The U.S. ship ISAAC WEBB was built at New York by William H. Webb (hull #49), and launched on Saturday, 2 February 1851. 1359/1497 tons (old/new measurement); 185 ft x 42 ft 6 in x 27 ft 3 in (length x beam x depth of hold); deep loaded draft 23 ft 6 in; three decks, square stern, billet-head; draft 22 feet; built of white oak and live oak. Named after Isaac Webb, father of the builder.

Owners:

1. Charles H. Marshall (13/32), and
2. Charles Lamson (2/16), operators of the Black Ball Line
3. William H. Webb (1/16), the builder
4. Capt. Thomas B. Cropper (2/16), the master
5. Capt. Benjamin L. Waite (1/16)
6. Capt. Nathan Cobb (1/16)
7. Gabriel Mead (1/16)
8. George McBride (1/32)
9. George Bell (1/16)

Because of her great size, the launching of the ISAAC WEBB attracted unusual attention. It was estimated that 5,000 people witnessed the event, and the reporter of the New York Herald stated that when she brought to at her anchors in the East River, "she rested like a swan on her destined element".

The ISAAC WEBB was the seventh ship built by Webb for Charles H. Marshall & Co's Black Ball Line of sailing packets between New York and Liverpool, and served on the line from 1851 until the dissolution of the line in 1879. During this period her westbound passages averaged 36 days, her shortest passage being 25 days, her longest 60 days.

On 20 June 1863, the ISAAC WEBB, Charles Hutchinson, master, bound from Liverpool for New York with 11 cabin and 647 steerage passengers, was, was captured by the Confederate raider FLORIDA No. 2 (formerly the Northern bark TACONY, which had herself been captured by the Confederates only on 12 June). She was released upon payment of a $40,000 bond.

On 12 Ocober 1863, shortly after midnight, off the Grand Banks, bound from Liverpool for New York with 460 passengers, the ISAAC WEBB was struck on the port side, between the fore and main masts, by a British bark which refused to identify itself other than to say she was from Yarmouth bound for Galway.

On the night of 29-30 December 1866, bound from Liverpool for New York under the command of James C. Stowell, the ISAAC WEBB endured a violent gale, described as follows in the contemporary New York press:

December 29th, had WSW hurricane for 36 hours, sleet and hail, blew away entire suit of sails, staving boats, carrying away spanker boom, springing foremast head and shipped a sea which shifted everything movable about dec. Barometer 27.50. Owing to intense cold, several of crew were frostbitten and three died.

On 22 September 1868, the ISAAC WEBB, again under the command of James C. Stowell (then 34 years old, and an employee of the Black Ball Line for 20 years), sailed from Liverpool for New York, with 354 passengers. On 10 October, the ship was lashed by a terrific gale. The deck was swept by green water, and a companion ladder struck Capt. Stowell, hurling him against the bulwark. He was carried below with severe internal injuries, and died seven days later, being succeeded in command by Mate Daniel Cozzens. By 12 November, provisions had run low, but they were replenished from the passing Nova Scotian bank BRAZIL. On the night of 17 November, as she approached New York, the ship ran aground near Sandy Hook. She was refloated two days later by the New York Submarine Company salvage steamers PHILIP and RESCUE, which towed her to the Blackball Line pier at the foot of Beekman St., East River.

After the dissolution of the Black Ball Line, the ISAAC WEBB continued as a transient for Charles H. Marshall & Co until 1880. She set sail on her final voyage, under Capt. William Wallace Urquhart, from Antwerp on 2 October 1880, and from Flushing on 8 October 1880, bound for New York. On 25 October, she was abandoned at sea, at lat 42 30, lon 59 20, the captain and crew, 24 in all, being rescued by the Leyland Line steamship ILLYRIAN, Capt. Edwards, out of Liverpool, which landed at Boston on 27 October 1880.

Sources: Charles G[erard] Davis, Ships of the Past, Marine Research Society, Salem, Massachusetts, Publication 19 (Salem, Massachusetts: Marine Research Society, 1929; reprinted New York: Dover, 1984, as American Sailing Ships; Their Plans and History), pp. 56-76, 180-183; Robert Greenhalgh Albion, Square-riggers on Schedule; The New York Sailing Packets to England, France, and the Cotton Ports (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1938), pp. 276-277, 299, and 313; Edwin L. Durnbaugh and William duBarry Thomas, William H. Webb: Shipbuilder (Glen Cove, New York: Webb Institute of Naval Architecture, 1989), pp. 178-180; New York Times, 28 October 1880, p. 2, col. 6.

The U.S. ship ISAAC WRIGHT was built at New York by William H. Webb, New York (hull #30), and launched in June 1847. 1,129 tons; 175 ft x 37 ft 9 in x 22 ft 3 in (length x beam x depth of hold); 2 decks.

The ISAAC WRIGHT was the fifth ship, and the last with two decks, built by Webb for C[harles] H. Marshall & Co's Black Ball Line of sailing packets between New York and Liverpool, and was named for one of the founders of the line in 1817. The ISAAC WRIGHT spent her entire 11-year career in the Black Ball Line, her westbound voyages averaging 31 days, her shortest voyage being 21 days, her longest 44 days.

On the morning of Thursday, 23 December 1858, the ISAAC WRIGHT lay at anchor in the Mersey River, between Egremont and New Brighton, downstream for Liverpool, in anticipation of sailing to New York later that day. She carried between 200 and 300 passengers and a cargo of fine goods and 800 tons of iron. At 2 AM a fire was discovered in her forward hold. All the passengers were removed safely (they were later forwarded to New York on board the Black Ball Line ship GREAT WESTERN) and the vessel was towed up to the Sloyne, out of the way of river traffic, and sunk by cannon fire in an attempt to save the cargo and the hull. However, both were considered a total loss.

Sources: Robert Greenhalgh Albion, Square-riggers on Schedule; The New York Sailing Packets to England, France, and the Cotton Ports (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1938), pp. 163, 200, 226, 276-277, 313; Edwin L. Dunbaugh and William duBarry Thomas, William H. Webb: Shipbuilder (Glen Cove, New York: Webb Institute of Naval Architecture, 1989), pp. 168-169.