Nantucket Lightship/LV-112

Right now the lightship, Nantucket, (click for more info) is docked in Oyster Bay, Long Island. Soon it will be going to Salem, Mass.

 

It was purchased for a non-profit organization, the United States Lightship Museum, Inc. and will be towed by tugs to its new location, and restored, Robert M. Mannino. Jr, president,  center of photo.

A group of lightship enthusiasts gathered to make an inspection of the condition of the Nantucket.

 

Inside  the wheel house the binnacle houses the compass.  Note the red and green iron balls on either side which  adjusts the compass for magnetic north. This is necessary because the Nantucket is a steel ship.

 

 

This is the ship's telegraph, which transmits instructions from the wheel house to the engine room.  On board, there is so much noise that this instrument was made large for reading and it rings when changed to provide the correct instructions to the engine room.

Down below  is the inclinometer, which is an instrument for measuring the angle that the ship makes with the horizon.

 Going below,

you can see the huge diesel engine.

 This is the side view of the massive diesel engine.  Originally, when the Nantucket was built in 1936 it was steam powered, and it was converted to diesel in 1960's.

This is the rear of the engine showing the propeller shaft.

This is the steering engine,located in the engine room, which assists in steering the ship.

Huge links make up the anchor chain.

 

The capstan, with the anchor chain.

 

Bunks for the crew.

 

The Galley.

 

The Salon in the stern of the ship.

Chart cabinet below, and

 beautiful wooden chart cabinet in the wheel house.

An interesting sea worthy table in the officers' dining room.

 

A work room.

 

The rudder post and quadrant.

Going above on the cat walk.

 

Bell at the bow.

  Bollard with the dock lines made fast.

 

Funnel with the Coast Guard insignia.

Starboard side of the ship looking towards the bow.

 

Starboard wheel house door.

 

Looking out a porthole.

Familiar sailor with a message.

Photos from the ship's history wall below.

Two crewmen from the past.

Nantucket Lightship Basket display.

 

Rescue stretcher, and

a mop and a pail for the decks!

 

Thanks to Richard Koopman for technical  information, and

William Perks for a wonderful adventure aboard the Nantucket.

New information from the journal, Sea History 129, winter 2009-10, page 43, gives more information about the new stewardship of the newly formed U.S. Lightship Museum.  The Nantucket will be moved to Boston for restoration, and then be opened as a museum honoring lightship service. " LV-112 held the most remote manned light station on earth, over 100 miles off the U.S. mainland marking the treacherous Nantucket Shoals."