Harvest Queen
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Harvest Queen |
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| Ship data | ||
| Flag: | United States | |
| Ship type : | Sailing ship | |
| Use: | Cargo ship | |
| Home port : | ||
| Commissioning: | 1854 | |
| Builder : | ||
| Shipping company : | Black Ball Line | |
| Technical specifications | ||
| Ship surveying : | 1383 GRT | |
| Length over all: | 187 feet | |
| Width over everything: | ||
| Max. Draft : | ||
| Rigging and rigging | ||
| Rigging: | ||
| Masts: | ||
| Others | ||
| Ship crew | ||
| Passengers : | ? | |
The Harvest Queen was a Black Ball Line ship that sank on December 31, 1875 off the Irish coast in the St. George's Canal after a collision.
Data
The ship was built in 1854 for CH Marshall & Co. It was used as a cargo ship.
Collision and sinking
The Harvest Queen was on December 29 from San Francisco coming in Queenstown in Ireland arrived and now under the command of Captain Jansen from Waterford with a cargo of grain from Queenstown to Liverpool on the road when they with the White Star Line belonging Adriatic under the command collided by Captain Jennings and sank. The accident apparently happened so quickly that the crew of the Adriatic could no longer even identify the ship and conclusions could only be drawn from the remains found later as to which sailing ship the Adriatic had collided with that night. All 30 people on board the Harvest Queen were killed in the accident.
On the Adriatic, which was en route from Liverpool to New York, three men were tasked with the lookout at the time of the accident. At 2.35 a.m., on the starboard side in front of the ship, the Harvest Queen's green position light came into view for the first time, probably at a distance of about two and a half miles. At that time the steamship was traveling at a speed of about twelve knots with proper lighting in rough seas and strong winds from the southwest. Four minutes later, the Harvest Queen's red position light came into view, indicating that she must have changed course. Thereupon the first officer of the Adriatic had the engines throttled. The Adriatic turned slightly to starboard. At this point in time the distance between the two ships was probably about a mile and a quarter, and an immediate encounter was to be expected after about four minutes. Attempts were now made on the Adriatic to take a parallel course to that of the Harvest Queen. But at 2:40 am the Harvest Queen's green position light came into view again; she had turned again. Thereupon the order was given to the Adriatic to stop the machine and to start backing as fast as possible with full power. The captain was now alerted, who appeared on deck at 2.41 a.m. and first saw the green light, then both position lights and then the red position light of the Harvest Queen again. He ordered the ship to be steered hard to starboard in order to pass on the left side of the Harvest Queen. Although the engine was already running backwards at this point, the ship was still moving slowly forward so that the maneuver did not have the desired effect. The Harvest Queen, under full sail, rammed the steamship, but was released again when the Adriatic slowly moved backwards. It did not seem too badly damaged to the crew of the Adriatic. The Adriatic's first officer called the ship, but there was no response. The master of the Adriatic had initially given orders to make the boats clear, but revoked this order after the Harvest Queen sailed on without any sign of excitement on board. The Adriatic continued her journey slowly. Just as she lost sight of the Harvest Queen, calls for help could be heard, whereupon the engines stopped and the boats were deployed. The master of the Adriatic assumed that perhaps some seamen had gone overboard in the collision, but had no idea at the time that the entire ship was sinking. The search for people in the water was unsuccessful and was finally canceled. A few days after the accident, parts of the ship were propelled at Wexford in Ireland.
Question of guilt
The crew of the Adriatic was initially blamed for the accident: They did not have a sufficient look-out, were traveling too fast and did not immediately react appropriately to the approach of the other ship: A statement by the manager of the Black Ball Line in an interview with According to a reporter for the New York Times , shipping rules had not been obeyed when the two ships met. These rules stipulated that the sailing ship should maintain its course and the steamship should avoid. The Adriatic did not follow this rule. Instead, the machines were stopped and then reversed, which, as expected, took too long. After the investigation into the case in 1879 was completed, however, it was concluded that the process could no longer be precisely reconstructed, but there was a suspicion that the Harvest Queen had not been worked with sufficient care and the blame was on both sides was looking for. An appraisal from 1883 finally came to the conclusion that the fault lay more with the crew of the Harvest Queen.
Individual evidence
- ↑ a b http://query.nytimes.com/mem/archive-free/pdf?res=9A00E6DB103EE73BBC4C53DFB6678382669FDE
- ↑ Archive link ( Memento of the original from May 26, 2009 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ↑ a b http://query.nytimes.com/mem/archive-free/pdf?res=9806EFDB143FE63BBC4C52DFB766838D669FDE
- ↑ http://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=336&dat=18760126&id=-F0EAAAAIBAJ&sjid=OTEDAAAAIBAJ&pg=6906,2478799
- ↑ a b http://openjurist.org/107/us/512
- ↑ http://query.nytimes.com/mem/archive-free/pdf?_r=1&res=9A0DE5DF1E3FE73BBC4952DFB466838D669FDE
