NEWPORT, R.I. – As the cruising season turns south, the Newport Shipyard has begun to empty out for the winter. But one addition is turning heads. The Lightship Nantucket (WLV 612), the iconic floating beacon which from 1975 until 1983 greeted boaters to that island oasis, has berthed at the shipyard, and just as it was to mariners crossing the Atlantic, its bright red hull is a welcome sight here in port.
She was one of two Nantucket-based vessels that served as last lightships in the United States, and carries with her a storied history.
Established in 1854, the station marked the limits of the dangerous Nantucket Shoals. She was the last lightship seen by vessels departing the United States, as well as the first beacon seen on approach.
Built in 1950 and originally stationed 3 miles from the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco, she served as the Blunts Reef lightship in California and in Portland before being assigned to her position 45 miles southeast of Nantucket in 1975.
After her decommissioning in 1985, she was sold into private ownership. Today, she’s a well-appointed luxury ship available for charter around the waters of New York, Nantucket, and Newport.
She measures out at 128-feet with a 30-foot beam, and boats a cruising range of 4,000 nautical miles.
In August, she paid tribute to the late Sen. Edward M. Kennedy by illuminating his schooner located off the Kennedy compound in Hyannis Port.
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Newport, RI
{ 4 comments… read them below or add one }
I love seeing this ship here. I knew it had a long history but was not aware of its time on the West Coast. Nice work…
There were actually several Nantucket Lightships, not just two. There is still one tied up in Wareham, Mass., for example. Another has been made into timeshare condos. Others have been scrapped. I believe another possibly sunk.
Of course Carol is right.
In fact there were 11 lightships stationed off of Nantucket between 1854 and 1983.
The reference to WLV 612 being one of the last of two lightships at the shoals speaks to it sharing duties with lightship Nantucket II, WLV 613.
I served on WLV-612 off San Fran and Blunts Reef.
Many memories.