The owners of the blackball line gave him his best command
and he left the Cleopatra
that was tied up on the Strand
he'd been running oil and indigo down in the Azores
Was the red haired scarface Skipper
By the name of Bully Forbes
The Blackball ship in Salthouse dock
was rigged and clean and sleek
her orders were for Melbourne
and she'd sail within the week
she was the Marco polo
and placed under Forbes command
Was to run with British emigrants
down to van Deimans land
At the table of the Blackball line Bully drank his wine
and then he rose to speak and said
this ship will make good time
I have my charts and plotted course
we'll race the southern ways
If the Devil doesn't take me I will beat 200 days
Down in the roaring forties as he ran before a gale
the passengers were terrified and begged him shorten sail
But Forbes had climbed the poop deck high with pistols levelled true
Shouting "Hell or Melbourne" man your posts
ya cowardly cringing crew
The crew had tried to jump the ship to dig Victoria's gold
But Forbes had ordered
tie em up and throw them in the hold
They towed the ship across the bar
and hauled it out to sea
then he opened up the hatches shouting
Set the bastards free .
When he rolled into Liverpool
He swaggered in to say
its sixty eight days back
Your ship is anchored in the bay
The Marco Polo stood four square
Forbes had proved his worth
The pennant on the masthead read
"the fastest ship on earth"
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/a/a5/Vonstetinalightning.jpg/220px-Vonstetinalightning.jpg
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Baines_(clipper)
