United States lightship Huron (LV-103)

(Redirected from Huron Lightship) 1920 lightvessel, now a museum ship in Port Huron, Michigan, United States

History
Huron as she currently appears in Pine Grove Park
United States
Name	LV-103
Builder	Consolidated Shipbuilding Co
Laid down	June 5, 1918
Launched	May 1, 1920
In service	December 22, 1920
Out of service	August 25, 1970
Status	Museum Ship
General characteristics
Displacement	312 tons
Length	97 ft (30 m)
Beam	24 ft (7.3 m)
Draft	9 ft 6 in (2.90 m)
Propulsion	175 hp steam engine (original equipment)
Speed	8 knots (15 km/h; 9.2 mph)
Crew	11

Huron (lightship)
U.S. National Register of Historic Places
U.S. National Historic Landmark
Michigan State Historic Site


Location	Port Huron, Michigan
Coordinates	42°59′21″N 82°25′36″W / 42.98917°N 82.42667°W / 42.98917; -82.42667
Built	1918
Architect	Consolidated Shipbuilding Co.
NRHP reference No.	76001974
Significant dates
Added to NRHP	12 July 1976
Designated NHL	20 December 1989

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.

Great Lakes lightships

Huron is one of many lightvessels that were moored on the waters of the Great Lakes.

In 1832 the first lightship on the Great Lakes was placed at Waugoshance Shoal. That wooden light ship was the Lois McLain. In 1851 she was replaced by the Waugoshance Light, which is at one of the most hazardous areas near the Straits of Mackinac, Michigan.

In Lake Huron, Huron was the third ship to be placed at Corsica Shoals, a station established in 1893, replacing a gas buoy that was "somewhat ineffective". Three vessels bore the designation of 'Huron Lightship' from 1893 to 1970. The first was Lightship No. 61, a wooden-hulled ship, painted red with white lettering saying "Corsica Shoals" on her sides. Lightship No. 61 served from September 1893 until 1921. She was lost during the November Great Lakes Storm of 1913, which destroyed at least 12 ships and over 250 lives, when she was torn from her moorings and forced onto Point Edward on the Canadian shore. The grounding of Lightship No. 61 was a contributing factor in the loss of the Matthew Andrews at Corsica Shoals. In any event, she was reclaimed and repaired, and remained in service until 1920, when she was retired and sold at auction.

In the same storm, Lightship Buffalo (LV-82) foundered near Buffalo in Lake Erie, with the loss of six lives. See Shipwrecks of the 1913 Great Lakes storm and List of victims of the 1913 Great Lakes storm. Buffalo was salvaged and saw service with the Coast Guard until 1936.

In 1921, Lightship No. 61 was replaced by Lightship No. 96, the first vessel to actually be called Huron Lightship.

In 1925, there were ten lightvessels on the Great Lakes. Fifteen years later, only Huron remained.

A list of Great Lakes lightvessel assignments is available.

Lightship No. 103 construction and service

Huron was built by the Consolidated Shipbuilding Company in Morris Heights, New York. Her keel was laid in 1918 and completed at a cost of $147,428. At 96.5 feet (29.4 m) long, 24 feet (7.3 m) in the beam, drawing 9.5 feet (2.9 m), and weighing 312 tons, Ship #103 was powered by a single compound reciprocating steam engine, driven by two coal-fired Scotch boilers. They put out 175 horsepower (130 kW).

Commissioned in 1921 as Lightship Number 103, she operated primarily in southern Lake Huron near Port Huron and the mouth of the St. Clair River. Huron spent the 1924, 1925, 1926 and 1929 seasons lighting Grays Reef. She was assigned in 1934 and 1935 seasons to the North Manitou Shoal. In 1935 she was transferred to the Eleventh District for one year, seeing duty as a relief ship. In 1935, Huron was repainted black with "Huron" on her sides, and transferred to Corsica Shoals, approximately 6 miles (9.7 km) north of the Blue Water Bridge (connecting Port Huron and Sarnia, Ontario, Canada.)

Huron was equipped with one acetylene lens lantern, 300 millimetres (12 in), a 10 in (250 mm) steam whistle fog horn, and a hand-operated bell.

After 1945 as Huron, she was the only lightship that was painted black.

In 1949, she was refitted to diesel power with twin six-cylinder GM 6-71 engines at the Defoe Shipbuilding Company of West Bay City, Michigan. The cost was $168,000. After this conversion, her top speed was 9 knots (17 km/h; 10 mph).

On 7 May 1958, Seaman Robert Gullickson, U.S. Coast Guard, perished when a wave swamped a tender from Huron Lightship that he was aboard. He is memorialized on the ship, as he was the only casualty during her many years of service.

On August 20, 1970, she weighed her anchor the last time from Corsica Shoal. She was decommissioned at Detroit on August 25. Upon decommissioning, she was replaced by an unmanned warning buoy light. Ownership of Huron was transferred to the City of Port Huron the following June.

Retirement, honors and museum service

The following honors have been indicated:

National Register of Historic Places, listed 12 July 1976
National Historic Landmark, listed 20 December 1989
State Register, listed 17 May 1973
State Historical Marker, erected 1973.

Commissioned in 1921, the Huron began service as a relief vessel for other Great Lakes lightships. She is ninety-seven feet long, twenty-four feet in beam, and carried a crew of eleven. On clear nights her beacon could be seen for fourteen miles (23 km). After serving in northern Lake Michigan, the Huron was assigned to the Corsica Shoals in 1935. These shallow waters, six miles (9.7 km) north of Port Huron, were the scene of frequent groundings by lake freighters in the late nineteenth century. A lightship station had been established there in 1893, since the manned ships were more reliable than lighted buoys. After 1940 the Huron was the only lightship on the Great Lakes. Retired from Coast Guard Service in 1970, she was presented to the City of Port Huron in 1971.
— State historical marker

The ship is exceptionally well-preserved, and has an operable light and fog horn still on board. Her twin General Motors diesel engines are fully operational, having been brought back to life through the efforts of volunteer mechanics. Amateur radio station NM8GS named the "NMGS Radio Group" operates from her. NM8GS is a take on the original visual and radio navy call sign, NMGS, the ship held when it was in operation. She is officially designated as Amateur Radio Lighthouse Society No. USA-394.

The engines suffered damage as the ship awaited transfer to state ownership. The pistons and cylinders were restored through the contributions and efforts of local companies and volunteers. They powered every part of the ship, from lighting to fog horn. To keep them in working order, they are operated every thirty days.

She was the last of her kind. It is the smallest surviving lightship, and is representative of the 96-foot (29 m) class.

Notes

"National Register Information System". National Register of Historic Places. National Park Service. January 23, 2007.
"Lightship No. 103 Huron". National Historic Landmark summary listing. National Park Service. Archived from the original on October 9, 2012. Retrieved June 27, 2008.
^ "Huron, Lightship No. 103". Retrieved February 21, 2015.
"Huron Lightship Museum home page". Archived from the original on August 15, 2012. Retrieved September 1, 2012.
^ Wagner, John L. "Beacons Shining in the Night, Michigan Lighthouse Bibliography, Chronology, History, and Photographs". Clarke Historical Library, Central Michigan University. Retrieved February 21, 2015.
Wagner, John L. "Beacons Shining in the Night, Michigan Lighthouse Bibliography, Chronology, History, and Photographs". Clarke Historical Library, Central Michigan University. Retrieved February 21, 2015.
Pepper, Terry. "Seeing the Light, Waugoshance Shoal Light". Retrieved September 1, 2012.
"US Coast Guard's "Lightships of the U. S. Government"". Retrieved September 1, 2012.
Barcus, Frank (June 1, 1986). Freshwater Fury: Yarns and Reminiscences of the Greatest Storm in Inland Navigation. Wayne State University Press. p. 57. ISBN 978-0-8143-1828-7. Retrieved September 1, 2012.
"Vessel Designation: LV 61". US Coast Guard Lightships & Those of the US Lighthouse Service. United States Coast Guard. Retrieved September 1, 2012.
Vogel, Michael N.; Redding, Paul F. "Lightvessel No. 82". Buffalo Light Guardian of the Harbor. buffalohistoryworks.com. Archived from the original on May 28, 2012. Retrieved September 1, 2012.
"Vessel Designation: LV 82". US Coast Guard Lightships & Those of the US Lighthouse Service. United States Coast Guard. Retrieved September 1, 2012.
"Historic Light Station Information and Photography: Michigan". United States Coast Guard Historian's Office. Archived from the original on May 1, 2017.
Pepper, Terry. "Seeing the Light, Great Lakes Lightvessel Assignments". Retrieved September 1, 2012.
^ Pepper, Terry. "Seeing the Light, Huron Lightship". Retrieved September 1, 2012.
^ "Vessel Designation: LV 103/WAL 526". US Coast Guard Lightships & Those of the US Lighthouse Service. United States Coast Guard. Retrieved September 1, 2012.
"Huron Lightship Museum History". Retrieved January 9, 2020.
Arnold, Wayne. "The Ultimate Price". Huron Lightship Museum, Port Huron, Michigan. boatnerd.com. Retrieved September 1, 2012.
"Michigan Historical Markers". Archived from the original on January 29, 2013. Retrieved September 1, 2012.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: unfit URL (link)
^ Rowlett, Russ. "Lighthouses of the United States: Michigan's Eastern Lower Peninsula". The Lighthouse Directory. University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
^ Clark, Sue (December 16, 2007). "Lightship Huron's Twin GM Diesels To Roar Again". Lighthouse News/Port Huron Times Herald. Retrieved September 1, 2012. including a link to hear the engines.

External links

v t e Lightvessels
List of lightvessels
Stations	Five Fathom Bank light station Lightship Ambrose Lightship Nantucket
Lists	Ireland United Kingdom United States
Museums	Ambrose (1907) Barnegat Carpentaria Chesapeake Columbia Finngrundet Fladen Gedser Rev Huron Lightship 2000 (Helwick) Nantucket (1936) Overfalls Portsmouth Relief (1950) Spurn Swiftsure
Related	Lanby Light float Lighthouse Men of the Lightship Trinity House Relief (1904)
Category Commons

v t e Lighthouses in Michigan
Main: List of lighthouses in the United States
Northern Upper Peninsula	Au Sable Big Bay Point Copper Harbor Copper Harbor Front Range Crisp Point Eagle Harbor Eagle Harbor Range Lights Eagle River Fourteen Mile Point Grand Island East Channel Grand Island Harbor Rear Range Grand Island North Grand Marais Range Lights Granite Island Gull Rock Huron Island Isle Royale Manitou Island Marquette Breakwater Outer Marquette Harbor Mendota (Bete Grise) Munising Front Range Munising Rear Range Ontonagon Ontonagon Harbor West Breakwater Portage River (Jacobsville) Passage Island Presque Isle Harbor Breakwater Light Rock Harbor Rock of Ages Sand Hills Sand Point Light (Baraga) St. Martin Island Stannard Rock Thunder Bay Island Whitefish Point
Southern Upper Peninsula	DeTour Reef Lansing Shoals Manistique East Breakwater Martin Reef Menominee Pier Minneapolis Shoal Naubinway Island Peninsula Point Poverty Island Sand Point Seul Choix Squaw Island St. Martin Island
St. Mary's River	Frying Pan Island Pipe Island Point Iroquois Round Island Light (St. Mary's River) Six Mile Point Range Rear Winter Point Range Front
Portage River/Ship Canal	Keweenaw Waterway Lower Entrance Keweenaw Waterway Upper Entrance Portage Lake Rouleau Point Range Front and Rear Lights
Straits of Mackinac	Bois Blanc McGulpin Point Old Mackinac Point Round Island Round Island Passage St. Helena Island Wawatam
Western Lower Peninsula	Beaver Island Harbor Beaver Island Head Big Sable Point Cedar River Charlevoix Charlevoix South Pier Frankfort Frankfort South Range Grand Haven North Pierhead Grand Haven South Pierhead Entrance Grand Haven South Pierhead Inner Grand Traverse Grays Reef Holland Harbor Ile Aux Galets Little Sable Point Little Traverse Ludington Manistee Pierhead Manning Memorial Mission Point Mission Point (1933) Muskegon Breakwater Muskegon Pier North Manitou Shoal Pentwater North Pierhead Pentwater South Pierhead Point Betsie Portage Lake South Fox Island South Haven South Manitou Island St. Joseph North Pier Inner St. Joseph North Pier Outer Waugoshance White River White Shoal
Eastern Lower Peninsula	Alpena Caseville Harbor Charity Island Cheboygan Crib Cheboygan River Front Range Detroit River Fort Gratiot Forty Mile Point Fourteen Foot Shoal Gibraltar Gravelly Shoal Harbor Beach Lake St. Clair Mariners Memorial Middle Island Miller Memorial New Presque Isle Old Presque Isle Peche Island Rear Range Poe Reef Pointe aux Barques Port Austin Port Sanilac Saginaw Bay Saginaw River Rear Range Spectacle Reef St. Clair Flats Front and Rear Range Light Sturgeon Point Tawas Point Thunder Bay Island Tri-Centennial Light of Detroit William Livingstone Memorial Windmill Point
Historical (lost) lights	Au Sable North Pierhead Belle Isle Clinton River Ecorse Ecorse Range Rear Gibraltar Grassy Island Grassy Island North Channel Range Lights Grassy Island South Channel Range Lights Grosse Ile North Channel Range Lights Grosse Ile South Channel Range Lights Harwood Point East Range Front Kalamazoo River Mama Juda Mama Juda Range Front Manistee Main Middle Lake George Monroe Pier New Buffalo North Manitou Island Saginaw Bay Sand Beach North Entrance East Squaw Point St. Mary's River Lower Range Front Vidal Shoals Channel Range Front and Rear Lights Windmill Point Range Front and Rear Lights
Related	Lightship Huron List of lifesaving stations in Michigan Wixom Lake, Musselman Island lighthouse

v t e U.S. National Register of Historic Places
Topics	Architectural style categories Contributing property Historic district History of the National Register of Historic Places Keeper of the Register National Park Service Property types
Lists by state	List of U.S. National Historic Landmarks by state: Alabama Alaska Arizona Arkansas California Colorado Connecticut Delaware Florida Georgia Hawaii Idaho Illinois Indiana Iowa Kansas Kentucky Louisiana Maine Maryland Massachusetts Michigan Minnesota Mississippi Missouri Montana Nebraska Nevada New Hampshire New Jersey New Mexico New York North Carolina North Dakota Ohio Oklahoma Oregon Pennsylvania Rhode Island South Carolina South Dakota Tennessee Texas Utah Vermont Virginia Washington West Virginia Wisconsin Wyoming
Lists by insular areas	American Samoa Guam Minor Outlying Islands Northern Mariana Islands Puerto Rico Virgin Islands
Lists by associated state	Federated States of Micronesia Marshall Islands Palau
Other areas	District of Columbia American Legation, Morocco
Related	National Historic Preservation Act Historic Preservation Fund List of jails and prisons on the National Register of Historic Places University and college buildings listed on the National Register of Historic Places
National Register of Historic Places portal Category

Categories:

Misplaced Pages