The Black Ball Line (originally known as the Wright, Thompson, Marshall, & Thompson Line, then as the Old Line) was a passenger line founded by a group of New York Quaker merchants headed by Jeremiah Thompson, and included Isaac Wright & Son (William), Francis Thompson and Benjamin Marshall. All were Quakers except Marshall.[1]

The line initially consisted of four packet ships, the Amity, Courier, Pacific and the James Monroe. All of these were running between Liverpool, England and New York City. This first scheduled trans-Atlantic service was founded in 1817. In operation for some 60 years, it took its name from its flag, a black ball on a red background.[2][3]

History

England, a packet ship of the Black Ball Line

The Wright, Thompson, Marshall, & Thompson Line was founded in 1817 and began shipping operations in 1818. At some point in the line's history it became known as the Old Line and eventually became known as the Black Ball Line after the 1840s.[1] The Black Ball Line established the modern era of liners. The packet ships were contracted by governments to carry mail and also carried passengers and timely items such as newspapers. Up to this point there were no regular passages advertised by sailing ships. They arrived at port when they could, dependent on the wind, and left when they were loaded, frequently visiting other ports to complete their cargo. The Black Ball Line undertook to leave New York on a fixed day of the month irrespective of cargo or passengers. The service took several years to establish itself and it was not until 1822 that the line increased sailings to two per month; it also reduced the cost of passage to 35 guineas.

The sensation this created brought in competitors such as the Red Star Line, which also adopted fixed dates. The average passage of packets from New York to Liverpool was 23 days eastward and 40 days westward. But this was at a period where usual reported passages were 30 and 45 days respectively, while westward passages of 65 to 90 days excited no attention. The best passage from New York to Liverpool in those days was the 15 days 16 hours achieved at the end of 1823 by the ship New York (though often incorrectly reported as Canada).[4] The westward crossing had a remarkable record of 15 days 23 hours set by the Black Ball's Columbia in 1830,[5] during an unusually prolonged spell of easterly weather which saw several other packet ships making the journey in 16 to 17 days. Captain Joseph Delano was reported to be "up with the Banks of Newfoundland in ten days".[6][7]

Captain Charles H. Marshall

In 1836 the Line passed into the hands of Captain Charles H. Marshall, he gradually added the Columbus, Oxford. Cambridge, New York, England, Yorkshire, Fidelia, Isaac Wright, Isaac Webb, the third Manhattan, Montezuma, Alexander Marshall, Great Western, and Harvest Queen to the fleet.[8]

The Black Ball Line is mentioned in several sea shanties, such as "Blow the Man Down," "Homeward Bound", "Eliza Lee", "New York Girls", and "Hurrah for the Black Ball Line."

List of Black Ball Line (USA) ships

Year built Name Tonnage Length Beam Shipyard Remarks

1807 Pacific A. & N. Brown, New York Sold in 1819 and became a whaler[9]

1816 Amity 382 (bm) New York stranded on 24 April 1824 in Manasquan

1817 Courier 381 tons 103'6'' 29' S. Wright, New York Was a whaler from 1826 to 1861 and a part of the Great Stone Fleet during the Civil War[9]

1817 James Monroe 424 tons 118 ft 28'3'' A. Brown, New York The first packet of the Black Ball liner to depart on time, 5 January 1818;[9] left the packet service in 1823 to the Cuban trade; ran aground in 1850 off the Tasmanian coast

1819 Albion New York wrecked off the coast of Ireland, near Kinsale, April 25, 1822, with a loss of forty-six lives

Liverpool wrecked on her maiden voyage[9]

1822

Ship Superior

Isaac Webb

In 1822, Isaac Webb built the three-masted ship Superior in New York City for Charles Hall of the Black Ball Line.[10]

1822 James Cropper

1832 South America[9]

1843

Montezuma

924 (bm) William H. Webb, New York wrecked on Jones Beach, Long Island, 18 May 1854.[11]

1843

Yorkshire

996 (bm) William H. Webb, New York in February 1862 lost on the trip from New York

1845

Fidelia

895 (bm) William H. Webb, New York

1845

Charles H. Marshall

1683 (bm) William H. Webb, New York In 1887 sold to Norway as Sovereign; burned while loading coal 20 March 1891

1846 Columbia 1050 (bm) William H. Webb, New York

1847 Isaac Wright 1129 (bm) William H. Webb, New York caught fire on 23 December 1858 on the Mersey and sank

Orpheus

New York

1850 Manhattan 1299 BRT William H. Webb, New York broke out on 14 March 1863 Liverpool en route to New York; disappeared

1851 Isaac Webb 1359/1497 BRT William H. Webb, New York went to the dissolution of the Black Ball Line for Charles H. Marshall & Co. and sank on 25 October 1880

1851 Great Western 1443 BRT William H. Webb, New York

Eagle

Orbit

Nestor

William Thompson

Albion

Canada

Britannia

1854

Harvest Queen

1383 BRT sank 31 December 1875 after a collision, in the Irish Channel

1855 James Foster, Jr. 1410 BRT William H. Webb, New York was in 1881 as a Hudson sold to German owners

1855 Neptune 1406 BRT William H. Webb, New York ran in April 1876 to the Nova Scotia coast and broken

1860 Alexander Marshall 1177 BRT William H. Webb, New York sank 1869 in the North Atlantic

Similar shipping lines

In 1851 James Baines & Co. of Liverpool entered the packet trade using the same name and flag as the New York company, despite its protests. Thus, for about twenty years, two "Black Ball lines" under separate ownership were operating in direct competition on the transatlantic packet trade. James Baines & Co. also operated ships running between Liverpool and Australia, including famous clipper ships such as Champion of the Seas, James Baines, Lightning, Indian Queen, Marco Polo and Sovereign of the Seas.[1]

The Saint John-Liverpool Packet Line which existed for a couple of years in the 1850s was also known as the Black Ball Line. It was managed by Richard Wright, St. John, and William and James Fernie, in Liverpool.[1]

In 1894 Charles Peabody, a descendant of one of the founding Marshall brothers, created the Alaska Steamship Company and used a variation of the Black Ball Line's flag. In 1928 Peabody's son Alexander Marshall Peabody used that flag for his own new Puget Sound Navigation Company, which operated ferries under the name "Black Ball Line." Black Ball Ferry Line, a successor company to Puget Sound Navigation Company, currently operates the MV Coho daily across the US/Canada border. The Coho crosses from Port Angeles, WA to Victoria, BC.[12]