Trans-Atlantic clipper service

The Black Ball Line was a fleet of clipper ships running between Liverpool and New York, the first scheduled trans-Atlantic service, founded in 1817. In operation for some 60 years, it took its name from its flag, a black ball on a red background. The line was founded by a group of New York Quaker merchants headed by Jeremiah Thompson, and included Isaac Wright & Son, Francis Thompson and Benjamin Marshall.

British Columbia-Washington ferry service

The Black Ball Line was the name chosen in 1928 by a descendant of the Marshall family for the Puget Sound Navigation Company (PSNC), which operated a fleet of ferries on Puget Sound and the Strait of Georgia in British Columbia and Washington.

PSNC began to struggle following World War II, as operating costs increased and its unions threatened strike action. Following a long series of court battles, PSNC's domestic operations assets were purchased by the state of Washington's Department of Transportation for the sum of $4.9 million in early 1951, creating Washington State Ferries on May 31.

PSNC retained the assets used in their Canadian operations and after the 1951 downsizing, operated a much-reduced fleet as Black Ball Ferries, Ltd. This company sold most of its assets to the provincial government of British Columbia in 1960, creating BC Ferries.

Strait of Juan de Fuca ferry service

The current descendant of the Black Ball Line, Blackball Transport, Inc., was founded in 1936 from Black Ball Freight Service, a road transport subsidiary of PSNC. Blackball Transport owns and operates a single ferry, the M/V Coho between Victoria, British Columbia and Port Angeles, Washington. Built in 1959, the Coho is 341 ft. (approx. 104 m) long, and can carry 1000 passengers and 110 vehicles.

On December 14, 1999, Ahmed Ressam was arrested by border authorities in Port Angeles after he attempted to enter the United States with home-made explosives and timing devices hidden in his car. He had arrived on the M/V Coho from Victoria, British Columbia. He admitted he and accomplices had planned to bomb Los Angeles International Airport on New Year's Eve, 1999.