Chart USCGS 1107 (NOAA 13200) Nantucket Shoals

The station named ''Nantucket'' or ''Nantucket Shoals'' was served by a number of lightvessels (also termed lightships) that marked the hazardous

Nantucket Shoals Nantucket Shoals is an area of dangerously shallow water in the Atlantic Ocean that extends from Nantucket Island, Massachusetts, eastward for and southeastward for ; in places water depth can be as shallow as . Depth soundings are unpredictable d ...

south of Nantucket Island. The vessels, given numbers as their "name," had the station name painted on their hulls when assigned to the station. Several ships have been assigned to the Nantucket Shoals lightship station and have been called ''Nantucket''. It was common for a lightship to be reassigned and then have the new station name painted on the hull. The Nantucket station was a significant US lightship station for

transatlantic Transatlantic, Trans-Atlantic or TransAtlantic may refer to: Film * Transatlantic Pictures, a film production company from 1948 to 1950 * Transatlantic Enterprises, an American production company in the late 1970s * ''Transatlantic'' (1931 film), ...

voyages. Established in 1854, the station marked the limits of the dangerous Nantucket Shoals. She was the last lightship seen by vessels departing the United States, as well as the first beacon seen on approach. The position was southeast of Nantucket Island, the farthest lightship in North America, and experienced clockwise rotary tidal currents.

History

Lightships and their crews were exposed to many dangers. In addition to the obvious hazards posed by the weather and sea conditions, vessels marking shipping lanes on occasion were struck by the very traffic they existed to protect. Ships would home on their radio beacons at night and in fog, but were expected to post lookouts and to turn away in time.

''Lightship 11''

''Lightship 11'' was built in 1853 by Tardy & Auld of Baltimore, Maryland for $13,462.00. ''Lightship 11'' was built of white oak and equipped with two lanterns and a hand-operated bell fog signal. Each of the lanterns contained eight constant-level oil lamps. ''Lightship 11'' was blown ashore in 1855 and rebuilt at the

New York Navy Yard The Brooklyn Navy Yard (originally known as the New York Navy Yard) is a shipyard and industrial complex located in northwest Brooklyn in New York City, New York (state), New York. The Navy Yard is located on the East River in Wallabout Bay, a ...

for further service at Brenton Reef, Rhode Island.

''Lightship 1''

''Lightship 1'' was built in 1855 at the Portsmouth Naval Shipyard for $48,000.00. ''Lightship 1'' was built of white oak and live oak and equipped with two lanterns and a hand-operated bell fog signal. Each of the lanterns contained eight oil lamps with reflectors. ''Lightship 1'' was rebuilt in 1860 and the main anchor was replaced with a

mushroom A mushroom or toadstool is the fleshy, spore-bearing fruiting body of a fungus, typically produced above ground, on soil, or on its food source. ''Toadstool'' generally denotes one poisonous to humans. The standard for the name "mushroom" is t ...

in 1881 and then a stockless mushroom anchor in 1886. ''Lightship 1'' was transferred to Martins Industry, South Carolina in 1892.

''Lightship 54''

''Lightship 54'' was built in 1892 at

West Bay City, Michigan West Bay City was a city in Bay County the U.S. state of Michigan. The City was formed from the communities of Banks, Salzburg, and Wenona. The city existed from 1877 to 1905 when it was merged with Bay City, Michigan. History Bangor/Banks Jose ...

for $53,325.00. ''Lightship 54'' was built of iron and equipped with two lanterns, a 12-inch steam chime whistle, and a hand-operated bell fog signal. Each of the lanterns contained eight oil lamps with reflectors. Twenty-five tons of

pig iron Pig iron, also known as crude iron, is an intermediate product of the iron industry in the production of steel which is obtained by smelting iron ore in a blast furnace. Pig iron has a high carbon content, typically 3.8–4.7%, along with silic ...

ballast were added in 1893; and ''Lightship 54'' was transferred to Boston, Massachusetts in 1894.

''Lightship 58''

''Lightship 58'' was built in 1894 by

Craig Shipbuilding '' Light Vessel No.57'' at Toledo, Ohio Craig Shipbuilding was a shipbuilding company in Long Beach, California. To support the World War I demand for ships Craig Shipbuilding shipyard switched over to military construction and built: US N ...

of Toledo, Ohio for $50,870.00. ''Lightship 58'' was built of an iron-plated steel frame and equipped with two lanterns, a 12-inch steam chime whistle, and a hand-operated bell fog signal. Each of the lanterns contained eight oil lamps with reflectors. ''Lightship 58'' was transferred to Fire Island, New York in 1896.

''Lightship 66''

''Lightship 66'' was built in 1896 by Bath Iron Works of Bath, Maine for $69,282.00. The vessel was built on a wood-sheathed steel frame and equipped with a 12-inch steam chime whistle, and a cluster of four electric lens lanterns mounted in galleries at each mast head. She carried a Baird evaporator and distilling apparatus. Breaking adrift required replacement of seven mushroom anchors and of chain between 1896 and 1900. Experimental wireless telegraph equipment was installed in 1901 and the vessel became the first United States lightship with permanent radio equipment in 1904. ''Lightship 66'' was placed in relief service following replacement by ''Lightship 85'' in 1907.

''Lightship 85''

''Lightship 85'', a wooden lightship, was built in 1907 at

Camden, New Jersey Camden is a city in and the county seat of Camden County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey. Camden is part of the Delaware Valley metropolitan area and is located directly across the Delaware River from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. At the 2020 ...

for $99,000.00. ''Lightship 85'' was transferred to the U.S. Navy by Executive Order on 11 April 1917, along with the entire Lighthouse Service. While in the Navy during

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

she continued her former peacetime routine warning shipping away from

and also aided in guarding nearby waters against German

U-boats U-boats were naval submarines operated by Germany, particularly in the First and Second World Wars. Although at times they were efficient fleet weapons against enemy naval warships, they were most effectively used in an economic warfare rol ...

. Sailors from the Lightship aided in the rescue of people after the

Boston Molasses Disaster The Great Molasses Flood, also known as the Boston Molasses Disaster, was a disaster that occurred on January 15, 1919, in the North End neighborhood of Boston, Massachusetts. A large storage tank filled with of molasses, weighing approximat ...

, partly because it was docked nearby. After peace was restored in 1919, ''Lightship 85'' was returned to the

U.S. Commerce Department The United States Department of Commerce is an executive department of the U.S. federal government concerned with creating the conditions for economic growth and opportunity. Among its tasks are gathering economic and demographic data for busin ...

. ''Lightship 85'' was placed in relief service following replacement by ''Lightship 106'' in 1923.

''Lightship 106''

''Lightship 106'' was built in 1923 by Bath Iron Works of Bath, Maine for $200,000.00. ''Lightship 106'' was built on a steel hull and equipped with a 12-inch steam chime whistle, a hand-operated bell, a submarine bell, a submarine oscillator, a radio beacon, and a electric lens lantern at each mast head. ''Lightship 106'' was placed in relief service following replacement by ''Lightship 117'' in 1931, returned to Nantucket when ''Lightship 117'' was sunk in 1934, and returned to relief service when replaced by ''Lightship 112'' in 1936.

''Lightship 117''

''Lightship 117'' at Nantucket was sideswiped by the in early 1934, and four months later, on 15 May 1934, she was rammed and sunk by the British White Star ship homing in on its radio beacon in dense fog. Four men went down with the ship and seven survivors were picked up by the ''Olympic''. Three survivors later died of injuries sustained from the collision. The sunken wreck now lies hidden in of water south of Nantucket Island, Massachusetts.

''Lightship 112''

Lightship Nantucket (LV-112) in Boston harbor 2018

In 1936, Pusey & Jones of Wilmington, Delaware built ''Lightship 112'', the largest lightship ever, for $300,956.00. This ship was paid for by the British government as reparation for the deadly collision between ''Olympic'' and ''Lightship 117''. During World War II, ''Lightship 112'' was withdrawn from the Nantucket Shoals station and used as an

examination vessel An examination vessel is a vessel used to inspect ships and boats entering a port during wartime. An examination vessel would typically be responsible for examining and verifying all merchant ships and small craft entering or departing a port. T ...

in Portland, Maine. On 5 January 1959, she was blown off-station in hurricane-force winds accompanied by fifty-foot seas. This event effectively put her out of communication for several days due to water-damaged electronics. ''Lightship 112'' outlasted all other lightships assigned to that station, having marked it for 39 years. On 10 May 2010, ''Lightship LV-112'', the largest lightship ever built in the US, returned to Boston for renovation and preservation. Nantucket LS WTC jeh

''Lightship 612''

Built in 1950 at Curtis Bay, Maryland by the United States Coast Guard Yard for $500,000, ''Lightship 612'' was the last ship to serve a full tour of duty on the Nantucket Shoals station and was also the last US lightship in commission. In 1975 Lightship ''Ambrose'', the ''Nantucket's'' sister ship, was renamed Lightship ''Nantucket II'' and the two ships spelled one another, relieving each other approximately every 21 days. At 2:30 a.m. on 20 December 1983 the ''Lightship 613'' relieved ''Lightship 612'' until 8:00 a.m. when she was relieved by a

Large Navigational Buoy LANBY, a contraction of Large Automatic Navigation BuoY, was a type of floating navigational aid designed to replace lightships. Now obsolete, they were originally made in the USA by General Dynamics and adapted by Hawker Siddeley Dynamics for use ...

, making ''Lightship 613'' the last Lightship on station in the US and on Nantucket Station. In December 1983 the ''Lightship 613'' was sold to the New England Historic Seaport to become a museum ship in Boston and ''Lightship 612'' was reassigned to cutter duty. Finally, after being decommissioned on 29 March 1985 and ending the 165 year era of United States Lightship service, ''Lightship 612'' was sold to the Boston Educational Marine Exchange and shortly thereafter was taken over by the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. In March 2000, she was purchased by

William William is a male given name of Germanic origin.Hanks, Hardcastle and Hodges, ''Oxford Dictionary of First Names'', Oxford University Press, 2nd edition, , p. 276. It became very popular in the English language after the Norman conquest of Engl ...

and Kristen Golden, restored as the only fully operational Lightship in the United States and converted to a luxury yacht that was berthed at Rowes Wharf in Boston. In the summer of 2007 she was available for charter in Nantucket harbor and Newport. The Nantucket ''Lightship WLV612'' was chartered for one year by the 5 star Delamar Hotel in Greenwich Connecticut in 2008, served as the mothership for the New York Yacht Club summer cruise and was chartered from November 2008 through 31 May 2009 at The North Cove Marina at the World Financial Center in Manhattan, New York. During the summers of 2009 and 2010, ''Lightship WLV612'' was docked in Martha's Vineyard on Charter in Martha's Vineyard, Nantucket, Newport and Long Island Sound, returning in the fall of 2010 for charters Newport. On 26 August 2009, after the death of Massachusetts Senator

Ted Kennedy Edward Moore Kennedy (February 22, 1932 – August 25, 2009) was an American lawyer and politician who served as a United States senator from Massachusetts for almost 47 years, from 1962 until his death in 2009. A member of the Democratic ...

, the lightship honored him by illuminating his schooner at the

Kennedy Compound The Kennedy Compound consists of three houses on of waterfront property on Cape Cod along Nantucket Sound in Hyannis Port, Massachusetts, in the United States. It was once the home of Joseph P. Kennedy, an American businessman, investor, poli ...

''Lightship 613''

Built at the United States Coast Guard Yard in Curtis Bay, Baltimore,

Maryland Maryland ( ) is a state in the Mid-Atlantic region of the United States. It shares borders with Virginia, West Virginia, and the District of Columbia to its south and west; Pennsylvania to its north; and Delaware and the Atlantic Ocean to ...

in 1952. It was the last lightship ever built and launched in the United States, and the last lightship commissioned in service. Commissioned in September 1952 as the WAL-613 with a conventional mast, it was refit in 1953 with a "large cylindrical lantern housing installed on tripod foremast with a duplex revolving high intensity light of British design... rated at 5.5 million candlepower." On December 20, 1983, the WLV-613 relieved WLV-612 at 2:30 AM, remaining on the Nantucket station until approximately 8 AM when the WLV-613 was replaced at the Nantucket Shoals station with a Large Navigation Buoy.Nantucket Shoals LB "N"
National Data Buoy Center, NOAA Likewise, with its last five-and-a-half hours of service, the WLV-613 was the last lightship on Nantucket Shoals and the last lightship in service in the United States. The WLV-613 is currently owned by

and Kristen Golden, who also own the WLV-612.

Name and station assignments

''Lightship 85'': * ''Nantucket'', Nantucket Shoals, MA (1907–23) * ''Relief'', 1st District (1923–42) *

Examination vessel An examination vessel is a vessel used to inspect ships and boats entering a port during wartime. An examination vessel would typically be responsible for examining and verifying all merchant ships and small craft entering or departing a port. T ...

, World War II (1942–44) * ''Relief'', 1st District (1944–51) * ''Boston'', Boston, MA (1951–62) ''Lightship 117'': * ''Nantucket'', Nantucket Shoals, MA (1931–34) '' Lightship 112'': * ''Nantucket'', Nantucket Shoals, MA (1936–42) * Examination Vessel, World War II (1942–45) * ''Nantucket'', Nantucket Shoals, MA (1945–58) * ''Relief'', 1st District (1958–60) * ''Nantucket'', Nantucket Shoals, MA (1960–75) ''Lightship 612:'' * ''San Francisco'', San Francisco, CA (1951–69) * ''Blunts Reef'', Blunts Reef, CA (1969–71) * ''Portland'', Portland, ME (1971–75) * ''Nantucket'', Nantucket Shoals, MA (1975–83) ''Lightship WLV-613:'' * ''Ambrose'', Ambrose Channel, NY (1952–67) * ''Relief'', MA (1967–79) * ''Nantucket-II'', Nantucket Shoals, MA (1979–83) * Nantucket-II relieved 612 for one day then was relieved by a Large Navigational Buoy, therefore 613 was last Lightship on station in US.

References

External links

Lightship Nantucket

Lighthouse Friends Lightship Nantucket II WLV 613, MA
*

Resources

National Register Number: 89002464

U.S. Coast Guard: Lightship (LV 112)

U.S. Coast Guard Lightship Sailors
{{DEFAULTSORT:Nantucket Lightship stations World War I auxiliary ships of the United States Nantucket, Massachusetts 1936 ships Ships built by Bath Iron Works