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Lighthouse History

Built: 1904

Type: Lightship LV 83/WAL 508

Height: 

Status: Not Active

Location: Northwest Seaport in Seattle

Deactivated: 1960

Lens: Cluster of 3 oil lens lanterns raised to each masthead & 1,000 watt primary light / Beam - 28 feet, 6 inches
 

Signal: 12" steam chime whistle; Whistle hand operated, 1,000 lb foredeck fore fog bell - a 140 Decibel diaphone horn

Keepers: 

Notes: The station assignments: 1905-1930: Blunts Reef, CA / 1930-1942: San Francisco, CA / 1942-1945: Examination Vessel, WWII, outfitted for Navy use) / 1945-1951: San Francisco, CA / 1951-1960: Relief (West Coast)
The name RELIEF was given due to the nature of the assignments. It would steam to other positions when another ship needed to be removed from service for maintenance. The name SWIFTSURE was given in 1995 and came about as the turning mark for the annual international Swiftsure yacht race.
The "Number 83" had numerous names on her sides, all of which indicated the location of her station.

The lightship still carries the "Swiftsure" lettering on her hull and was actually never permanently assigned to the Swiftsure station. This vessel, known as LV 83, was launched in Camden, New Jersey in 1904, and then steamed around the tip of South America to take up station at Blunts Reef off Cape Mendocino in California. On June 15, 1916, the steamer Bear ran aground near the lightship, and 155 people were forced to seek temporary refuge aboard the lightship.
In 1930, LV 83 sailed south and began service as the San Francisco lightship, marking the entrance to San Francisco Bay. Due perhaps to the infamous San Francisco fog, a foghorn was installed on the ship in 1932, and the ship's 1,000-pound bell was subsequently used as a backup. During World War II, the Navy borrowed LV 83 from the Coast Guard, who had assumed jurisdiction of all navigational aids in 1939. Guns were installed on the lightship's foredeck, bridge, and stern, and she was given a fresh coat of Navy-gray paint. With the crew's quarters enlarged to accommodate forty sailors, the lightship served as a patrol and guard boat at the entrance to San Francisco Bay.
After the war, LV 83 returned to the San Francisco lightship station, where she served until 1951 when she became the Relief Lightship for the Washington lightships. LV 83 was deployed to Umatilla Reef, Columbia River Entrance, and Swiftsure Bank on various occasions over the next nine years, while the lightships at those stations returned to port for maintenance and repairs. 
After fifty-six years of service, LV 83 was decommissioned in 1960. Northwest Seaport acquired the vessel in 1969, and she was placed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1975. The ship was declared a National Landmark in 1989. LV 83, along with two other lightships, holds the title of the oldest remaining lightship and is the only one to still have her original steam engines.
The lightship was placed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1975, and declared a National Landmark in the spring of 1989.


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