Known as the ‘World’s Fastest Clipper Ship,’ the Marco Polo was sought after across the globe. The Marco Polo was a 1,626-ton, 56–meter, three-decked sailing ship built from the wood left over from 6 or 7 other ships. She was launched on April 17, 1851, at Marsh Creek, New Brunswick and it was this event that many people claimed to be why she was so fast. “She ‘hogged’ or became so stuck in the mud at her launching that her keel was permanently twisted” (Atlantic Advocate 1981, 62). Still to this day, this ‘accident’ could not be duplicated.

The Marco Polo was the fastest and most famous of all Maritime-built ships. Her speed was witnessed when she made a trip from England to Australia that normally took 100-120 days in only 68 days while carrying 980 passengers and 30 crew. The return trip was made in 71 days. The Marco Polo was used for trade and in 1880, she was purchased by a Norwegian Company to haul wood.

In 1883, the Marco Polo would be in another spotlight, but this time it would be one of tragedy. On July 25, 1883, at thirty-two years of age and never having fully recovered from her collision with an iceberg down around Cape Horn, strained and leaking, her pumps powered by a windmill and caught in an ferocious gale, she went ashore at Cavendish.

The ship was in the Gulf of St. Lawrence when a terrible storm with strong winds and heavy rain hit the area. “Waves crashed over the vessel and Captain P.A. Bull and the ship’s crew struggled valiantly with their waterlogged ship” (Atlantic Advocate 1981, 62).

Every effort was made, but the Marco Polo stood no chance against the incoming water. Nothing more could be done to save the ship, and it was decided to beach the badly leaking vessel in a attempt to save the crew and the cargo. Only 300 yards from shore, the captain ordered the crew to cut the rigging, the foremast and the main mast. “The mizzen-topmast went over with a crash that could be heard for miles above the roaring storm” (Atlantic Advocate 1981, 64).

All Islanders could do was pray for the crew trying to leave the ship and hope that they could see their sign on which was written “stick to the ship at all hazards” on a board. Luckily the crew did and refrained from trying to come ashore.

The next morning, the sea was manageable enough to bring the crew in by boats. The crew made their way to the shore, stopped, looked out at the ship and counted their blessings.

Plans were made to salvage the load that the ship was carrying and arrangements were made to sell the lumber. A month later another storm raged but this time the Marco Polo lost the fight and sank to the depths below.

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