Lightship Portsmouth

Lightships and the city of Portsmouth were connected from the beginning of lightship duty in this country in 1820, when the first lightship was established off Craney Island at the mouth of the Elizabeth River. Working lightships remained constant visitors on the Portsmouth waterfront at the buoy yard until 1966, when the last lightships were discontinued in the district. At that time, Lightship #101 was brought back to Portsmouth as a permanent fixture on the waterfront, both as a tribute to the lightship service and to its own first home port. Because lightship vessels customarily took the name of the station where they stood duty, it was renamed Portsmouth. In 1967 the City of Portsmouth placed the vessel on the waterfront and opened it as a museum, and in 1989 LIGHTSHIP PORTSMOUTH was designated a National Historic Landmark.

Portsmouth, Virginia · United States