Five Fathom Bank light station was a station for lightvessels in New Jersey, United States. It was located off the south end of Five Fathom Bank, 14.7 miles and 100 degrees from the

Cape May Lighthouse The Cape May Lighthouse is a lighthouse located in the U.S. state of New Jersey at the tip of Cape May, in Lower Township's Cape May Point State Park. It was built in 1859 under the supervision of U.S. Army engineer William F. Raynolds, was autom ...

. The station was in service from 1837 to 1972 before ultimately being replaced by a horn

buoy A buoy () is a floating device that can have many purposes. It can be anchored (stationary) or allowed to drift with ocean currents. Types Navigational buoys * Race course marker buoys are used for buoy racing, the most prevalent form of yac ...

Service

Records for lightvessels are incomplete. On or about April 30, 1891, LV-40 was removed from its post on Five Fathom Bank and replaced by a schooner ''Drift'', which temporarily would show a fixed white light on each masthead. Additionally, a buoy was used as an additional marker for the position while LV-40 was repaired. In 1893, the ''

USS New York (ACR-2) USS ''New York'' (ACR-2/CA-2) was the second United States Navy armored cruiser so designated; the first was the ill-fated , which was soon redesignated a second-class battleship. Due to the unusually protracted construction of ''Maine'', ''New ...

'' was performing sea trials and used the Five Fathom Bank light station and the North East End light station as markers to which it became the fastest armored vessel in the world. In 1894, the ''

USS Minneapolis (C-13) The first USS ''Minneapolis'' (C-13/CA-17) was a United States Navy protected cruiser. She was named for the city of Minneapolis, Minnesota. ''Minneapolis'' was laid down 16 December 1891 by William Cramp & Sons, Philadelphia; launched 12 Aug ...

'' again used the Five Fathom Bank light as a marker for its trial which it became the fastest armored vessel in the world. On February 2, 1913, the Steamship ''Prinz Oskar'' and the schooner ''City of Georgetown'' collided and blamed the lightship for the accident. The ''City of Georgetown'' was heading towns the Cape Hatteras lightship in the southeast while the ''Prinz Oskar'' was heading in a circle to the northeast "in a great circle toward the transatlantic steamship route" with the Five Banks Light shone between the two vessels. Unable to see each other until it was too late, the ''Prinz Oskar'' collided with the ship and resulted in a large stove in its port bow, but the ''City of Georgetown'' was doomed and sank within 8 minutes. Captain A. J. Slocum and his crew of seven managed to get into their lifeboat and was taken aboard the ''Prinz Oskar'' and returned to Philadelphia for repair, listing to the starboard. The ''City of Georgetown'' was a long schooner with a beam that was launched in 1902 from Bath, Maine. The ship sank with its cargo of salt, of unlisted weight, but the ship's capacity was 1900 tons.

List of lightships by year

References

{{Lightvessels Transportation buildings and structures in Cape May County, New Jersey Lightship stations Water transportation in New Jersey Ships of the United States Lighthouse Service 1837 establishments in New Jersey 1972 disestablishments in New Jersey