1824-1966
Location & historical notes: North Carolina, off Diamond Shoal. In 1897 the station's position was 15 miles and 128 degrees from the Cape Hatteras Lighthouse. The lightship was an extremely important mark for north-south coastwise traffic.
***Originally known as Cape Hatteras Lightship***
Written information provided by Douglas M. Bingham LSA Historian.
No other place on earth had so many Lightships to guard its shores than did the Outer Banks of North Carolina
The names of the Lightship Stations , including the Inner Sounds and the Outer Banks were :
Wades Point
Roanoke River
Roanoke Island
Long Shoal
Ocracoke Channel
Royal Shoal
Harbor Island
Brant Island
Nine Foot Shoal
Neuse River
Cape Lookout Shoal
Frying Pan Shoal
Horseshoe Shoal
Of all the Lightships that stood duty inside the Sounds or on the outer shores of North Carolina , no Station was more important than the Diamond Shoals Lightship Station .
The Lightship Station at Diamond Shoals was established in the year 1824 when a vessel named CAPE HATTERAS was placed there .The Cape Hatteras Lightship stayed there until 1827 . From 1827 until 1897 the Lightship Station was vacated , having been replaced by the first Lighthouse at Cape Hatteras.
The first Lightship , LV 69 was on station for only a few years when it was replaced by a newer , sturdier vessel , LV 71 . Built at Bath , Maine in 1897 for $80,000 dollars ( budgeted for $ 70,700 dollars ), LV 71 was built for the OVERFALLS station but didn't didn't serve there .
LV 69 remained as a RELIEF vessel for LV 71 .
MORE Diamond Shoal Lightship Station History.
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