LV 62 Bar Point Shoal Lightship

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Typical of Great Lakes lightships, vessel was withdrawn during the period the Lakes were closed to navigation, usually early Dec through Mar/Apr each year.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

Back to Station Histories             Back to "All things Lightship"  

Back to "Bar Point Shoal Light Station  

© 2008 USCG Lightship Sailors Association International Inc. Larry Ryan, President

webmaster