I took some considerable notes on Blackball lines & all several years back when trying to sort it all out. I don't think I'll post them now as most of the questions seem to be answered. One that wasn't asked is howcome there is more than one Black Ball? The New York packet line started in 1818 as "The Old Line" but came to be called "The Black Ball Line" about 1840. When Baines started his line he simply pirated the name & logo for his own. Nothing is new in the world. But his was the third Black Ball. There was a second Black Ball line, a packet line, for a few years in the 1850's and a fourth one around 1900. But that last was steam so you may not want to count it.

Bully Forbes did indeed captain for Baines on the famous Marco Polo. (You can't always trust songs to be strictly accurate. In song, in "Hob Y Derri Dando," the Marco Polo winds up housing Cosher Bailey's engine. Of course it never had an engine and Cosher Bailey built a locomotive but them's just details.) Some of the stories about Forbes are ferocious and even awesome. He was not a very nice chap but was a very effective captain and, in his way, a truly inspiring personell manager.

Yes, Sovereign of the Seas and Champion of the Seas were two separate ships. Both extreme clippers built by Donald McKay for Baines, launched in 1852 & 1854, respectively.

Much good sailing ship info (and a good part of what I've gleaned) can be found at Lars Bruzelius' The Maritime History Virtual Archives, http://pc-78-120.UDAC.SE:8001/WWW/Nautica/Nautica.html