Harvest Queen was a packet ship of the Black Ball Line built in 1854, by William H. Webb, which sank in a collision with the steamer Adriatic at 3 a.m. on 31 December 1875.
A mutiny, which was luckily quelled without loss of life, broke out twice on the Harvest Queen; and Mr. Miller, among his other reminiscences of an eventful voyage, recalls a day when he was ranged beside the captain on the quarter-deck, revolver in hand, ready to aid in overcoming the mutineers ...
When the ship reached New York on her return trip, two of the sailors were drowned in an attempt to escape from her; and the sketches made by Mr. Miller on board include one of a luckless and forlorn-looking seaman, standing at the wheel, who had jumped overboard, but was captured and severely beaten.
[3] "The American ship Harvest Queen ... while beating up the English Channel, having nearly completed her voyage from San Francisco, and, we may suppose, with most of her crew in the forecastle singing, yarning, and getting their "shore togs" ready for the morrow, was cut down by the steamship Adriatic.
[5] "Before a Court of Admiralty held in New York on the White Star Liner's arrival, testimony was adduced throwing the blame on the Harvest Queen because her lights were not visible.