James Baines & Co. of Liverpool was a British shipping company, most famous for the Liverpool Black Ball Line of Australian Packets, a fleet of packet ships running cargo and passenger services between Liverpool, England, and Australia in the second half of the 1800s.[1][2] It also traded in India and Crimea.
Founders
The company was founded and headed by James Baines and Thomas Miller Mackay with two junior partners, Joseph Greaves and John Taylor. Its office was located at 6 Cook Street, Liverpool. In 1858, Mackay established a separate office of the company in London. The legality of its business practices and the flexibility of its operations were controversial and often put the company under suspicion.
Name
In 1851 James Baines & Co. of Liverpool entered the packet trade using the same name and flag as the New York company, despite its protests. Thus, for about twenty years, two "Black Ball lines" under separate ownership were operating in direct competition on the transatlantic packet trade.