Nantucket Lightship Looking For A Home And A Steward

August 12, 2008

The lightship Nantucket, LV-112, the largest and one of only 13 remaining lightships out of the 170 that were built back in the 1930’s, has had a difficult and unlucky post-retirement period since it was formally retired by the U.S. Coast Guard in 1975.

Today it has been widely reported that the National Lighthouse Museum, which bought the Nantucket several years ago, is offering the 150-ft ship to anyone who will agree to maintain it and keep it open to the public. The asking price for the ship is only a $1. The asking price reflects the fact that it will cost at least $150,000 to relocate and restore the Nantucket.

The Nantucket is now moored at Oyster Bay. Long Island, where it has sat for the past four years. The National Lighthouse Museum had hoped that the Nantucket would serve as a flagship for a planned museum to be located on a 10-acre site on Staten Island. Unfortunately plans for the museum have not moved forward.

For more information on the plight of the Nantucket, read Peter Schworm’s article in the Boston Globe.

Hopefuly a group or organization with a strong interest in maintaining and preserving our maritime history will step forward to give the Nantucket a home port and the care she that she deserves.

It’s a shame that there is so little commitment to preserving unique pieces of our country’s maritime history. The Nantucket deserves a better fate than the scrapyard or being turned into a floating restaurant/bar.