On his arrival in Hobson’s Bay, Captain Forbes found some 40 or 50 ships waiting to sail, held up for want of crews; whereupon he promptly had his own crew clapped into prison on a charge of insubordination, with the result that they were ready to hand when he wanted them and thus he was able to set sail again for Liverpool on 11th October, 1852. Leaving at 5 a.m. on the 11th, the _Marco Polo_ passed Banks Straits on the 12th and sighted the Auckland Islands on the 17th. On her passage to the Horn she made three successive runs of 316, 318 and 306 miles, and on 3rd November when she made the Horn she logged 353 knots in the 24 hours, the weather being recorded as fine. On the 5th November she passed Staten Island; and on 19th December saw a barque apparently abandoned, and an empty long-boat painted stone colour. Forbes showed blue lights and fired rockets, but, receiving no reply and being naturally in a great hurry, proceeded on his way; and finally arrived off Holyhead at 3 p.m. on Christmas Day and anchored in the Mersey on Sunday, 26th December, 1852, 76 days out from Melbourne and only five months and 21 days out on the whole voyage. This was so much a record that many shipping people when they recognised her lying in the Mersey thought that she must have put back disabled in some way. And the story goes that a waterman, meeting James Baines in the street, said:—“Sir, the _Marco Polo_ is coming up the river.” “Nonsense, man,” returned Mr. Baines, “the _Marco Polo_ has not arrived out yet.” Less than an hour after this assertion, James Baines found himself face to face with Captain Forbes. When the ship hauled into the Salthouse Dock, the quays were crowded with people. Between her fore and main masts a huge strip of canvas was suspended with the following painted on it in huge black letters:—THE FASTEST SHIP IN THE WORLD. On this passage she again beat the _Australia_ by more than a week, many bets having been made in Melbourne as to which ship would arrive first. After such a voyage _Marco Polo_ was at once considered to be the wonder of the age and people flocked from all parts of England to see her. Her officers declared that she made 17 knots an hour for hours together; and Doctor North, the chief Government surgeon on board, who had been in the ship _Statesman_ when she made her celebrated passage of 76 days from Plymouth to Australia, declared that the _Marco Polo_ was by a long way the fastest vessel he had ever sailed in and vastly superior to the _Statesman_. The _Marco Polo_ brought home £100,000 in gold dust, and her officers related that on her arrival out she was surrounded by boats, the occupants of which threw small nuggets amongst her passengers. She also brought home a nugget of 340 ounces, purchased by the Government of Victoria as a present for the Queen. “Marco Polo’s” Second Voyage to Australia. After such a record voyage, I find the following notice advertising her second departure for Australia.