Bar Point Shoal Lightship LV-62

YEAR BUILT: 1893

BUILT AT: Toledo (OH)

BUILDER: Craig Shipbuilding Co

APPROPRIATION: $60,000
(Approp. for a lighthouse off Pt Peninsula (MI), used for "one or more" lightships)

CONTRACT PRICE: $13,990 ($41,970 for LV 60,61,62)

SISTER VESSELS: LV 59,60,61

DESIGN: Wood framed & planked, white oak fastened with iron bolts and spikes; foremast with Spencer, short after mast; stack amidships; fog signal ahead of stack; single large deckhouse; daymark on foremast

LENGTH: 87'2" (loa); BEAM: 21'6"; DRAFT: 8'0"

PROPULSION: None- riding sail carried on short after mast

TONNAGE: 160 displ-fresh water

ILLUMINATING APPARATUS: Cluster of 3 oil burning lens lanterns hoisted to fore mast bead

FOG SIGNAL: 6" steam whistle; hand operated 800 lb brass bell

CONSTRUCTION NOTES - MODIFICATIONS - EQUIPMENT CHANGES & IMPROVEMENTS: LV 62-
Although essentially identical, LV 60,61, and 62 were built under a single contract with LV 59 built under separate contract-
1910 Equipped with submarine bell signal

STATION ASSIGNMENTS: LV 62

1893-1910: Poe Reef (MI)
1911-1919: Bar Point Shoal

(Bar Point Shoal lies in Canadian waters, discontinued by the US in 1919, and responsibility for marking it thereafter was assumed by Canadian government)

HISTORICAL NOTES: LV 62-

1893: Sep 29, placed on Poe Reef (MI), SE of Bois Blank Island in entrance to South Channel, Straights of Mackinac. Red hull with white letters POE REEF; red daymark at fore masthead; showed single FW light from foremast; fog signal, 5 sec blast, 10 sec silent-
Typical of Great Lakes lightships, vessel was withdrawn during the period the Lakes were closed to navigation, usually early Dec through Mar/Apr each year. Necessary repairs were performed while in winter quarters. This vessel wintered at Cheboygan (MI) throughout her career-
1896: Reported in "fair condition, and not appropriate for so exposed a station"-
1897: The District proposed the vessel be removed and used for Relief duty, and also requested a $15,000 appropriation for a suitable replacement vessel. No action was taken by the Lighthouse Board-
1901: Towed by tender MARIGOLD from Cheboygan to Detroit at the opening of navigation; extensively repaired then towed to station Jul 10.-
Remained on Poe Reef station through 1910-
1911: Stationed on Bar Point Shoal, remaining until 1919 when the station was discontinued by the U.S.

More notes: LV 62-
1919: Responsibility for the Bar Point station was thereafter assumed by the Canadian Government who placed a Canadian lightship on the station-
LV 62: was laid up following the 1919 season and condemned in 1920

RETIRED FROM LIGHTSHIP DUTY: 1919; AGE: 26

SUBSEQUENT DISPOSITION:
Sold at public auction, 11th District Hq, Aug 8, 1921 - $200

COMMANDING OFFICERS: LV 62
1895-?: Walter J McGuin, Master
?-1913: Thomas Quinlan, Mate
1913-1917: Richard Tobin, Mate
1917-1918: Robert Sawyer, Mate
1918: Arthur Harris, Mate (temp)
1918-1920: James McGuire, Mate
?-1920: Thomas H Ingersoll, Master

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