American Black Ball Line by Captain E. A. Woods

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Document ID 9803526
Date 04-11-1939
Document Type Newspapers (Shipping News)
Archive Public Record Office, Northern Ireland
Citation American Black Ball Line by Captain E. A. Woods; PRONI D 2015/5/4; CMSIED 9803526
20698
                    [American BLACK?]
                        BALL LINE

                            by
                    Captain E. A. Woods

This Line was founded in 1817 by a group of New York
shipping men. These men, Isaac Wright, Francis Thompson,
Jeremiah Thompson and Benjamin Marshall, decided that
the trade to England needed fast and regular ships,
instead of the large wall-sided vessels which had been
built in the States to evade the tonnage laws.
After the war of 1812 the need for fast vessels to escape
the enemy had ceased and the cry arose for vessels with
greater cargo space and with greater comfort for
passengers. The idiotic tonnage laws then in force,
practically throughout the world, were evaded in every
way by the shipowner, and the shipbuilder began to build
large slow sailing vessels which were fashioned to carry
double the tonnage than dues were paid on. Valuable
cargoes, such as tea, could afford to pay a higher premium
for fast passages, but the ordinary cargoes could not.
In 1817 the above-mentioned four men decided that the
passenger traffic between New York and England needed a
regular fast service instead of the intermittent slow
sailing craft which then traded between Liverpool and
New York. The outcome of this decision was the founding
of the first "Line" between the United States and Europe.
The first regular packet left New York on January 5, 1818,
and the corresponding ship left Liverpool on the 1st of
the same month. The first four vessels owned by the Line
were the "Pacific," "Amity," "Courier," and "James Monroe."
"Pacific" was built before 1811 and was a ship of 384 tons.
"Amity" was built in 1816 of 382 tons, "Courier" in 1817 and
later "James Monroe." The first advertisement of the Line
was published in the New York Commercial Advertiser of Friday,
24th October, 1817, and continued with variations for several
years.
These ships were different to other vessels only in that
they sailed on regular days, irrespective of whether they
were loaded and their passenger list complete or not. They
did not offer better accommodation or better service. In
fact there were other ships on the Liverpool run larger and
more comfortable. But it was an advantage soon learnt by
shippers and travellers to be able to depend on a regular
sailing date.
"James Monroe" was the first ship to sail from New York,
and she left the wharf at New York in a blinding snowstorm
with eight passengers on board. In 1820 "Nestor" was bought.
She was a ship of 481 tons built at New York in 1815 and
originally owned by J. Pierpont. In 1821 "James Cropper,"
"William Thompson" and "Orbit" were added to the fleet.

               "KICKING" JACK WILLIAMS
Near the end of 1821 their first competitor appeared on
the scene with Byrne's, Trimble & Co.'s Red Star Line, to
be followed later by other packet lines. In 1822 "New York"
and "Liverpool" were built, and "Canada" was put on the run
in 1823. In February 1823 the firm decided to start
fortnightly sailings on the 1st and 16th of each month,
reducing the passage money to 35 guineas.
For the first six years the average Black Ball passage was
23 days to the eastward and 40 days westward. This was at a
time when passages of 60 to 90 days to the westward were
quite common.
The fastest ship of these early packets was "New York."
Sailing from New York on December 16, 1823, she landed her
passengers in Liverpool on the morning of 1st January, a
passage of 15 days 16 hours, which was the record for several
years. The record passage of 15 days from Liverpool to New
York was made by "Andrew Jackson" in 1860, when commanded
by Captain Jack Williams, immortalised in the chanty
[shanty?]: - Tis larboard and starboard on deck you will
sprawl,
For kicking Jack Williams commands the Black Ball.
In 1835 Captain Charles H. Marshall became the owner of the
Line. Marshall had been in command of the packets "James
Cropper," "Britannia," and "South America." He died in 1865,
but his son carried on the line until the '80's. The last
ship owned by him was "Alexander Marshall," of 1508 tons,
built in New York in 1864. The last ship built for the Line
was "Charles H. Marshall" in 1869. The ships gradually
increased in size until the 1500-ton mark was reached.
The distinguishing mark of the New York Black Ball packet
was a large black ball painted on the fore topsail. The
earlier ships were painted black from the waterline up,
with green boats, deckhouses and bulwarks. The later ships
had a black hull, with black ports on a white strake. Their
poop, deckhouses, lower masts, bowsprits and yards were
painted white with jibboom and upper masts black. Their
flag was a crimson swallow tail with a black ball in the
centre. All packets carried a white light at the bowsprit
cap from sunset to sunrise, but did not carry any sidelights.
As regards the comfort of the passengers, the Liverpool
Courier of the day described the staterooms as "being
fitted up with great taste, and with a studious regard
for the comfort and convenience of the passengers." The
doors of the staterooms were inlaid with a square of
plate glass, with an arch over each doorway, supported
by pillars of white Italian marble.
Needless to say, when other packet lines commenced to run
the racing became very exciting between the various
opposition ships. In 1837 the Black Baller "Columbus"
and the Dramatic liner "Sheridan" had a race from New
York to Liverpool for a stake of $10,000 a side. "Columbus"
won the race in 16 days. They left New York on Thursday,
February 2, 1837, and "Sheridan" arrived in Liverpool two
days behind "Columbus."
  This must be the first recorded trans-Atlantic race.