[Diagram/​Picture on page 15]

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Forbes sailed the “Marco Polo” (above) from England to Australia, using the much faster great circle route

[Diagram]

THE OLD ROUTE

39th parallel

THE GREAT CIRCLE ROUTE

Antarctic Circle

[Map]

ATLANTIC OCEAN

INDIAN OCEAN

ANTARCTICA

[Credit Line]

From the newspaper The Illustrated London News, February 19, 1853

In 1852, things took a turn for the better when Captain James (Bully) Forbes found a shorter route. Abandoning the 39th parallel, which seemed to be the shortest path across the southern Indian Ocean to Australia, Forbes took the great circle route from England to southeastern Australia, which led him farther south, toward Antarctica.b Despite icebergs and huge waves, Forbes’ ship, the Marco Polo, with 701 emigrants aboard, docked at Melbourne, in Victoria, after just 68 days, cutting the travel time nearly in half. The record was opportune indeed, for Victoria’s gold rush was in full swing. News of the swift voyage prompted thousands of would-be miners to scramble for passage to the land Down Under.