Nantucket Lightships

Nantucket is a picturesque island located approximately thirty miles south of Cape Cod, Massachusetts. It is a tiny island-a mere fourteen miles long and three and a half miles wide. A major tourist destination, its year-round population of nearly 10,000 residents swells to almost 60,000 during the summer months. Yet mariners and fisherman avoid the island at all costs.

Why? The Nantucket Shoals: a dangerously shallow area of the ocean that extends for twenty three miles east and forty miles southeast from the island. The shoals, known as a “graveyard of the Atlantic,” lie just off a major shipping lane and were the site of more than one hundred shipwreck during the early years of America. As a kayaker, I can’t imagine what it’s like to navigate these tricky waters.

According to the Nantucket Lightship Basket Museum website, a report was presented to Congress

in 1843 about the problem and indicated that “many a gallant ship lie buried in one common grave.” As a result of the report, Congress agreed to station a lightship in the shoals, but the ship didn’t arrive until 1854. And we thought the wheels of bureaucracy moved slowly nowadays!

Regardless of weather (including sleet, snow, sub-zero temperatures, hurricanes and tropical storms), crews were required to stay aboard the lightship where life alternated between utter boredom and sheer terror. The two-mast, wooden vessel, built on a schooner-style hull, was anchored at the South Shoal. At night, lanterns filled with whale oil were hung at the top of the mast that at best, could be seen for a few miles. On calm days, duties were minimal so time moved slowly for the crew. It was during the slow times the men began to make what are now known as Nantucket Lightship Baskets. The baskets were woven around wooden molds (often made from the ship’s masts) using rattan. In 1948 lids were introduced to create a lady’s handbag.

LV-112 was the longest serving lightship and served for thirty nine years. She survived Hurricane Edna, a storm that brought 110-mph winds and 70-foot swells. Other ships were not so lucky. The New South Shoal broke from her moorings twenty three times during her thirty six years of service. During one storm, she was blown eight hundred miles off station, ending up near Bermuda.

On December 20, 1983, the history of Nantucket lightships came to an end when Lightship 613 was relieved by a large navigational buoy.

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A freelance writer for over ten years, Linda Matchett also writes historical fiction. She is currently seeking a publisher for her series about war correspondent Ruth Brown. Visit her at www.LindaShentonMatchett.com