The Ship Shoal Light is a
screw-pile lighthouse located in the
Gulf of Mexico southwest of the
Isles Dernieres
Last Island (Official name: Isle Dernière, often misspelled as Îsle Dernière, Isle Dernier, L'Îsle Dernière, Île Dernière, etc.) was a barrier island and location of a pleasure resort southwest of New Orleans on the Gulf Coast of Louisiana ...
off the coast of
Louisiana. It is currently abandoned.
History
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 Lightship may refer to:
* Lightvessel, a moored ship that has light beacons mounted as navigational aids
* '' The Lightship'', a 1985 American drama film directed by Jerzy Skolimowski
*''The Lightship (novel)'', by Siegfried Lenz on which the film ...
was provided instead.
This vessel, the ''Pleasonton'', was named after
Stephen Pleasonton
Stephen Pleasonton (1776? – January 31, 1855) was the first "Fifth Auditor" of the U.S. Treasury Department; he is historically significant for his part in saving priceless early government documents from possible destruction, but is chiefly rem ...
, 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.
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.
Design and construction were protracted, and a total of $103,000 was spent before the light was erected in 1859.
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 in height.
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
St. Martinville (french: Saint-Martin)Jack A. Reynolds. "St. Martinville" entry i"Louisiana Placenames of Romance Origin."LSU Historical Dissertations and Theses #7852. 1942. p. 480. is a city in and the parish seat of St. Martin Parish, Louisiana ...
, but they were recovered at the end of the war.
In the meantime the tower was recaptured by the Union and a new lens mounted.
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.
The paint was stripped and the tanks relined with
coal tar.
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.
The beacon was automated in 1929 and discontinued in 1965,
and the tower abandoned, though quick flashing lights were set on the structure to warn of the obstruction.
The town of
Berwick plans to move the tower to a park in the town, adjoining the
Southwest Reef Light
Southwest Reef Light is a historic lighthouse built in 1856 at the end of Southwest Reef in Atchafalaya Bay, Louisiana to replace lightships which had been stationed there for ten years. It served to guide vessels around the reef and into the m ...
which has already been relocated there, but Ship Shoal Light remains in the gulf for now.
References
External links
*
{{Authority control
Historic American Engineering Record in Louisiana
Lighthouses completed in 1859
Buildings and structures in Terrebonne Parish, Louisiana
Lighthouses in Louisiana
1859 establishments in Louisiana
Transportation in Terrebonne Parish, Louisiana