HURON (lightship)

About this property

The United States lightship Huron (LV-103) is a lightvessel that was launched in 1920. She is now a museum ship moored in Pine Grove Park, Port Huron, St. Clair County, Michigan. Huron is one of many lightvessels that were moored on the waters of the Great Lakes. In 1832 the first lightship on the Great Lakes was placed at Waugoshance Shoal. That wooden light ship was the Lois McLain. In 1851 she was replaced by the Waugoshance Light, which is at one of the most hazardous areas near the Straits of Mackinac, Michigan. In Lake Huron, Huron was the third ship to be placed at Corsica Shoals, a station established in 1893, replacing a gas buoy that was "somewhat ineffective". Three vessels bore the designation of 'Huron Lightship' from 1893 to 1970. The first was Lightship No. 61, a wooden-hulled ship, painted red with white lettering saying "Corsica Shoals" on her sides. Lightship No. 61 served from September 1893 until 1921. She was lost during the November Great Lakes Storm of 1913, which claimed at least 12 ships and over 250 lives, when she was torn from her moorings and forced onto Point Edward on the Canadian shore. The grounding of Lightship No. 61 was a contributing factor in the loss of the Matthew Andrews at Corsica Shoals. In any event, she was reclaimed and repaired, and remained in service until 1920, when she was retired and sold at auction. In the same storm, Lightship Buffalo (LV-82) foundered near Buffalo in Lake Erie, with the loss of six lives. See Shipwrecks of the 1913 Great Lakes storm and List of victims of the 1913 Great Lakes storm. Buffalo was salvaged and saw service with the Coast Guard until 1936. In 1921, Lightship No. 61 was replaced by Lightship No. 96, the first vessel to actually be called Huron Lightship. In 1925, there were ten lightvessels on the Great Lakes. Fifteen years later, only Huron remained. A list of Great Lakes lightvessel assignments is available. Huron was built by the Consolidated Shipbuilding Company in Morris Heights, New York. Her keel was laid in 1918 and completed at a cost of $147,428. At 96.5 feet (29.4 m) long, 24 feet (7.3 m) in the beam, drawing 9.5 feet (2.9 m), and weighing 312 tons, Ship #103 was powered by a single compound reciprocating steam engine, driven by two coal-fired Scotch boilers. They put out 175 horsepower (130 kW). Commissioned in 1921 as Lightship Number 103, she operated primarily in southern Lake Huron near Port Huron and the mouth of the St. Clair River. Huron spent the 1924, 1925, 1926 and 1929 seasons lighting Grays Reef. She was assigned in 1934 and 1935 seasons to the North Manitou Shoal. In 1935 she was transferred to the Eleventh District for one year, seeing duty as a relief ship. In 1935, Huron was repainted black with "Huron" on her sides, and transferred to Corsica Shoals, approximately 6 miles (9.7 km) north of the Blue Water Bridge (connecting Port Huron and Sarnia, Ontario, Canada.)

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Property data from the National Register of Historic Places, National Park Service (public domain).

Description adapted from Wikipedia under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.

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