The Fastest Ship in the World

    On the 17th of April, 1851, a ship was launched from the yard of James Smith at Marsh Creek in Saint John, New Brunswick, Canada. She was the largest ship the yard had ever built and they named her the MARCO POLO.
   Her lines and construction echoed the forward thinking in design and shipbuilding skills of her builders, a justifiable pride which had evidenced itself in New Brunswick-built ships that have sailed the world's oceans from the days of the first settlers through to the present. The MARCO POLO was of a unique design combining the underwater body of a clipper, sharp entrance and clean run, with the midship sections of a cargo carrier. She was one of the first ships built in New Brunswick whose framing consisted of tamarack and pitch pine, with stout planking of tamarack, pitch pine, and oak.

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