1881-1894

Location & historical notes: Louisiana, southerly from Vermilion Bay and Marsh Island, about 18 miles offshore.

Lightships assigned:

1881-1894: LV-43 (The only lightship to occupy this station.)

YEAR BUILT: 1881

BUILT AT: Wilmington (DE)

BUILDER: Pusey & Jones Co.

APPROPRIATION: $65,000
(Approp. "for lightship & fog signal at Trinity Shoal La.")

CONTRACT PRICE: $50,000

SISTER VESSELS: None

DESIGN: Composite- iron hull sheathed with yellow pine, iron & bronze fastened; 2 masts with daymarks; stack ahead of mainmast; 2 aux. steam boilers and steam pump

LENGTH: 118;0" (loa); BEAM: 25'; DRAFT:126"; TONNAGE: 191 gross

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

ILLUMINATING APPARATUS: 2 lanterns, each with oil lamps & reflectors

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

CONSTRUCTION NOTES -MODIFICATIONS - EQUIPMENT CHANGES & IMPROVEMENTS: LV 43
-1882: Port boiler "giving out", 6 tubes plugged on station
-1885: May-Jul 31, hauled after being on station since 1881; painted "inside
and out"; boilers repaired; refitted
-1888: Jul-Oct 8, towed to New Orleans, new boilers installed, new deckhouse
built, deck recaulked, new spencer mast installed
-1892: 74 boiler tubes installed on station; hauled in May, hull strainers found
clogged with oysters
-1894: Aug-Nov extensive hull repairs; recoppered & rerigged; new lamps supplied
-1896: Two new locomotive-type boilers installed
-1898: Extensive repairs to hull and upper works
-1898-1904: Repaired as needed during months while withdrawn from station
-1905: Extensive repairs and both boilers replaced at Port Eads (LA)
-1910: Equipped with submarine bell signal

STATION ASSIGNMENTS: LV 43

1881-1894: Trinity Shoal (LA)
1894-1912: South Pass (LA)
1912-1917: Southwest Pass (LA)
1917-1920: Relief (laid up)

(1881: "Inside Trinity Shoal in 20 feet... believe she will ride out any gale without touching bottom, as the sea will break before reaching her" - position reported as 29-12N, 92-16W)
(1894: Aug 15, Trinity Shoal station discontinued)
(1894, South Pass position given as 28-58-42N, 89-07-40W in 72 feet approx. 1 mi SSE of South Pass East Jetty Light)
(Use of Southwest Pass was stopped in 1918 due to heavy silting)

HISTORICAL NOTES: LV 43
-1881: Jun 10, placed on Trinity Shoal (LA)
-1882: Sep 9, broke adrift, regained station unassisted
-1885: May-Jul 31, replaced by bell buoy while undergoing repairs
-1888: Steam fog signal out of service, bell in use 214 hours; remedied Jul--Oct
-1889: Aug 8, damaged surge-reliever, brought up 200 yds off station using spare
anchor; replaced on station by tender PANSY Aug 11
-1894:Aug 15, station discontinued "commerce having fallen off to almost
nothing"; replaced by bell buoy placed South of Trinity 8hoal
-1894: Nov 5, placed on South Pass (LA); "there being no fog in summer, vessel
will be withdrawn.., during the months of June July August and Sept. each year"
-1899: Decision made to withdraw only from August 1 to October 15 each year
-1903: Jan, characteristic changed to show 2 fixed white lights
-1912: Withdrawn from South Pass and placed on Southwest Pass
-1915: Sep 3/4, during hurricane, while vessel was in floating drydock at New
Orleans entire dock broke loose and blown ashore across river; lightship
undamaged and structure later ref bated
-1917 Withdrawn from Southwest Pass, designated Relief and laid up

More notes:

RETIRED FROM LIGHTSHIP DUTY: 1920; AGE: 39

SUBSEQUENT DISPOSITION: Sold Jun 17,1920 - $5,875

COMMANDING OFFICERS: LV 43

1898-1905: John Duff y, Master
1906: (Jan) Elwood C Evans, Master
1906: (Apr-Dec) Fred Tredup, Master
? -1913: F C Philips, Mate 1913 Walter P Raarup, Mate
1913ã1914: William J Burns, Mate
1914-1916: D H McCluskey, Master
1914ã1915: Frank Towers, Mate
1915-1916: Henry Olson, Mate
1916: Edgar Wilson, Mate
1916-1917: John McDonough, Master
1917-1920: Joseph P Francis, Mate

Back to Lightship Stations and the Ships that Served on them.

Copyright © 2004  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.