Spotlight on: Lightships

Far out into the deep blue sea, there once sat floating beacons guiding ships and ocean vessels safely to their destinations. These beacons were quite unlike their land-based brothers and sisters, yet they provided the same safety and guidance required to survive the hidden dangers of the sea. But like their land-based counterparts, they became obselete. I am of course talking about the historic lightships that lined America's coastal waters where no lighthouse could be built.

Lightships were very different from land-based lighthouses. First, they did not have a single keeper, but rather an entire crew. This crew was responsible for not only keeping the lightship lit and sounding the fog horn, but also for the daily routines of keeping the ship afloat. Whereas lighthouse keepers faced danger only in lifesaving rescue missions, crews of the historic lightships faced the daily dangers of the sea. A violent storm could toss the fragile lightship about, challenging the skills and taking the lives of many experienced sailors. Seasickness was common even among those who knew how "ride the waves". Lighthouses had the coast to protect them from passing ships, but lightships were left unportected, susceptable to ramming by oceanliners traveling the busiest and most treacherous shipping lanes. In 1936, fog prevent the lightship Nantucket from being seen and the RMS Olympic (sister ship to the RMS Titanic) rammed her, sinking the ship immediately with a total loss of the lightship's crew.

In addition to the dangers of lightship service, crews had to endure conditions unheard of in the lighthouse service. Many lighthouse keepers lived a solitary life, but they still had interaction with the local community. Even when the lighthouse was located offshore, keepers were able to go into town for supplies. On a ligthship, the only interaction was among the crew itself. Much like navy tours of duty, crews were stationed on the lightships for months at a time with no means for going ashore. Additionally, the lightship's fog horns were so loud and constant that the crew had to wear ear protection or run the risk of going deaf.

Throughout the history of the United States Lighthouse Service and United States Coast Guard, more than 175 lightships were built. At any one time, 56 were stationed along the coasts and in the busiest shipping lanes where it was too deep or too dangerous to build a lighthouse. The Nantucket was the largest of these lightships at 1,050 tons almost 150 feet in length. During World War II, the Nantucket was removed from service as a lightship and pressed into military service as an examination vessel with a single three inch gun. Today, the Nantucket sits in Oyster Bay, New York, but it has been given an eviction notice from the city and faces the real possibility of being scrapped. Most lightships were scrapped when they were decommissioned. In the 1970s, lightships became obselete with the invention of the Texas Tower lighthouse station. Only a handful of lightships survive today, which serve a museums. The surviving lightships include:

• Ambrose - New York, New York


• Chesapeake - Baltimore, Maryland


• Columbia - Astoria, Oregon


• Huron - Port Huron, Michigan


• Nantucket - Osyter Bay, New York


• Overfalls - Lewes, Delaware


• Portsmouth - Portsmouth, Virginia


• Relief - Oakland, California


• Swiftsure - Seattle, Washington

Information for this article was taken from Mannino, Robert Jr. and Donald Whitehead. "S.O.S. for the Nantucket Lightship", Sea History no. 126, Spring 2009 ppg 12-15.