Location | southwest of Isles Dernieres |
---|---|
Coordinates | 28°54′52″N91°04′16″W / 28.9145°N 91.0711°W |
Tower | |
Foundation | screw-pile |
Construction | cast-iron |
Automated | 1929 |
Height | 125 feet (38 m) |
Shape | skeletal tower with circular house at base |
Light | |
First lit | 1859 |
Deactivated | 1965 |
Focal height | 105 feet (32 m) |
Lens | second-order Fresnel lens [1] [2] |
Characteristic | QF W |
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.
Ship Shoal (known as Ship Island Shoal in early maps) is a bar running east–west in the open waters of the gulf. The Louisiana State Legislature petitioned the U.S. Congress for a light to be erected on this hazard in 1848, but instead of a fixed tower, a lightship was provided instead. [3] This vessel, the Pleasonton, was named after Stephen Pleasonton, who was in charge of the lighthouse service at the time. It exhibited a pair of red lanterns and took station on December 29, 1849. [3]
Pleasonton's tenure was then drawing to a close, and when the Lighthouse Board was formed in 1852, they requested funding for an iron tower to replace the lightship. [3] [4] Design and construction were protracted, and a total of $103,000 was spent before the light was erected in 1859. [4] The tower was patterned on those being built along the Florida shore, with a ring of eight piles driven into the bottom and surmounted by an octagonal skeleton tower 125 feet (38 m) in height. [3] The keeper's dwelling was a cylindrical iron house on a platform near the base of the tower. A second order Fresnel lens was provided; during the Civil War Confederate forces raided the tower and carried away the lens and lantern glass, eventually removing them to St. Martinville, but they were recovered at the end of the war. [4] In the meantime the tower was recaptured by the Union and a new lens mounted. [3]
Shortly after the war the Lighthouse Board became aware that keepers at the light were becoming ill. An 1866 investigation determined that the problem was red lead paint in the light's cisterns, which was poisoning the water. [3] [4] The paint was stripped and the tanks relined with coal tar. [3]
The tower survived many hurricanes, but over time the tower developed a considerable tilt, which placement of granite blocks around the footings in 1896 was not sufficient to remedy. [3] [4] The beacon was automated in 1929 and discontinued in 1965, [2] and the tower abandoned, though quick flashing lights were set on the structure to warn of the obstruction. [3] The town of Berwick plans to move the tower to a park in the town, adjoining the Southwest Reef Light which has already been relocated there, but Ship Shoal Light remains in the gulf for now. [3] [4]
Cape Hatteras Light is a lighthouse located on Hatteras Island in the Outer Banks in the town of Buxton, North Carolina and is part of the Cape Hatteras National Seashore. The lighthouse's semi-unique pattern makes it easy to recognize and famous. It is often ranked high on lists of most beautiful, and famous lighthouses in the US.
Last Island was a barrier island and location of a pleasure resort southwest of New Orleans on the Gulf Coast of Louisiana, United States. Located south of Dulac, Louisiana, between Lake Pelto, Caillou Bay, and the Gulf of Mexico, it was named Last Island because it was the last of a series of barrier islands which stretched westward from the mouth of the Mississippi River, 90 miles to the east.
Carysfort Reef Light is located east of Key Largo, Florida. The lighthouse has an iron-pile foundation with a platform, and a skeletal, octagonal, pyramidal tower, which is painted red. The light was 100 feet (30 m) above the water. It was the oldest functioning lighthouse of its type in the United States until it was decommissioned in 2015, having been completed in 1852. The light last installed was a xenon flashtube beacon. It was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1984.
The Cape Canaveral Light is a historic lighthouse on the east coast of the U.S. state of Florida. The light was established in 1848 to warn ships of the dangerous shoals that lie off its coast. It is located inside the Cape Canaveral Space Force Station and managed by the Space Launch Delta 45 of the U.S. Space Force with the assistance of the Cape Canaveral Lighthouse Foundation. It is the only fully operational lighthouse owned by the United States Space Force.
The Dames Point Light marked an 8-foot-deep (2.4 m) shoal at a sharp bend in the St. Johns River in Florida that was a danger to ships heading to or from Jacksonville.
Charity Island Light is a lighthouse on Big Charity Island in Lake Huron just off the coast of Au Gres, Northern Michigan.
Old Mackinac Point Light is a deactivated lighthouse located at the northern tip of the Lower Peninsula in the U.S. state of Michigan. The lighthouse is part of Fort Michilimackinac State Park in the village of Mackinaw City just east of the Mackinac Bridge.
Cape Mendocino Light was a navigation light at Cape Mendocino, California. The former lighthouse was relocated to Shelter Cove near Point Delgada, California in 1998, and the historic Fresnel lens to Ferndale, California, in 1948. An automated beacon operated for a number of years but was removed in May 2013.
Wolf Trap Light is a caisson lighthouse in the Virginia portion of the Chesapeake Bay, about seven and a half miles northeast of New Point Comfort Light. It is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.
The White Shoal Light is a lighthouse located 20 miles (32 km) west of the Mackinac Bridge in Lake Michigan. It is an active aid to navigation. It is also the tallest lighthouse on the Great Lakes.
The Hog Island Light was a lighthouse roughly marking its eponymous island, and thus the north side of the Great Machipongo Inlet on the Virginia coast. Originally, no light existed between Cape Henlopen, Delaware and Cape Charles. In 1830 the United States Congress appropriated money for a coastal beacon in the general vicinity of Chincoteague Island. The following year, the Collector of Customs in Norfolk selected Assateague Island.
The Rock of Ages Light is a U.S. Coast Guard lighthouse on a small rock outcropping approximately 2.25 miles (3.62 km) west of Washington Island and 3.5 miles (5.6 km) west of Isle Royale, in Eagle Harbor Township, Keweenaw County, Michigan. It is an active aid to navigation.
The Ship John Shoal Light marks the north side of the ship channel in Delaware Bay on the east coast of the United States, near the Bombay Hook National Wildlife Refuge. Its cast iron superstructure was exhibited at the 1876 Centennial Exposition in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
The Peshtigo Reef Light is a lighthouse in Marinette County, Wisconsin, United States, offshore in lower Green Bay. Constructed in 1936 to replace a lightship, it remains in service.
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.
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.
The Point Abino Light Tower is a lighthouse on the rocky north shore of Lake Erie at the southern tip of Point Abino peninsula west of Crystal Beach, Ontario, Canada. The Greek Revival white square tower with red accents is attached to the fog alarm building, and a lighthouse keeper's residence is located on the shore to the north.
The West Rigolets Light was a lighthouse which stood at the west end of the Rigolets where the channel meets Lake Pontchartrain. Built in 1855, it was deactivated sometime around World War II and was destroyed by Hurricane Katrina in 2005.
The East Rigolets Light was an early lighthouse marking the entrance to the Rigolets from Lake Borgne in Louisiana. It was deactivated in 1874 and destroyed sometime after 1923.
The Pass A L'Outre Light is a defunct lighthouse in the Birdfoot Delta in Louisiana, United States, located near the mouth of the Mississippi River. Erected to mark the then-active entrance to the river, it was abandoned as that channel silted up. It has been in the path of several noteworthy hurricanes, and was heavily damaged. It is on the Lighthouse Digest Doomsday List, and is critically in danger. The lighthouse is at the center of a nature preserve.