Thanks to John Jacob jakob827@hotmail.com for this interesting find:

I watched a documentary on the last slave ship to America in 1865, which caused me to wonder about the origins of the Ben Nevis. I went to the Wendish Research Exchange and found the article entitled "Historical Notes 2" which referenced the attached article from the London Illustrated News. I decided to search the web to see what else I could find and here are the results.

The Ben Nevis was built in 1852 in St. John, New Brunswick, Canada, for the White Star Line by James Smith. James Smith was famous for being the builder of the Marco Polo which was considered the fastest sailing vessel of its time. The White Star Line evolved through time and is famous for being the owners of the Titanic which sunk in 1912. "The Ben Nevis in fact made four trips to Australia, arriving in Melbourne from Liverpool on 3 Jan 1853 with 564 passengers and immigrants; on 4 Oct 1855 with 245; on 29 Aug 1857 with 417 and on 4 Oct 1855 with 5 passengers. Captain W. Heron captained all of these sailing trips, although there are some variations in the spelling of his surname given for his last two journeys." Captain Heron was also the captain for the Wendish immigrants to Galveston in 1854. The useful lifetime of a softwood sailing ship is estimated to be around ten years. The Ben Nevis "ended up in the 1870's on the St Lawrence - Liverpool timber trade".

I always imagined the Ben Nevis as an old, slow immigrant ship. It turns out that she was one of the renowned and beautiful three masted, clipper ships of this romantic era.

https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/The_Clipper_Ship_Era/Chapter_...

The first clipper ship constructed for the Australian trade was the Marco Polo, of 1622 tons; length 185 feet, breadth 38 feet, depth 30 feet. She was built in 1851 by [James] Smith & Co., at St. John, New Brunswick, [Canada], for James Baines & Co., Liverpool, and was the pioneer clipper of the famous Australian Black Ball Line. The Marco Polo was constructed with three decks, and was a very handsome, powerful-looking ship. Above her water-line, she resembled the New York packet ships, having painted ports, and a full-length figurehead of the renowned explorer whose name she bore. Below water she was cut away and had long, sharp, concave ends. Her accommodations for saloon and steerage passengers were a vast improvement upon anything before attempted in the Australian trade.

She sailed from Liverpool for Melbourne, July 4, 1851, commanded by Captain James Nicol Forbes, carrying the mails and crowded with passengers. She made the run out in the then record time of 68 days, and home in 74 days, which, including her detention at Melbourne, was less than a six months' voyage round the globe. Running her easting down to the southward of the Cape of Good Hope, she made in four successive days 1344 miles, her best day's run being 364 miles. Her second voyage to Melbourne was also made in six months out and home, so that she actually sailed twice around the globe within twelve months. To the Marco Polo and her skillful commander belongs the credit of setting the pace over this great ocean race-course round the globe.

Her success led to the building of a number of vessels at St. John for British owners engaged in the Australian trade. Among these the most famous were the Hibernia, 1065 tons, Ben Nevis, 1420 tons, and Guiding Star, 2012 tons.

https://sites.rootsweb.com/~nbcarlet/james_smith.htm

Obituary, 6 March 1876. The Daily Telegraph. St. John, New Brunswick.
Tidings reached St. John yesterday of the death of, in the course of the same morning, at Woodstock of James SMITH, Esq., who was one of the most famous shipbuilders this city has produced. Mr. Smith began life as most famous builders have done by handling the broad axe in a shipyard, but having a natural aptitude for business, and especially for designing noble ships, he soon went into ship building of his own account. He was the first man who began to build at Courtenay Bay and his first vessel, the Courtenay, was launched there about 1835. First and last we believe he built about sixty large vessels, among which we may name the Margaret, the Queen of the Seas, Alfred, Ben Nevis, Onward and Marco Polo. The latter vessel, which was famous for her great speed and rapid passages, was built in 1851, and is still afloat hailing from South Shields. The Onward built in 1850 is also afloat still and so are the Margaret and Alfred, built in 1858 and 1853 respectively. When Mr. Smith lived in Liverpool some years ago, he found 8 or 9 of his ships in that port.

https://www.theshipslist.com/ships/descriptions/ShipsB.shtml

BEN NEVIS 1852
This is a quote from "The Colonial Clippers" by Basil Lubbock. The BEN NEVIS was the first ship owned by Pilkington & Wilson's White Star Line of Liverpool. She was however, too short and deep for her tonnage, her measurements being:- Length overall 181', Beam 38' 6", Depth of hold 28'. Registered tonnage 1420. Commanded by Captain Heron, she sailed for Melbourne on 27th Sep 1852, with 600 passengers, a cabin passage in her costing £25, and she took 96 days going out. She was built in 1852 by W & R Wright & Smith of Nova Scotia, and ended up in the 1870's on the St Lawrence - Liverpool timber trade.

https://ia800907.us.archive.org/21/items/colonialclippers00l...

Ben Nevis mentioned on pages ix, 26, 42, 46. There was a later Ben Nevis mentioned as an Iron Clipper in the index on page xi.

https://www.wendishheritage.org.au/ben-nevis-australian-emig...

https://turnerstreettopics.blogspot.com/2013/10/a-voyage-to-b...

https://nla.gov.au/nla.obj-690608778/view?partId=nla.obj-690... Sep, 1858 Advertisement

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7-CsR29V-_M&ab_channel=P... Nothing on the Ben Nevis but lots on shipbuilding in Canada, James Smith, the Marco Polo, and the White Star Line.