Sunday, July 06, 2008
Weekend mystery photo!
I think this is an easy one.
What is this type of ship called, and what is its function? Bonus points if you know where it is berthed. (Apologies in advance for the crappy camera-photo resolution.):
15 Comments:
By 
Larry Sheldon, at
Sun Jul 06, 12:07:00 PM:
I believe it is a Lightship.
As to where it is berthed--east coast of USA somewhere, but I'd have to see the side more clearly to know exactly where. (Gloucester?)
By socialism_is_error, at
Sun Jul 06, 12:08:00 PM:
By clint, at
Sun Jul 06, 12:15:00 PM:
Dang. Beaten to it.
Lightship.
Just like a Lighthouse, but you anchor it near a navigation hazard.
And definitely in Nantucket Harbor, tied up alongside Straight Wharf, if I'm not mistaken.
By Escort81, at
Sun Jul 06, 12:20:00 PM:
socalism_is_error is correct, I believe, both as to his name and IDing the ship. Obviously, there are way to many preppy readers of this blog for a bit of Nantucket trivia to escape us.
The refurb of the ship is pretty impressive, if you look at the photos on the website. It looks like you could have a pretty good time on that ship...
By 
, at
Sun Jul 06, 01:20:00 PM:
I'm not a preppy reader, but I recognized it as a Lightship.
There is one moored at the Maritime Museum in Astoria, Oregon.
They were used for hazards around the Columbia Bar - where the Columbia River enters the Pacific Ocean.
By , at
Sun Jul 06, 01:41:00 PM:
I'm not a preppy reader (and am an even more infrequent commenter), but I knew that was a lightship, too. Mostly because I was the foreman on the crew that refit the Astoria lightship for it's new life as a museum exhibit many, many moons ago.
By Larry Sheldon, at
Sun Jul 06, 02:26:00 PM:
I don't think it is rigged the same as "Nantucket", and it looks to me like the first letters visible are GLO....
By , at
Sun Jul 06, 03:18:00 PM:
Based on the tripod mast for the light it looks to be the Ambrose.
Of the registry of all the other lightships on Wiki you see they tend to be a single mast
And finally, after being renamed Nantucket II, she was reassigned to Nantucket Shoals, where she alternated with her sister ship, the Lightship Nantucket (WLV 612), relieving each other approximately every 21 days, until 1983. This vessel is now a museum ship in Boston Harbor.
support.http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lightship_Ambrose
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lightvessels_in_the_United_States
By GreenmanTim, at
Mon Jul 07, 01:05:00 PM:
For reasons well known to you, TH, that disqualify me from answering, I know precisely which lightship this is and where she is berthed and am pleased to see her gracing your blog. Escort81 should be able to figure this out, based on his familiarity with certain coastal New England geographies. Larry's second comment had a revealing bit of information that may help your readers as their inquiry "narrows".
By Will Howard, at
Mon Jul 07, 07:02:00 PM:
Definitely a lightship. They used to be moored offshore (not too far) to mark shoals and channel entrances in place like Nantucket Shoals (the lightships Nantucket), the entrance the NY Harbor (Ambrose), Newport (Brenton Reef), etc. Lightships replaced by fixed platforms ("Texas Towers") in some places, now mostly (all?) automated buoys.
The one in the picture could be one of the Nantuckets, but the site in the picture is definitely not Nantucket. The vessel could be one of the Nantuckets; the one docked in Oyster Bay, Long Island, New York. Last I heard awaiting restoration as a floating museum.
By Will Howard, at
Mon Jul 07, 08:12:00 PM:
I don't think it's either of the Nantuckets (Nantucket or Oyster Bay).
By Escort81, at
Tue Jul 08, 06:51:00 PM:
Greenman Tim gives me too much credit, as I have never sailed by or motored by a lightship.
I agree after more closely inspecting the photo that it is likely not one of the Nantuckets, since the ship in the mystery photo apparently has one tripod mast.
The Ambrose would be a fit, but the photo does not look like the South Street Seaport in Manhattan!
What is the answer?
By the way, if you are a deck hand on a lightship, does that make you a "lightworker?"
By GreenmanTim, at
Tue Jul 08, 10:27:00 PM:
I'll tell you where she is, and let you figure out which lightship from there.
She rides at anchor in the Wareham River, across the channel from Cape Cod Shipbuilding, just downstream from "The Narrows", and quite near where the British Marines from HMS "Nimrod" burned the American shipping and a cotton warehouse in 1814.
This was not her working berth. Had TH taken his clever photograph from port or starboard, rather than full on the stern, the big white letters on her sides would be a dead giveaway.
By Nomennovum, at
Fri Jul 11, 12:05:00 PM:
Well, I'll make my guess based on the flora, weather, the date, the topography, and the surrounding real estate.
The weather in the Northeast on July 5, 2008, the date the photo was taken was lousy -- especially from NYC and north. There was a cold front that was stalled just south of NYC, bringing low cloulds on north-easterly winds -- the exact type of coulds pictured here.
Note what appears to be a small pine in the background to the right of the ship. It is typical of sandy coastal areas of the Northeast south of, say, Plymouth. The land in the background is flat. No hills to speak of, and no large outcropping of rocks that characterize the Sound side of CT, RI, and the Atlantic coast north of Cape Cod. This leaves Long Island, Nanucket, Martha's Vinyard, and Cape Cod. I am most familiar with LI, and I don't recognize the harbor. So, let's omit LI. I've been to Nantucket and MV only twice and once, respectively. Nantucket is very "precious," and MV slightly less so (because it is more crowded). I note the slightly (ever so slightly) disshevled look to the crane with the overgrown weeds around it. Therefore, I think I can omit Nantucket and Martha's Vinyard.
So, Cape Cod it is.
I have no idea on the name of the ship.
By Larry Sheldon, at
Wed Jul 16, 06:55:00 PM:
So what do we need to do to get the answer?
