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Harvest Moon

Harvest Moon at Portland, 1863
History
United States
Namesake	The full moon nearest the autumnal equinox.
Owner	Spear, Lang & Delano (1862 – Nov 1863) United States Navy (Nov 1863 -1865)
Operator	See owners
Route	Portland—Winterport (Mar – Apr 1863) Portland—Bangor (Apr – Jul 1863) Portland—Gardiner (Jul – Oct 1863) Portland—Bangor (Oct – Nov 1863)
Launched	22 Nov 1862
Completed	Mar 1863
Acquired	(by US Navy): 16 Nov 1863
Commissioned	12 Feb 1864
Maiden voyage	23 Mar 1863
Renamed	USS Harvest Moon (Feb 1864)
Refit	—as US Navy gunboat: Nov 1863 – Mar 1864
Fate	Sunk by mine, 1 Mar 1865; abandoned, 21 Apr 1865
General characteristics
Type	Sidewheel steamboat
Displacement	546 tons
Length	193 ft (59 m)
Beam	29 ft (8.8 m)
Draught	8 ft (2.4 m)
Installed power	1 × vertical beam; 41 in bore × 10 ft stroke
Propulsion	Sidewheels
Speed	15 knots (17 mph; 28 km/h)
Complement	73
Armament	four 24-pounder howitzers

Construction and design

Harvest moon, a wooden-hulled sidewheel steamboat, was built for the recently-established partnership of Spear, Lang & Delano of Boston. She was launched at 11 am, Saturday November 22, 1862, and completed in March the following year.

Harvest Moon's model, by Portland naval architect Charles P. Thurston, was designed to achieve a good balance between speed, cargo capacity and seagoing qualities. The steamer was built of white oak and hackmatack, with galvanized iron fastenings. She had a length of 193 feet (59 m), beam of 29 feet (8.8 m), draft of 8 feet (2.4 m), hold depth of 10 feet (3.0 m), and burthen tonnage of 546. The ship had a single watertight compartment, and a hull strengthened by 11 feet (3.4 m) of heavily bolted wood forward and 3-by-0.5-inch (76 by 13 mm) diagonal iron bracing across her upright timbers throughout.

Harvest Moon was powered by a single-cylinder vertical beam engine with 41-inch (100 cm) bore and 10-foot (3.0 m) stroke. The engine originated from an oceangoing steamship wrecked in Chinese waters, rebuilt by the Portland Company. Steam was supplied by a new 25-by-11-foot (7.6 by 3.4 m) cylindrical boiler, built by the same company, with a working pressure of 30 psi (210 kPa) and rated maximum pressure of 45 psi (310 kPa).

The steamer had a passenger capacity of 300. Passenger accommodations included bridal suites, 36 staterooms on the saloon deck and cabins below—150 berths in total, her accommodations being described in the local press as "ample" and "capacious". The ship's freight capacity is not recorded but was substantial.

Service history

Merchant service, March–October 1863

Harvest Moon completed her trial trip—a short 90-minute voyage from the city of Portland around some local islands and return—between 11 am and 12:30 pm, Saturday March 21, 1863, with a number of invited guests aboard. During the trial, the steamer attained a speed of 14 mph (23 km/h) at just 20 psi (140 kPa) of steam—well below her normal operating pressure of 30 psi (210 kPa), indicating that she had the makings of a speedy vessel. She also gave good indications of stability and maneuverability.

With Spear, Lang & Delano having recently chartered their steamboat Daniel Webster to the government for wartime service, Harvest Moon was needed as her replacement on the Portland–Bangor route. Because of ice on the Penobscot River, however, Harvest Moon was initially only able to travel on the route as far as Winterport, where passengers could disembark to continue on to Bangor by train.

Harvest Moon embarked on her maiden voyage with about 100 passengers on Monday, March 23, clearing Portland at 1 pm for Winterport, with intermediate stops at Rockland, Camden, Belfast, Searsport and Bucksport. At Rockland, the steamer took aboard a band, which provided entertainment for the rest of the trip. On the return trip, Harvest Moon reportedly equaled the record previously set by Daniel Webster for the same passage. A few days later, Harvest Moon began a regular scheduled service between Portland and Winterport, with way-landings as above, leaving Portland at 6 am on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays, and returning from Winterport, with a departure time of 5 am, on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays, via the same way-landings. On April 15, the steamer completed the leg between Rockland and Portland in 4 hours 56 minutes — the fastest time on record.

With the melting of ice on the Penobscot, Harvest Moon was able to reach Bangor for the first time on Tuesday, April 21, bringing hundreds of invited guests from Bucksport. At Bangor, she was greeted by a crowd of thousands who had gathered to see the new steamer, as well as welcome her as the first of the season to arrive. Her regular service to Bangor began two days later, on a schedule similar to that previously employed to Winterport, leaving Portland on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays at 6 am with all previously-mentioned way-landings plus the addition of Camden, and returning from Bangor via all way-landings on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays, with a departure time of 7 am.

Harvest Moon's passenger list to Bangor on May 7 included a substantial number of wounded soldiers. On the 9th, she conveyed the remains of distinguished Major-General Hiram G. Berry, killed by a sharpshooter at the Battle of Chancellorsville, to his native Rockland, accompanied by a detachment of the 7th Maine. A few days later, Harvest Moon conveyed a number of dignitaries to Rockland for the funeral, which was carried out with much ceremony.

On May 23, Harvest Moon made the return trip from Bangor, including all way-landings, in the remarkably short time of 10 hours 15 minutes, cementing her reputation as an "exceptionally fast" vessel. A few days later, the steamer bettered her own time on the same route by completing it in just 10 hours 4 minutes, prompting Bath's Daily Sentinel and Times to warn the steamer against excessive speeding. On June 11, Harvest Moon arrived at Bangor with a large quantity of army clothing and other equipment, including 40 cases of muskets, for the city's arsenal.

In addition to her regular schedule, Harvest Moon was also occasionally used for excursions. On July 4, for example, she made three in the one day around Casco Bay, with start times respectively of 9:30 am, 2 pm and 7:30 pm. The excursions promised a "view of the scene of the late Naval Conflict", a reference to the recent capture of the Confederate raider CSS Archer just off Portland; a band was also hired to provide onboard entertainment. The ticket price per excursion was fifty cents. To accommodate them, Harvest Moon's usual Saturday trip to Bangor was moved to Sunday at 6 am.

On July 13, Daniel Webster returned from government service to replace Harvest Moon on the Portland—Bangor route. Harvest Moon was consequently used to revive an old route between Portland and Gardiner on the Kennebec River, starting on the 14th. After a handful of irregular sailings on this route the steamer established a regular schedule, departing Portland at 6 am Tuesdays through Saturdays, touching at Bath and Richmond, and returning Mondays through Fridays with a 12 pm start via the same way-landings. At Gardiner, passengers were able to connect to another steamboat service taking them on to Hallowell and Augusta; fares from Portland were 50 cents to Bath, 75 cents to Richmond and Gardiner, and $1 to Hallowell and Augusta. Harvest Moon's service was also coordinated at Portland with another steamboat line to Boston. In late September, Charles Spear offered to charter the steamer to the government for wartime service at a rate of $350 a day for the first 30 days and $300 per day thereafter, but the offer was not accepted.

With Daniel Webster about to leave on government charter again, Harvest Moon made her last trip to the Kennebec on October 2. She was then briefly withdrawn from service for repainting and an overhaul. In late October, the steamer resumed service on the Portland—Bangor route, replacing the Webster, but in early November, Spear again offered the vessel to the government, this time either for charter or for sale at a price of $105,000. She continued to operate on the route until mid-November, when on the 16th she was sold by Spear at Boston to Commodore John B. Montgomery, acting agent for the Department of the Navy, for the sum of $99,500. Harvest Moon made her last voyage from Bangor to Portland, thence to Boston, on November 18, bringing to an end her commercial career.

Naval service, November 1863 – April 1865

Footnotes

1. According to the Eastern Argus.
2. According to the Portland Daily Press.

References

1. ^ "Launched". Boston Evening Transcript. 24 November 1862. p. 4.
2. "Launch of a Steamer". Portland Daily Press. Portland, ME. 24 November 1862. p. 3.
3. ^ "Local Intelligence". The Eastern Argus. Portland, ME. 23 March 1863. p. 2.
4. ^ "Matters About Town". Portland Daily Press. 23 March 1863. p. 3.
5. ^ Board of Underwriters (1864). "Steamers". American Lloyds' Registry of American and Foreign Shipping. New York: E. & G. W. Blunt. p. 624.
6. "Local and State News". Lewiston Daily Evening Journal. 13 January 1863. p. 3.
7. "Matters About Town". Portland Daily Press. 26 March 1863. p. 3.
8. "For the Penobscot River [advertisement]". Portland Daily Press. 30 March 1863. p. 2.
9. "New England News Items". The Springfield Daily Republican. Springfield, MA. 1 June 1863. p. 2.
10. ^ "New Advertisements". Portland Daily Press. 3 July 1863. p. 2.

refs

• USS Harvest Moon
• crew 72
• memoir
• purchase price etc
• a bit
• naval institute history
• image at wharf in portland