Lightship Future Is Getting Dim

05/30/01 12:01 AM

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The Lightship Nantucket I is rotting in the water at Marina Bay in Quincy, Massachusetts, and its future, while at times looking bright, is now looking dimmer by the day.

Until recently, the vessel was owned by the Metropolitan District Commission (MDC) a branch of the government of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. However, unlike other states interested in preserving maritime history, Massachusetts, a state rich in maritime history, is refusing to help the historic vessel and instead letting it go, perhaps for scrap.

The MDC was given the vessel in 1987 free of charge by the United States Coast Guard to use as a floating museum. The MDC however, has now turned its back on its responsibility to maintain and restore one of the last of a dozen lightships left in existence. The ships hull is now in such bad shape that the vessel is now in need of repairs in excess of $300,000, according to James Hewitt, president of the Friends of Nantucket I.

Various communities and historical societies, including the North American Lighthouse Museum in Michigan and the National Lighthouse Museum in Staten Island, NY, have been contacted to see of they would like the ship as a museum.

The lightship has an interesting history having served off the coast of San Francisco and Cape Mendicino, CA; and off the coast of Portland, Maine, and Nantucket Shoals, Massachusetts. After serving for 33 years as a lighthship it served the Coast Guard in law enforcement activities and was part of the security detail stationed off Kennebunkport, Maine, to guard Walker's Point, President George Bush's summer home.

The lightship is currently open to the public on weekends.

This story appeared in the November 1999 edition of Lighthouse Digest Magazine. For subscription information about the print edition, click here.

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