Merrill Shell Bank Light

Last updated
Merrill Shell Bank Light
Merrill shell bank light.JPG
undated photograph of Merrill Shell Bank Light (USCG)
Merrill Shell Bank Light
Location Mississippi Sound south of Pass Christian
Coordinates 30°14′33″N89°14′56″W / 30.2425°N 89.2489°W / 30.2425; -89.2489 [1]
Tower
Constructed1860 (first house)
1883 (second house) [2]
FoundationScrew-pile [1]
Constructionsquare wooden house [1]
Automated1932
Light
Deactivated1945
Focal height42 ft (13 m) [1]

The Merrill Shell Bank Light was a screw-pile lighthouse which once stood on its eponymous shoal in the Mississippi Sound, west of Cat Island and south of Pass Christian, Mississippi. It was replaced by a skeleton tower on the same foundation.

History

The shoal was first marked by the hull of the former revenue cutter McLane serving as a lightship beginning in 1847, but this was replaced by a screw-pile light in 1860. The light was extinguished by the Confederates but was undamaged, and was re-lit in 1863. The house was damaged by fire in 1880, and was utterly destroyed in 1883 by another fire; it was rebuilt the same year. [3] In 1932 it was automated, and in 1945 the house was removed and replaced by a skeleton tower on the same foundation. [4] This tower was damaged by the hurricanes of 2005 and was discontinued in 2007. [5]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Screw-pile lighthouse</span>

A screw-pile lighthouse is a lighthouse which stands on piles that are screwed into sandy or muddy sea or river bottoms. The first screw-pile lighthouse to begin construction was built by the blind Irish engineer Alexander Mitchell. Construction began in 1838 at the mouth of the Thames and was known as the Maplin Sands lighthouse, and first lit in 1841. However, though its construction began later, the Wyre Light in Fleetwood, Lancashire, was the first to be lit.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Seven Foot Knoll Light</span> Lighthouse in Maryland, United States

The Seven Foot Knoll Light was built in 1855 and is the oldest screw-pile lighthouse in Maryland. It was located atop Seven Foot Knoll in the Chesapeake Bay until it was replaced by a modern navigational aid and relocated to Baltimore's Inner Harbor as a museum exhibit.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Thomas Point Shoal Light</span> Lighthouse in Maryland, United States

The Thomas Point Shoal Light, also known as Thomas Point Shoal Light Station, is a historic lighthouse in the Chesapeake Bay on the east coast of the United States, and the most recognized lighthouse in Maryland. It is the only screw-pile lighthouse in the bay which stands at its original site. The current structure is a 1½ story hexagonal wooden cottage, equipped with a foghorn as well as the light.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">American Shoal Light</span> Lighthouse in Florida, US

The American Shoal Light is located east of the Saddlebunch Keys, just offshore from Sugarloaf Key, close to Looe Key, in Florida, United States. It was completed in 1880, and first lit on July 15, 1880. The structure was built to the same plan and dimensions as the Fowey Rocks lighthouse, completed in 1878.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sand Key Light</span> Lighthouse southwest of Key West, Florida, United States

Sand Key Light is a lighthouse 6 nautical miles southwest of Key West, Florida, between Sand Key Channel and Rock Key Channel, two of the channels into Key West, on a reef intermittently covered by sand. At times the key has been substantial enough to have trees, and in 1900 nine to twelve thousand terns nested on the island. At other times the island has been washed away completely.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Unmanned reef lights of the Florida Keys</span> Lighthouses in Florida, United States

The unmanned reef lights of the Florida Keys were navigational aids erected near the Florida Keys between 1921 and 1935. They were intended to mark local hazards and did not need to be visible for as far as the reef lights that were erected near the Keys during the 19th century. By the time the lights in this list were erected, older lighthouses were being automated, and these new lights were designed to be automated from the start. The lights resembled the older reef lights in having a wrought iron skeletal pyramidal structure on a screw-pile foundation. They all originally had lanterns on their peaks, so that they looked like smaller versions of the older reef lights, but had no keeper's quarters.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Solomons Lump Light</span> Lighthouse in Maryland, United States

Solomons Lump Light is a lighthouse in the Chesapeake Bay, the abbreviated remains of a caisson light built in 1895. That structure replaced a screw-pile light built on the same spot in 1875, which in turn superseded the Fog Point Light.

The Sharkfin Shoal Light was a screw-pile lighthouse located at the mouth of the Nanticoke River in Chesapeake Bay, US.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Greenbury Point Light</span> Lighthouse in Maryland, United States

Greenbury Point Light was the name of two lighthouses in the Chesapeake Bay, both located at the mouth of the Severn River in Annapolis, Maryland.

The Lower Cedar Point Light was a historic lighthouse in the Potomac River near its eponymous point, south of the present Governor Harry W. Nice Memorial Bridge, which carries U.S. Route 301 between Maryland and Virginia. It has been replaced by a skeleton tower.

The Janes Island Light was a screw-pile lighthouse located near Crisfield in the U.S. state of Maryland. Twice destroyed by ice, it was replaced in 1935 with an automated beacon.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Thimble Shoal Light</span> Lighthouse in Virginia, United States

Thimble Shoal Light is a sparkplug lighthouse in the Virginia portion of Chesapeake Bay, north of the Hampton Roads channel. The third light at this location, it is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Old Plantation Flats Light</span> Lighthouse in Virginia, United States

The Old Plantation Flats Light was a lighthouse located in the Chesapeake Bay marking the channel to Cape Charles, Virginia.

The Fort Ripley Shoal Light or Middle Ground Light was a lighthouse in the Charleston, South Carolina harbor approaches.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ship Island Light</span> Lighthouse

Ship Island Light was a lighthouse in Mississippi near Gulfport.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Cat Island Light</span> Lighthouse

The Cat Island Light was a lighthouse located on Cat Island off the coast of Mississippi. Originally built to guide shipping through the Mississippi Sound, it was discontinued as traffic moved further south.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">New Canal Light</span> Lighthouse in Louisiana, US

The New Canal Light or was first established in 1838 at the north end of the New Basin Canal which ran from Lake Pontchartrain to the Uptown or "American" section of the city which today is known as the New Orleans Central Business District. The canal was filled in about 1950, but the lighthouse remained on a jetty extending into the lake on a half mile long stretch of the canal that was left and is still used as a small boat and yachting harbor.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ship Shoal Light</span> Lighthouse in Louisiana, US

The Ship Shoal Light is a screw-pile lighthouse located in the Gulf of Mexico southwest of the Isles Dernieres off the coast of Louisiana. It is currently abandoned.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sabine Bank Light</span> Lighthouse in Texas, United States

The Sabine Bank Light is a caisson lighthouse in the Gulf of Mexico south of the mouth of the Sabine River. It is still active, though the original tower has been replaced with an automated beacon on a skeleton tower.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">South Pass Light</span> Lighthouse in Louisiana, US

The South Pass Light, also known as the Port Eads LighthouseSouth Point Light, or Gordon's Island Light, are a pair of lighthouses located on Gordon's Island at South Pass, in Plaquemines Parish, Louisiana (USA), one of the primary entrances to the Mississippi River Delta from the Gulf of Mexico. The light station was established in 1831 and is still active.

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 List of Lights and Fog Signals on the Atlantic and Gulf Coasts of the United States. Government Printing Office. March 1, 1907. pp. 242, 243. Retrieved 2016-02-19.
  2. "Historic Light Station Information and Photography: Mississippi". United States Coast Guard Historian's Office. Archived from the original on 2017-05-01. Retrieved 2009-02-26.
  3. Holland, Jr., Francis Ross (1988). America's Lighthouses. Dover. p. 145. ISBN   9780486139272 . Retrieved 2016-02-19.
  4. "Merrill's Shell Bank Light". Lighthouse Explorer Database. Foghorn Publishing. Retrieved 2016-02-20.
  5. Local Notice to Mariners: District 8: Gulf. January 17, 2007. United States Coast Guard: p. 25.