Lightships: Lifeline of shipping - June 27, 2007

By BILL HALL

Associate Editor - Courtesy of the Dartmouth Chronicle

Photos by EverythingWestport.com

WESTPORT — The history of lightships and their role for shipping in this area was one of the topics of a presentation sponsored by the Westport Historical Society last Thursday evening at Greenwood Terrace.

Over 50 people packed the meeting room to hear Carlton "Cukie" Macomber discuss lightships and Christopher "Chip" Gillespie talk about the lifesaving station in Westport.

Director of the Westport Historical Society, Jenny O'Neill , introduced Mr. Macomber, an encyclopedia of local history for 80 years.

Mr. Macomber explained that the lightships were first put to use in 1819, with the last one being decommissioned in 1968.

The ships were alternatives to lighthouses in that they could be moved as shifting sands created shoals in various locations. He noted that the bottom of Buzzards Bay is very sandy and subject to shifting. Partly because of that and the boat traffic, of the 119 lightships throughout the United States, 10 were stationed between Westport and Chatham, a distance of approximately 50 miles.

The closest lightship to Westport was at Hens and Chickens approximately five miles out of the mouth of Westport harbor. It was later replaced by a Texas Tower that was also replaced by an unmanned light, after a tragedy at another Texas Tower.

The most famous of the area lightships was the Nantucket which was placed approximately 51 miles southeast of the island.

During the early days of the lightship, there was little in the way of navigation for other vessels crossing the Atlantic or going along the coastline.

Life was not easy on the early lightships as a crew of seven or more would be placed in a location for weeks at a time. The ships, made of wood, had decks that were subject to expansion and allowed water to leak through during rain storms.

There were also a number of tragedies on the local ships, including the Nantucket, that saw the loss of seven crew members when the Olympic, sister ship of the Titanic, broke it in half in 1934.

Mr. Macomber explained that ships in that time had a Radar Directional Finder that could locate another ship in thick fog, however, the RDF could not determine how close the ship was.

Two years after the accident, England presented the U.S. with a doubled hulled ship.

Mr. Macomber explained that during World War I, German U-Boats would come alongside the lightship and wait for shipping to come by and sink it. During that same period a German U-boat sank one of the lightships with gunfire.

The ships were also susceptible in storms and in 1944 the lightship off Vineyard Sound, some five miles from Hens and Chickens, went down in a hurricane. Mr. Macomber saw the flares that night, but nothing was found of the ship until a diver located it. At the time World War II was still raging and the government would be curious about ships being sunk. No explanation was given as to how the lightship sunk, however some years later a diver who found that the ship noted it had likely gone down because the anchor on its side swung in the storm and broke a hole in its side.

Another problem for lightships was ice. In 1918 the Succonnessett was taken by an ice floe and not seen again. Another lightship was taken in another ice floe and found some three months later.

The ships of the early days were primarily schooners and used lamps hoisted to the top of the mast to serve as a beacon. They were only somewhat effective and with the introduction of the steam engine, the boats now had use of whistles and horns.

Mr. Macomber recalled one fishing trip where he and the others were moving from location to location following the fish, and suddenly a thick fog settled in. He counted on hearing the lightship but for a while did not. He noted that all of sudden he heard the loudest blast from a horn. After talking with other boaters he discovered that it was likely that the ship's horn was working all along but the fog deflected the sound to the point that it could not be heard on the surface.

It was hard to keep some of the ships in one position, particularly in the sandy Buzzards Bay where storms would drag the anchor along the bottom. He noted that one of the ships, the Pollack Rip, was nicknamed the 'Happy Wanderer' because it would move around.

Mr. Macomber explained that he could go on for some time talking about the various lightships of the area, but time prevented him from going further.

Following Mr. Macomber, Christopher (Chip) Gillespie, an architect by trade, explained the efforts to restore the Westport Lifesaving Station near the entrance to Gooseberry Island.

He explained that the life stations were a network of buildings under the auspices of the Humane Society of Massachusetts founded in 1785 because of the number of shipwrecks that were taking place. The stations housed a boat and equipment. There was a keeper and a trained crew of six volunteers who would be called upon to bring the boat out of the life station in an emergency.

The crew was trained not only in seamanship, but also with the use of various equipment including a large gun that could shoot a line into a disabled boat and allow for rescue as victims had a lifeline to the rescuers.

From 1871 to 1941 the lifesaving service was involved in 203,000 rescues nationwide.

There is no record of a rescue by the Westport station, but Mr. Gillespie explained there are very few records of the Westport station at all.

Among the facts that have been discovered was that the station was the 69th and last built in 1888 after the United States Lifesaving Service came into being in the 1870's.

The exact first location of the life saving station is not known, however it was located somewhere closer to the harbor mouth. Writings from the day indicate that the surf and currents were difficult there, particularly during times when a rescue was necessary.

The building was then moved to the East Beach area between 1908 and 1910.

The building was decommissioned as a life saving station in 1913 and through the years has survived the hurricanes of `38, `44, `54 and others. It has had several other uses, including a restaurant, over the years and has been added onto accordingly.

Mr. Gillespie explained that the plan is to restore the building to its original look which will begin with demolition of the additions.

The town allocated $50,000 through Community Preservation money to being the project, but Mr. Gillespie anticipates the cost to be twice as high before it is completed.

The fund-raising is being held through the Westport Fishermen's Association.

Along with the demolition, there will be restoration with the main frame still in place. A boat similar to the one used by the Westport station has been secured from Mystic Connecticut.

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