YEAR BUILT: 1891

BUILT AT: South Boston (MA)

BUILDER: Harrison & Loring

APPROPRIATION: $60,000 (Approp. approved Mar 2, 1889)

CONTRACT PRICE: $52,780

SISTER VESSELS: LV 48,49,50

DESIGN: Composite- Framed in steel angle; planked w/Georgia pine sheathed with white oak; fastened w/steel rivets & galv. iron bolts; 2 masts w/ daymarks; stack ahead of mainmast; 2 boilers; steam pumps and steam windlass

LENGTH: 120' 10" (loa); BEAM: 266"; DRAFT: 11'5" ;TONNAGE: 470 displ.

PROPULSION: Sail- schooner rig, fore and man carried on spencer masts

ILLUMINATING APPARATUS: 2 lanterns, each having 8 oil lamps with reflectors

FOG SIGNAL: 12" steam bell whistle; hand operated 1000 lb bell


CONSTRUCT ION NOTES - MODIFICATIONS - EQUIPMENT CHANGES & IMPROVEMENTS: LV 47

-LV 47,48 & 49 were first to be equipped with steam windlass when built
-1901: Mooring overhauled, one of 3 anchors found to have both flukes sheared off
-1909: Extensive repairs after being dismasted and damaged by collision Dec 1
-1910: Equipped with submarine bell signal
-1912: Fog signal changed to 12" chime whistle
-1919: Equipped with radio; discontinued 1924
-1924: Illuminant changed from oil to acetylene

STATION ASSIGNMENTS: LV 47

1891-1892: Great Round Shoal (MA)
1892-1923: Pollock Rip (MA)
1923: Cross Rip (MA)
1924-1934: Stonehorse Shoal (MA)

(1891 - temporarily marked Pollock Rip briefly while LV 42 under repair)
(1897: Aug 18, Pollock Rip position moved 1/2 mi ESE)
(1923: Jul 30-Dec 22: stationed on Cross Rip)
(1924: Jan 28: placed on Stonehorse Shoal)

HISTORICAL NOTES: LV 47
-1891: May 10, temporarily placed on Pollock Rip since no relief vessel available
-1891:Jul 28, placed on Great Round Shoal
-1891: Fog signal used 856 hours during year, using 65 tons of coal
-1892: Struck by schooners Oct 1 and 22
-1892: Nov 1, Replaced by LV 42 and transferred to Pollock Rip same day
-1895: Broke adrift twice in Nov; in collision Nov 3
-1896: Jan 1-Feb 18, relieved for repair by Relief LV 39
-1899 Sep 6, in collision; Oct 12-16, broke adrift and anchored off Great Point;
Dec 16, broke adrift and anchored off Handkerchief lightship.
-1897: In collision with schooners Apr 2 and Apr 30
-1890: Jul 23, struck by scow under tow
-1898: Nov 27, broke adrift, striking on Stone Horse shoal; drifted south being
picked up by steamer on Nov ~0 and towed into Delaware Bay, towed back Dec 13
-1899: Jan 10, in collision with barge
-1899: Nov 23, fouled chain and dragged; Dec 5, rammed by steamer, with impact
shattering all lamp chimneys and knocking down crew on deck
-1900: Feb 4 and May 15, in collision with coal barges
-1900: Jun 12-Jul 31, relieved for repair- of collision damage

More notes: LV 47
-1901: Apr 6, in collision with 2 barges of 3ăbarge tow; stem damaged
-1901: Nov 15, in collision with schooner slight damage
-1902: Dec 5, parted chain, made sai1 and anchored SSE of Handkerchief lightship
-1903: Apr 15, dragged NE but worked back on station unassisted
-1904: Jan 3, parted chain & anchored SSW of station; repositioned by Azalea
-1904: Jul 17, heavily damaged by collision with barges; towed to New Bedford
-1906: Involved in collisions Feb 26,Aug ~, Nov 6, and Nov 7
-1909: Dec 1, damaged, dismasted and dragged off station by collision with
four-masted schooner KATHERINE PERRY. Withdrawn from station Dec 3 for repair
-1914:Mar 27, in collision with barge under tow
-1915: Jan 14, blown off station in gale; returned unassisted next day
-1915: Jun 8, picked up 6 men lost in dense fog for 3 days from fishing schooner
WASHAKIE. (More men from same schooner also picked up by Pollock Rip Slue LV 73)


RETIRED FROM LIGHTSHIP DUTY: 1934, AGE: 43

SUBSEQUENT DISPOSITION: Experimental use as whaling ship in 19:37 was a failure;
later used as coastal freighter and abandoned at New York 1954


COMMANDING OFFICERS: LV 47
1891-1893: Joseph Allen Jr, Master
1893-1894: James Jorgensen, Master
1894-1901: Judah Berry Jr, Master
1904-1905: Theodore B Brown, Mate
1905-1906: Zemira C McDonald, Mate
1906-?: Richard E B Phillips, Mate
?-1913: Joseph F Baxter, Master
1913-1914: Ernest West, Master
?-1914: Josiah P Hatch, Mate
1914-1919: Josiah P Hatch, Master
1914-1915: William C Collins, Mate
1919: James B Doane, Mate
1919-1927: Seth N Baker, Master
1927: Charles K Tobin, Mate
1927-1934: Joseph F Baxter, Master
1927: Stephen Black, Mate
1927: George Braithwaite, Mate
1927-?: Arthur P Wade, Mate

Return to Pollock Rip Lightship Station History

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Revised: 10/23/06.