heavy stern and

quarters. She looked a typical Quebec timber ship. Huge balks of pitch pine were-used as deck-beams;"1 icarefullyselected woods.; wereVfashioned into' her stem and stern frame, and naturally bent wood was used for her hanging and lodging knees. Her height-be-tween decks was no less "than Bft. With a gross tonnage of 1625 and a net tonnage of 1401, she measured "184 ft lin long, and had a beam of 36ft 3in. Despite this heavy appearance above water, the Marco Polo had extremely fine lines below. The lower' part of that apple-cheeked bow had a knifeblade edge and clean, hollow lines. OWNER AND COMMANDER. Contrary to\ usual a practice; she niade her first run to Mobile, and loaded cotton , there.'■*£Or; Liverpool where she arrived in the middle of 1851. It was customary for ships built on the American continent to cross first to Liverpool to be coppered and fitted out. Here she passed into McGee's hands, and he sold her to James - Baines, then a star, of "very small magnitude in the shipping world; At that tjme he was only 28 years old, and possessed the ships Maria and Cleopatra, which were employed in the Australian trade. Both ships had records above the average, due a great deal more to the capabilities of their skippers than to their own. Though only thirty,'the celebrated James Nicol Forbes, of' Aberdeen, had had command of both ships, and had driven them despite themselves into the clipper class.. It was to this man, fiery of temperament and quick of decision, that the command of Baines's latest acquisition fell. Of Him Basil Lubbock says in the "Blue Peter": "He * resembled his owner in. his "mercurial temperament,.his quick, decisive mind and fearless outlook, but, like his owner, *he could not stand'corn,' and when the crash came he' had not sufficient stability to stand up against it. But he was a superb seaman, whose daring in carrying sail has seldom been rivalled." His reputation of padlocking the sheets and hounding the crew with a pair. of revolvers, and his famous reply to a scared deputation of pas-

ROMANCE OF THE MARCQ POLO

THE FASTEST SHIP Oil HER B^

"Argus.") ■'. ,'. . ' : sengers, "Hell or Melbourne," are well known to. all. - •• . The Marco Polo . received as thorough, a fitting, out as any ship of her day. Her ladies', deck cabin and dinma saloon were roofed with maple, and had pilasters -panelled with • silvered glass. Ventilation was well attended to, and stained and painted glass was used in profusion. The whole "was brought to the height of fashion by embossed crimson velvet upholstery. Her accommodation was far and awaysuperior to that of any previous Liverpool emigrant ship, as she numbered among her conveniences a large land airy sick bay and the services of :two doctors. Mr. C. McDonald was picked as chief officer, and -Forbes himself selected Hie-, thirty A.B.s. An-

other thirty worked their passages, so that the ship was really splendidly! manned. .. , - OUT AND HOMfe. In the summer of 1852, when the gold rush to Australia was at its height, the ship was chartered by the Government Emigration Commission, and proceeded to take as passengers no fewer than 930 people. At the usual banquet held before the sailing of an emigrant ship Forbes made another famous remark, "I judge from the appearance of her sticks she will be obliged to go," he said, "and you must not be surprised if you find the Marco Polo in the river Mersey this day six months." Soon after clearing Liverpool on July 4, 1852, the ship showed her

I power to stand driving. When her crew settled down to work it was found that sail could be reduced from royals-to;'', double reefs in twenty minutes.. Her huge sail plan included three skysails set on sliding gunter masts, and. she had patent reefing gear fitted to her topsails. "" On the-run out she covered 1344 miles in four successive days, on one of which she 'did 364 miles. On September: 18,' at 11 a.m.;-she reached Port Phillip, a ; clear week .(ahead of the steamer' Australia; "Her sturdy, active little captain;develbped? on this trip the habit, of studying his Ship . from rather dangerous; vantage points, such as the end,of .the passaree boom. It was this constant watching which explained his freedom from accident. At the anchorage Forbes ' found a huge flee^of ships deserted by their crews; With the 'ruthlessness and quick decision,.that characterised him, he clapped his crew, under hatches for insubordination, to release them Mvhen being towed out. At 5: a.m. on October 11- she was off again, and six days later she ran.past the Aucklandsi ,On three successive; days she made' runs of ,316, 318, and" 306, miles, 'and she reached'the Horn "on November 3 with' a splendid burst of 353 miles. ", /.. IN UNPER SIX MONTHS. Ah> abandoned barque wasl passed on December 19 without overmuch'hesitation. On Boxing Day, 1852, an astounded waterman recognised the black, square-built hull of the flier coming up the river. Baines was himself incredulous, saying that the ship iad scarcely arrived out at Melbourne, but was soon convinced that Bully Forties's boast had been made good Between her fore and mainmasts a strip of canvas, bore the legend "The Fastest Ship in the' World." The round voyage had been made-in 5 months and 21 days,, and the Australia was again defeated by over aVeek.' On the next trip Forbes announced that he was trying a different -course and that he intended to do his best to beat the steamer Antelope. The second voyage was .started on Sunday, March 13, 1853, according to a superstition of the captain's. It was certainly rather strange' that on the brilliant first voyage the Marco Polo sailed on a Sunday, crossed the line both ways on Sundays, sighted the Cape on a Sunday, and arrived back in'the Mersey on a Sunday. On her second trip she took 648 passengers and - £90,000 in specie. A stowaway was later, discovered. : , ~ "Ladies and,gentlemen," -said the worthy commander :to his passengers; "last trip I astonished the world with the sailing of this ship. This trip I intend to astonish God Almighty." She broke.. rip records oh that trip; however, as she made Melbourne on May 29, 75 days after her English pilot hadleft her.,';;, -. ; ; f , ; On June 10 she was off again with 40 passengers- and £280,000 in golddust. Between' June 15 and 21 her fiaily run was over the 300 mark oh no fewer than seven occasions, and she covered a total of 2790 'miles. June 23 saw her bein^ forced'mercilessly through a field of small, ice, her bow copper being stripped away. Three days later, she was up with - the ship Kent, which; had" sailed' five, days before her. For several days the ice held her, but on July 1 she was off again, and on the four succeeding; days' she made 303, 332, 364, and .345 .mile'sV After a i poor run of,;luekvinvtjie*Atlantic,:; she-arrived in- the Mersey■;!on September 13, 95 days out, and only six months from Liverpool back again! . ' Forbes then handed over the Marco Polo to'his chief; officer, in order to take command of' the Lightning. Captain McDonald took her out with 666 passengers in 72 days, 12 hours, or 69 days land .to land,,and^biought- her home ,in ;78 days.-: i; ;.-;?..; >V- - ,-•'.'" •-.'. ■' ; Captain McDonald' was wanted' at the end;. ,of this \yoyage to command the James Baines, and for the next few voyages Marco Polo kept changing commanders. In 1854-55 Captain .Wild okmt er <? ut to »5 days and home in 85.,; This was not good enough, and on

her fif^h voyage Captain Clarke,took command. ■ He was 81 days outwards with 520 passengers, and 86 home with 125,0000z of gold. At the start of :her sixth voyage Marco Polo parted her tow-rope going out of the Mersey,; collided with a oarquei at anchor, and went aground off the Huskissoii Dock. However, she came off next flood and, sailing on December 7,. 1855, made an 83-day passage; Her next outward' Was 89 days in 1856. By.this time" she'was getting rather- water-soaked and strained, and in 1861 she had the misfortune ,to run into an iceberg) on March 4, when homeward bound. She managed to struggle into, Valparaiso with her bow stove" in, her bowsprit carried away, and her foremast sprung, after a month of incessant pumping. Here she was repaired, and-finally arrived in the Mersey, on August 21, 183 days out from Melbourne. • '-"'.;

In 1862 Captain Arnold was appointed to the command, and had her for the rest of her existence under the Black Ball flag. In 1867 the old ship left. Melbourne, homeward* bound, in company with the Great Britain, auxiliary steamship. A week later the Great Britain sighted a ship right ahead, which turned out.to be Marco Polo. In the light wind ,the sailer was soon left astern, and Great Britain made a good average passage. :-■ Off Cork her ; Captain asked his pilot if anything had. been, seen of Marco Polo. 'Yes, she passed up eight days ago" was the reply., The Marco Polo had .made the passage in 76 days. In 1873 J. WUson, of South Shields, bought the Marco Polo and put her into the Quebec arid Mediterranean trade, with Captain W. Thomas in command. In 1876 her owners were registered as Wilson andßlain, and in 1881 as Bell andi Lawes, ■' of.■.■'•• South Shields. After ten; years in the Quebec timber trade the wonderful old ship piled up on: Cape Cavendish, Prince Edward Island, in August; 188& The.;• ship and her cargo" of- pitch-pine were sold by auction.on August 6 and fetched-only £600.rA ••= / -; • ; . V ;Y. .