Lighthouse History
Built: 1946
Type: Lightship
Status:
1947-1958: Pollack Rip (MA)
1958-1960: Nantucket Shoals
(MA) (Relief for LV-112)
1961-1971: Umatilla Reef
(WA)
Location: Formerly anchored
in a bay on the northern end of Pennock Island, just offshore from Ketchikan,
but in August of 2007 it was moved to a position just north of Lewis Reef
north of the Ketchikan Airport.
Deactivated:
Served at Umatilla Reef
from 1961 to 1971, when it was decommissioned. The vessel was reportedly
near Seattle in 1980, but then it disappeared from the lightship community
until it was spotted in Ketchikan, Alaska in 2000. The ship no longer bears
the name Umatilla, but rather Marine Bio Researcher. How and where it was
actually used as a research vessel remains a mystery. The ship is currently
owned by Jim Faro, owner of Southeast Stevedoring, and has reportedly been
used as barracks for crews working in the logging industry.
Lens: Duplex 500mm electric
lens lantern on foremast only; 15,000cp each light
Keepers:
1946-1949: BMC Leon Singer,
OIC
1947-1958: CWO Guy V Emro,
CO
1960-1961: CWO Herman Schmidt,
CO (1961: Lt John C Wirtz was the voyage commander during the lightship's
cruise from Curtis Bay to Seattle in 1961; he returned command to CWO Schmidt
at the end of the voyage)
Notes: |