Black Ball Line
The Black Ball Line from CH Marshall & Co. was the first shipping line to offer regular passages across the Atlantic. The flag of the company showed a black ball on a red background.
The idea
The idea of having ships start at reliable times went back to the textile importer Benjamin Marshall. The first timetable was drawn up in October 1817. It stipulated that a ship should start in New York on the 5th of the month and one in Liverpool on the 1st of the month . The service was quickly expanded. From 1818 the ships of the Black Ball Line left New York twice a month , and later also from Boston and Philadelphia , to Liverpool. The departure times of the Black Ball Line ships ultimately determined the entire postal rhythm between the USA and Europe.
business
The company, founded in New York and led by Isaac Wright and son, Francis Thompson, Benjamin Marshall and Jeremiah Thompson, most of whom were Quakers , began operations on the James Monroe , the Pacific , the Amity and the Courier . Competition quickly developed on the east coast, as the concept of reliable departure times was well received by customers. The first shipping company to adopt the concept of the Black Ball Line was the Red Star Line in 1821 .
The first four ships all had around 400 gross tons. Soon the fleet was expanded; the next ships were mostly bigger. Within a short time u. a. the ships New York , Eagle , Orbit , Nestor , James Cropper , William Thompson , Albion , Canada , Britannia and Columbia were added.
The first trips according to the new timetable from 1818 were made by the Courier , which started in Liverpool on January 1, and the James Monroe , which left New York on January 5. She arrived in Liverpool on February 2nd. On average, the ships on the Black Ball Line took 25 days east and 43 days west in the first year.
The travel times were cut in half with the introduction of steam shipping. In the 1860s, more than 80% of all emigrants were using steamboats; the time of the great sailing ships and their shipping companies was over. The Black Ball Line lasted until 1878. As the last of the old companies, the Red Swallowtail Line gave up in 1880.
List of ships on the Black Ball Line
| Construction year (?) | Surname | tonnage | shipyard | Status / fate |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1815 | James Monroe | stranded off the Tasmanian coast in 1850 | ||
| Pacific | ||||
| 1816 | Amity | 382 GRT | new York | stranded off Manasquan on April 24, 1824 |
| 1822 | James Cropper | |||
| 1843 | Montezuma | 924 GRT | William Henry Webb , New York | stranded off New York on May 18, 1854 |
| 1844 | Yorkshire | 996 GRT | William Henry Webb, New York | lost on the voyage from New York in February 1862 |
| 1845 | Fidelia | 895 GRT | William Henry Webb, New York | |
| Courier | ||||
| 1846 | Columbia | 1050 GRT | William Henry Webb, New York | |
| 1847 | Isaac Wright | 1129 GRT | William Henry Webb, New York | caught fire on the Mersey on December 23, 1858 and sank |
| Orpheus | ||||
| new York | ||||
| 1850 | Manhattan | 1299 GRT | William Henry Webb, New York | left Liverpool for New York on March 14, 1863, lost en route |
| 1851 | Isaac Webb | 1359/1497 GRT | William Henry Webb, New York | drove for Charles H. Marshall & Co. after the Black Ball Line was dissolved and sank on October 25, 1880 |
| 1851 | Great Western | 1443 GRT | William Henry Webb, New York | |
| eagle | ||||
| orbit | ||||
| Nestor | ||||
| William Thompson | ||||
| Albion | ||||
| Canada | ||||
| Britannia | ||||
| 1854 | Harvest Queen | 1383 GRT | sank on December 31, 1875 after a collision off Ireland | |
| 1855 | James Foster, Jr. | 1410 GRT | William Henry Webb, New York | was sold to German owners as Hudson in 1881 |
| 1855 | Neptune | 1406 GRT | William Henry Webb, New York | ran aground off Nova Scotia in April 1876 and shattered |
| 1860 | Alexander Marshall | 1177 GRT | William Henry Webb, New York | sank in the North Atlantic in 1869 |
| 1869 | Charles H. Marshall | 1683 GRT | William Henry Webb, New York | was sold to Norway as souverain in 1887 and caught fire at the coal shop on March 20, 1891 |
Web links
- Brief description ( Memento of December 26, 2007 in the Internet Archive )
- More detailed description (English)
Individual evidence
- ↑ pbskids.org ( Memento of the original dated August 6, 2009 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
