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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. |