YEAR BUILT: 1853-55

BUILT AT: see construction notes

APPROPRIATION: None

BUILDER: see construction notes

CONTRACT PRICE: ($10,000 purchase from USN)

SISTER VESSELS: None

DESIGN: Wood framed and planked; former US Navy steam brig ARCTIC rerigged and fitted for lightship use in 1859

LENGTH: 98' 0" (lbp)

BEAM: 23'6" DRAFT: 1l'6" TONNAGE: 232 gross

PROPULSION: Steam propulsion system removed by USN prior to sale to USLHS. Converted to schooner rig when modified for lightship service.

ILLUMINATING APPARATUS: Single lantern on main - 8 lard oil lamps w/reflectors

FOG SIGNAL: Hand operated bell and horn

CONSTRUCTION NOTES - MODIFICATIONS - EQUIPMENT CHANGES & IMPROVEMENTS: LV 8-
USLHS records allude to construction at Philadelphia Navy Yard 1854-55-
Navy records show built as merchantman Thomas G Haight, NJ 1853, and that
the vessel subsequently was used to carry out polar rescue operations-
1859: lightship conversion and repairs completed at Norfolk VA, $12,500
(Government records gave no measurements except draft. Other measurements
and tonnage shown are from records of Confederate Naval Museum)

STATION ASSIGNMENTS: LV 8

1860: Frying Pan Shoal (NC)
1867-1877: Hen and Chickens (MA)
1877-1879: Relief (MA)

(1860 Assigned to Frying Pan but prior to being placed on station, was seized and sunk in Cape Fear River by Confederate forces; later raised, repaired and towed north by tender IRIS in 1866
(Prior to 1867 when No. 8 was assigned, official records identify this vessel as ARCTIC)

HISTORICAL NOTES: LV 8-

1855 Named ARCTIC by USN, and in company with the bark Release, went north to
78 degrees, rescuing the missing polar exploration party of Dr. Elisha Kent Kane
then after return was stripped of machinery and sold to Lighthouse Establishment
for lightship use.-
1860: May 14, arrived Smithville NC for use as relief vessel-
1860: Seized and sunk in Cape Fear River by Confederate forces-
1866: Raised, repaired and transferred to 2d District; towed north by IRIS-
1867: May 4, placed on Hen and Chickens MA-
1875: Dragged off station by ice-
1876: Apr, broke adrift in heavy gale, brought up with spare anchor 1 mi from
station-
1877: Nov, assigned as Relief at Woods Hole MA, considered "unseaworthy"-
1878: Declared "old and worthless"

More notes:

RETIRED FROM LIGHTSHIP DUTY: 1878 AGE: 25

SUBSEQUENT DISPOSITION: LV 8 Sold at public auction Apr 16, 1879

To Hens and Chickens Lightship Station History.

Copyright © 2003  United States Coast Guard Lightship Sailors Association INC. All rights reserved. Copyrights also protected by the Digital Millennium Copyright Act of 1998
Revised: 10/23/06.