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We recently came across a wonderful one of a kind item that in itself tells the little known story of the salvage of the West Coast Columbia River Lightship No. 50.
Light Vessel No. 50 was a wooden-hulled vessel constructed in San Francisco in 1892. She measured 120’ 10” long; beam of 269”; draft: 113”; 470 tons displacement. She was constructed at the Union Iron Works for a contract price of $61,150. She was built as a composite steel frame - planked vessel, with Puget Sound pine, and sheathed with white oak. She had two masts with lattice daymarks and housed two coal-fired boilers, which produced steam for a twelve-inch fog whistle. Three oil lamp lens lanterns, used to alert vessels at night, topped the ship’s two masts. The ship had no engine for propulsion, but was equipped with sails, schooner rigged fore and main, carried on spencer masts, in case the anchor chain parted.
When LV 50 was towed to the Columbia River Lightship Station on April 11, 1892, a position roughly five miles west of the Columbia River’s mouth, it became the first active lightship on the west coast. During a severe 74 mph gale on the evening of November 28,1899, the anchor chain parted, putting the vessel and crew at the mercy of the storm’s fury. The crew quickly set the sails in an attempt to keep the vessel from grounding. Using all of their skills, the crew was able to stand offshore under sail while attempts were made to place her under tow. After several attempts to tow the ship to safety failed, the vessel was intentionally grounded the next day at McKenzie Head near Cape Disappointment. There she would remain for 16 months while attempts to refloat her continued.
Soon a plan was devised. The Lighthouse Service contracted house-movers Allen & Roberts Co. of Portland, Oregon to move the lightship a half a mile overland. A marine railway was built and the ship jacked onto a cradle. She was hauled 700 yards overland and finally relaunched into Bakers Bay on the Columbia River, Washington, at a cost of of $17,500. Her hull was repaired at Bakers Bay at a cost of $12,135, and then she was towed to Portland (OR) for boiler & machinery repairs. When repairs were completed, she was resupplied and replaced on station August 18, 1901. From October 6 - October 9 1906, she was off station for extensive repairs after second grounding and she was retired from lightship duty in 1909 at age 17. On April 27, 1915 she was sold at public auction for $1,667.99. She was later used as a freighter and laid up in Alaska in 1925. Willard Flint, in his authoritative work entitled Lightships of the U. S. Government, notes that she was said to have been still later registered as the San Cosmo & Margaret until 1935.
Fortunately, a tip led us to an album of 35 original 6” x 7 ½” photographs by photographer J. F. Ford, chronicling this difficult undertaking in unprecedented detail. The album was put together by Allen & Roberts Company, the company hired to make the move, and was presented to Captain Joseph H. Harriman of Light Ship No. 50 on July 18, 1901. The cover is inscribed “Presented to Captain Jos. H. Harriman, Capt. Of U.S. Light Ship No. 50 July 18, 1901.” The exceptional lot on original string-bound album page provides wonderful views of the vessel and equipment, the difficult rigging and machinery set up to haul the craft, and the workers and crew of the vessel.
Early photographs of light vessels of this quality fetch $100-200 on the market today, so you can imagine what this entire album might be valued at. So, when visiting that next antique shop, don’t hesitate to thumb through the stacks of early photos and albums - you never know what might turn up.
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This story appeared in the
December 2004 edition of Lighthouse Digest Magazine. The print edition contains more stories than our internet edition, and each story generally contains more photographs - often many more - in the print edition. For subscription information about the print edition, click here.
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