A lightvessel, or lightship, is a ship that acts as a lighthouse. They are used in waters that are too deep or otherwise unsuitable for lighthouse construction. Although some records exist of fire beacons being placed on ships in Roman times, the first modern lightvessel was off the Nore sandbank at the mouth of the River Thames in London, England, placed there by its inventor Robert Hamblin in 1734. The type has become largely obsolete; lighthouses replaced some stations as the construction techniques for lighthouses advanced, while large, automated buoys replaced others.
United States lightship Chesapeake (LS-116/WAL-538/WLV-538) is a museum ship owned by the National Park Service and on a 25-year loan to Baltimore City, and is operated by Historic Ships in Baltimore Museum in Baltimore, Maryland. A National Historic Landmark, she is one of a small number of preserved lightships. Since 1820, several lightships have served at the Chesapeake lightship station and have been called Chesapeake. Lightships were initially lettered in the early 1800s, but then numbered as they were often moved from one light station to another. The name painted on the side of lightships was the short name of the Light Station they were assigned to and was the daytime visual aspect of the many Aids to Navigation on board lightships. The United States Coast Guard assigned new hull numbers to all lightships still in service in April 1950. After that date, Light Ship 116 was then known by the new Coast Guard Hull number: WAL-538. In January 1965 the Coast Guard further modified all lightship hull designations from WAL to WLV, so Chesapeake became WLV-538.
The United States Lighthouse Service, also known as the Bureau of Lighthouses, was the agency of the United States Government and the general lighthouse authority for the United States from the time of its creation in 1910 as the successor of the United States Lighthouse Board until 1939 when it was merged into the United States Coast Guard. It was responsible for the upkeep and maintenance of all lighthouses and lightvessels in the United States.
The Frying Pan Shoals are a shifting area of shoals off Cape Fear in North Carolina, United States. Formed by silt from the Cape Fear River, the shoals are over 28 miles long and resemble a frying pan in shape. They provide excellent fishing.
The United States lightship Huron (LV-103) is a lightvessel that was launched in 1920. She is now a museum ship moored in Pine Grove Park, Port Huron, St. Clair County, Michigan.
Light Vessel Number 83 (LV-83) Swiftsure is a lightship and museum ship owned by Northwest Seaport in Seattle, Washington. Launched in 1904 at Camden, New Jersey and in active service until 1960 after serving on all five of the American west coast's lightship stations, it is the oldest surviving lightship in the United States, the only one still fitted with its original steam engine, and the last lightship with wooden decks. LV-83 was designated a National Historic Landmark in 1989, and has been undergoing major restoration since 2008.
Lightship Ambrose was the name given to multiple lightships that served as the sentinel beacon marking Ambrose Channel, New York Harbor's main shipping channel.
Stratford Shoal Light, officially Stratford Shoal Light, is a lighthouse on a shoal in the middle of Long Island Sound approximately halfway between Port Jefferson, New York and Bridgeport, Connecticut.
United States Lightship 101, now known as Portsmouth as a museum ship, was first stationed at Cape Charles, Virginia. Today she is at the Portsmouth Naval Shipyard Museum in Portsmouth, Virginia. Portsmouth never had a lightship station; however, when the vessel was dry docked there as a museum, she took on the pseudonym Portsmouth. A National Historic Landmark, she is one of a small number of surviving lightships.
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.
United States lightship Nantucket (LV-112) is a National Historic Landmark lightship that served at the Lightship Nantucket position. She was the last serving lightship and at time of its application as a landmark, one of only two capable of moving under their own power. She served as the lightship for such notable vessels as the liners United States, Queen Mary, and Normandie.
Lightship No. 114, later U.S. Coast Guard WAL 536, that served as lightship Fire Island (NY), Examination Vessel, Diamond Shoal (NC), 1st District relief vessel, Pollock Rip (MA) and Portland (ME). After decommissioning in 1971, in 1975 the lightship became a historic ship at the State Pier in New Bedford, Massachusetts. She received little maintenance, and eventually sank at her moorings in 2006 and was sold for scrap the next year.
Diamond Shoal Light is an inactive offshore lighthouse marking Diamond Shoals off Cape Hatteras.
Lightship Overfalls (LV-118) was the last lightvessel constructed for the United States Lighthouse Service before the Service became part of the United States Coast Guard. She is currently preserved in Lewes, Delaware as a museum ship.
The United States Lightship LV-87/WAL-512 (Ambrose) is a riveted steel lightship built in 1907 and served at the Ambrose Channel lightship station from December 1, 1908, until 1932, and in other posts until her decommissioning in 1966. It is one of a small number of preserved American lightships, and now serves as a museum ship at the South Street Seaport Museum in southern Manhattan, New York City.
Diamond Shoal Lightship No. 71 (LV-71) was a lightship of the United States Lighthouse Service. She is most remembered for her sinking in 1918 during World War I when a German U-boat attacked her off North Carolina. Her shipwrecked remains were listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2015.
Coast Guard Station Oak Island referred to locally as the Oak Island Coast Guard Station (OICGS) is located in the Town of Caswell Beach on Oak Island in Brunswick County, North Carolina. A part of the Cape Fear region, the station is in the United States Coast Guard 5th District which is charged with ensuring the safety and security of the oceans, coastal areas, and marine transportation system within the Mid-Atlantic Region. The district encompasses some 156,000 square miles of ocean, bays, rivers, wetlands and tidal marshes, geographic waterways, several major mid-Atlantic ports, and the Nation’s capital. They also patrol the mouth of the Cape Fear River in Southport, North Carolina and the Intracoastal Waterway (ICW)
United States
