The Black Ball Line initially consisted of four packet ship

Packet ship

A "packet ship" was originally a vessel employed to carry post office mail packets to and from British embassies, colonies and outposts. In sea transport, a packet service is a regular, scheduled service, carrying freight and passengers...

s, the Amity, Courier, Pacific and the James Monroe. All of these were running between Liverpool

Liverpool

Liverpool is a city and metropolitan borough of Merseyside, England, along the eastern side of the Mersey Estuary. It was founded as a borough in 1207 and was granted city status in 1880...

, England

England

England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...

 and New York City

New York City

New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...

. 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.
The line was founded by a group of New York Quaker merchants headed by Jeremiah Thompson

Jeremiah Thompson

Jeremiah Thompson was a New York merchant, ship owner, Quaker, officer in the New York Manumission Society , and co-founder including Isaac Wright in 1817 of the famous Black Ball Line...

, and included Isaac Wright

Isaac Wright

Isaac Wright was a Quaker investor who esblished the first scheduled trans-Atlantic shipping service between New York and England and was a president of City National Bank.Wright was born in Sheffield...

 & Son (William), Francis Thompson and Benjamin Marshall. All were Quakers except Marshall. In 1851, James Baines & Co.

James Baines & Co.

James Baines & Co. of Liverpool was the parent company of a fleet of packet ships running between Liverpool, England and Australia under the name of Black Ball Line.-History:...

 of Liverpool entered the packet trade

Packet trade

Packet trade generally refers to any regularly scheduled cargo, passenger and mail trade conducted by ship. The ships are called "packet boats" as their original function was to carry mail.-United States:...

 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

Packet trade

Packet trade generally refers to any regularly scheduled cargo, passenger and mail trade conducted by ship. The ships are called "packet boats" as their original function was to carry mail.-United States:...

. James Baines & Co. also operated ships running between Liverpool and Australia, including famous clipper

Clipper

A clipper was a very fast sailing ship of the 19th century that had three or more masts and a square rig. They were generally narrow for their length, could carry limited bulk freight, small by later 19th century standards, and had a large total sail area...

 ships such as Champion of the Seas

Champion of the Seas

Champion of the Seas was the second large clipper ship destined for the Liverpool, England - Melbourne, Australia passenger service. Champion was ordered by James Baines of the Black Ball Line from Donald McKay...

, James Baines

James Baines (clipper)

The James Baines was a passenger clipper ship completely constructed of timber in the 1850s and launched on 25 July 1854 from the East Boston shipyard of the famous ship builder Donald McKay in the USA for the Black Ball Line of James Baines & Co., Liverpool...

, Lightning

Lightning (clipper)

Lightning was a clipper ship, one of the last really large clippers to be built in the USA. She was built by Donald McKay for James Baines of the Black Ball Line, Liverpool, for the Australia trade....

, Indian Queen, Marco Polo

Marco Polo (ship)

Marco Polo was a 3-masted wooden clipper ship, launched in 1851 at Saint John, New Brunswick. It was named after Venetian explorer Marco Polo.-Construction and design:She measured 184 feet in length, with a beam of 36 feet, and draught of 29 feet...

 and Sovereign of the Seas

Sovereign of the Seas (clipper)

The Sovereign of the Seas, a clipper ship built in 1852, was a sailing vessel notable for setting the 1854 world record for fastest sailing ship-- 22 knots.Sovereign of the Seas has held this record for over 100 years.-Notable passages:...

.

The Black Ball Line is mentioned in several sea shanties

Sea Shanties

Sea Shanties is the debut album of Progressive Rock band High Tide. The cover artwork was drawn by Paul Whitehead.-Production:Denny Gerrard produced Sea Shanties in return for High Tide acting as the backing band on his solo album Sinister Morning...

, such as "Blow the Man Down

Blow the Man Down

Blow the Man Down is a sea shanty. The lyric "Blow the man down" refers to the act of knocking a man to the ground.-Lyrics:The full lyrics areChorus:Oh, blow the man down, bullies, blow the man downWay aye blow the man down...

," "Homeward Bound", and "Hurrah for the Black Ball Line."

List of Black Ball Line ships

Year (?)	Name	Tonnage Tonnage Tonnage is a measure of the size or cargo carrying capacity of a ship. The term derives from the taxation paid on tuns or casks of wine, and was later used in reference to the weight of a ship's cargo; however, in modern maritime usage, "tonnage" specifically refers to a calculation of the volume...	Shipyard	Status/fate
1815	James Monroe			aground in 1850 off the Tasmanian coast
	Pacific
1816	Amity	382 BRT	New York	stranded on 24 April 1824 in Manasquan
1822	James Cropper
1843	Montezuma	924 BRT	William H. Webb, New York	stranded on 18 May 1854 in New York
1844	Yorkshire	996 BRT	William H. Webb, New York	in February 1862 lost on the trip from New York
1845	Fidelia	895 BRT	William H. Webb, New York
	Courier
1846	Columbia	1050 BRT	William H. Webb, New York
1847	Isaac Wright	1129 BRT	William H. Webb, New York	fell on fire on 23 Dec. 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, Ireland
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
1869	Charles H. Marshall	1683 BRT	William H. Webb, New York	In 1887 sold to Norway as Sovereign and takes fire on 20 March 1891 at the coal loading