THE OLD MARCO POLO.

Manawatu Standard, Volume IV, Issue 14, 14 December 1883, Page 2

THE OLD MARCO POLO.

The Last ot a Famous. Sp3. , j) yy A 7^ 7 -- "i | a. The adctioa^of the wreck of the sail-.! ing ship Marco iVio^iati^nnc^jSidw^rd!^ Island the other day, supplied the last act m the career piAthis once fanious vessel • There are probably none who" lived m Livorpool some thirty years ago but will have a lively recollection of the Marco Polo. Her name m Liverpool was a household word, and her praise was on the ips ol all, who Tme"wTieT\ """Coming newly from the builders' hands at the time when the Australiaii n^qldfieJdj.,jwere.^.j|JtUCACting. so much attention, the Marco Polo was soou drafted into the passenger carrying trade between the Mersey and the vising Colony pf/;Australia. It was at that tiu'ieV perhaps move than any pJher, )f A*hrn the ;C:xptuin,of ; thf : Aus Cfaliaft diapers endeavored to excel .each, other, m the smartness of their trips -and then it was then that the celebrated Captain Forbes came under the publid: hotlce. Captain. Forbes had ; n>ade many - successf iil passages ; bnt the zenith of his popularity, was gained whilst m commaend of'ttie'M^rcb'Polp. The Marco Polo was built at St. John's, aiid, after making one or two quicik voyages to other ports, she was placed iamong the well-known, fleet managed l hy 'Mr Jkmets 'Bairf^s, bf ; Liverpool. On her first trip to tho Colony the Marco Polo had on boavd several hundred passengers besides HerMajestys mails; Inexactly 165 days the Mario Polo was back m the Mersey, to tlie astonishment of everbody, "including her bwheiv- indeed, it is stated that on .the. day of her arrival a watermap meeting Mr ? Jatri^jßaiH^S m the •mree't," said ,r^^hrfMafeTT P&Rr* is coming uff the riveh" "Nonsense man," retmneclMr Baines*, "the Mavco Polo has not arrived out yet," In less than abdiour MrAßaines was face to facie with the commander. Those were the •days when telegraphy * was J)jitTjhiit«d, . and MaVcO - P^o bringing her own .mails, it was very difficult to glean anything of her movements until she arrived. The fame of the passage„prea<l ■rapidly throughout Etiilhnd, hiitf ' iii J Liverpbo : r,there was q'riiWa 'fdi*ore of r excite«iien,fc. When the vessel entered ; the w^lthduse Docks the ' f ,^uayS 'were ' cvov^ded with people. -APhe'Ji'bWners, I tailing advantage of the^bdcasitjiriV had a' lar^e.pi«)c^ of canvas jmt frorh ! l!lie fore to tv? main mast on which were pfihted inboid letters the words, "The fastest vj^sel. m the world." Tlie Marco ¥jpfo made mkn^ subsequent a^i^ quick 5 jaa-sj-sag^toAustralia,.The,iksfscbne iiftne'.pldvessers careershr/ws her as S timbev c^vriev, while acting; in.thil capacitjr:s'lip became stranded J ,aJrid tffTbc^t^ a^ondon,P.E. f . The rdniaih^ of tbeold-' Marco, Polo now belon<j"io*- ! Mes^re 3?.' '[ Laiitaiam & Co., who at' the f, auctioh/ j paid _£6Q|j for them, along -with - 7 th'e ,'cap'gq of pitch pine. ; ' f lvl J" ' •