Past Maritime Heritage Highlights

Maritime Heritage Highlights is a feature on our web site that showcases some of the more exceptional historic maritime properties that exist in the United States. We provide a short statement about the property's history, its preservation status, and links to more information. Through these "highlights" we hope to provide a brief introduction to some of the varied historic properties that embody our maritime heritage.

LIVE OAK

NPS photo

Following up our last feature about the famous frigate Constitution, we noted then that she was built primarily of Southern live oak. Live Oak trees grow to a tremendous size with natural twists that make them useful in forming the curves of a ship's hull. The dense, heavy wood was strong, and highly resistant to rot, both important in ships meant to last a long time. The woods' value was well known--stands of live oak trees were rapidly depleted from America's Atlantic and Gulf coasts by loggers for private shipbuilding. Live oak timber was considered so valuable for use in naval warships that in 1828 the Federal government purchased the first parcel of land dedicated to preserving a natural resource, the cultivation of a single species--the live oak tree. Two earlier government live oak timber forests established in 1789 and 1800 had been harvested out without prospects of replenishment in the foreseeable future. The new law set aside the Naval Live Oak Reserve in Florida to grow and protect these trees exclusively for naval use and study how to help return them to more of their former range along the coast. Today the Florida Naval Live Oak Reserve is managed by the National Park Service and is part of Gulf Island National Seashore. Large live oak trees have also returned to Blackbeard Island on the Georgia coast where the Navy Department had bought a timber reserve in 1800. It is now managed by the Fish and Wildlife Service as Blackbeard Island National Wildlife Refuge.

LIVE OAK was highlighted on our home page, 12/14/06 - .

CONSTITUTION

U.S. Navy photo

October marks the anniversary of one of America's most famous ship. The frigate Constitution, later nicknamed “Old Ironsides,” was launched on October 10, 1797 in Boston's Charlestown Navy Yard. Designed to outfight any ship her size and outrun any larger warship, Constitution was built primarily of Southern live oak. Live oak, which grows with natural twists, is useful in forming the curves of a ship's hull and was very valuable to the fledgling U.S. Navy. Constitution and five other frigates formed the core of the navy guarding American shipping interests along the Barbary Coast and in the West Indies. The vessels also played a role in the War of 1812 with Constitution winning two decisive victories against the HMS Guerriere and Java. The strength of this fleet, supported by merchant vessels converted for military needs, helped to assert the U.S's newly won independence and to protect the vast American merchant marine and the national economy. Later in her career, Constitution patrolled the coast of Africa to enforce the close of the slave trade and during the Civil War served as a training ship at the Naval Academy in Annapolis, Maryland.

Wooden ships must be repaired frequently, and several times in her long life Constitution was considered for disposal rather than repair. Each time, public outcry saved the ship. Today she is maintained by a special detachment of the U.S. Navy and is on view at the Charlestown Navy Yard, part of Boston National Historical Park. Constitution is a featured historic site in the NPS's Maritime History of Massachusetts Travel Itinerary.

CONSTITUTION was highlighted on our home page, 10/02/06 - 12/14/06.

BATTLE OF MOBILE BAY

U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph.

As dawn was breaking over Mobile Bay, Alabama, on August 5, 1864, a powerful fleet of steam-powered United States warships crossed the bar to attack the Confederate forts and fleet inside the bay. To succeed they had to make their way past Fort Morgan, evade submerged explosives called “torpedoes,” and defeat a small Confederate fleet. Four new armored monitors led by the USS Tecumseh passed closest to the fort's guns. A second column of paired wooden warships steamed parallel to the monitors and fired over them at the fort. Damage to both fort and ships was extensive but not crippling, and the Tecumseh angled to meet the approaching Confederate ram CSS Tennessee. Suddenly, an explosion lifted the Tecumseh out of the water, and the ship sank rapidly before the stunned eyes of all. Afraid of other torpedoes, the Union fleet halted under the guns of the fort until Admiral Farragut roared out “Damn the torpedoes, Move ahead!” The fleet proceeded into the bay where it captured the Tennessee and drove the other Confederate ships away or aground. U.S. forces took Fort Gaines across the mouth of the bay on August 8 and landed the next day to begin a siege behind the more powerful Fort Morgan, which finally surrendered on August 23.

Fort Morgan and the remains of Tecumseh were designated a National Historic Landmark in 1960. To learn more about the Battle of Mobile Bay, visit the Fort Morgan and the Battle of Mobile Teaching with Historic Places Lesson Plan or the Alabama Historical Commission's website.

BATTLE OF MOBILE BAY was highlighted on our home page, 08/02/06 - 10/02/06.

NIX'S MATE DAY BEACON

Photo courtesy of the National Register of Historic Places.

Located at the outer limits of Boston Harbor near the convergence of three major shipping channels, Nix's Mate day beacon sits atop all that remains of a 12-acre island. The island, like many others in the area, had been used as pasturage for sheep since the 18th century. By 1803 Nix's Mate had been reduced to low rocky shoals and the Boston Marine Society, recognizing the danger this posed to vessels, appealed unsuccessfully to Congress for help in marking the hazard. In the absence of federal action, the Commonwealth of Massachusetts bought Nix's Mate and built a wall and beacon on it. The Federal Government took control of Nix's Mate in 1832 and built the current stone platform and the beacon's first wooden pyramidal monument.

Restored in 2003 and listed in the National Register of Historic Places in 2005, Nix's Mate endures to this day as an important federal aid to navigation in Boston Harbor.

For more information on the Boston Marine Society and its role in improving navigation in the area or on the Boston Harbor Islands National Recreation Area, which includes Nix's Mate, please see their respective web sites.

NIX'S MATE DAY BEACON was highlighted on our home page, 6/01/06 - 08/02/06.

PORTLAND OBSERVATORY

Built in 1807 on Munjoy Hill in Portland, Maine, by sea captain and entrepreneur Lemuel Moody, the Portland Observatory played a vital role in maritime trade as a signal station for Portland's bustling harbor. From the Observatory, Moody and his successors identified vessels entering Casco Bay and conveyed this information to the city’s merchants and businessmen through a system of flags and colored balls displayed from the top of the tower. The Observatory operated in this manner for over 100 years until radio communication between ship and shore made it a relic of the past. Restored in 1939 by the City of Portland with a grant from the Works Progress Administration after years of disuse and decay, the tower was again called to duty during World War II, serving, as it had in previous wars, as a lookout tower for enemy vessels and aircraft. After the war, it resumed its life as a tourist attraction and local museum recalling Portland's heyday when vessels still relied on sails and merchants and businessmen relied on Moody and others for the latest news of harbor activity.

When constructed, the Portland Observatory was one of many maritime signaling stations operating in port towns along the East and West coasts and in other maritime countries around the world. Today, it is the only known surviving example of a maritime signal station in the United States. The Observatory was designated a National Historic Landmark in February 2006.

To learn more about the Observatory and Moody’s signaling system visit the Greater Portland Landmarks web site. Architectural drawings of the Observatory are included in the HABS/HAER/HALS Collection at the Library of Congress.

PORTLAND OBSERVATORY was highlighted on our home page, 4/03/06 - 05/31/06.

CANAL MOTORSHIP DAY PECKINPAUGH

Photo courtesy of the National Register of Historic Places.

One of the latest maritime properties to be listed in the National Register of Historic Places is the canal motorship Day Peckinpaugh. Built in 1921 at McDougall-Duluth Shipyard in Duluth, Minnesota, the historic vessel was one of the largest to operate on the New York State Barge Canal system and is the last surviving vessel of her kind. Commissioned by Interwaterways Line Inc., Peckinpaugh had a carrying capacity of 1650 tons, almost five times larger than the standard 19th-century canal barge. Her early years were spent transporting wheat, flaxseed and rye between Buffalo and New York City.

Between 1942-1946 Peckinpaugh was pressed into military service as a collier to refuel cargo ships in convoy along the eastern seaboard. Sold in 1955, she was reconfigured into a self-discharging bulk cement carrier by her new owner in 1961. She continued to transport cement between Picton, Ontario and Rome, New York making her last trip in September 1994. Peckinpaugh remained inactive for more than a decade in Erie, Pennsylvania before being acquired by the New York State Museum. In the summer of 2005 she began a long-term rehabilitation from bulk carrier to museum ship, which will travel to communities throughout New York State’s waterways.

To learn more about the New York State Barge Canal System visit the Erie Canalway National Heritage Corridor and the NYS Canal Corporation web sites.

CANAL MOTORSHIP DAY PECKINPAUGH was highlighted on our home page, 2/04/05 - 04/02/06.

SAVE AMERICA'S TREASURES GRANT RECIPIENTS

Three maritime-related properties were awarded Save America's Treasures grants from the Federal government in 2005. These are the Japonski Island Boathouse, a boat repair facility which is part of the Sitka Naval Operating Base and US Army Coastal Defenses National Historic Landmark, a site that was instrumental in America's coastal defense in World War II; Lightship No. 118 "Overfalls", one of the country's few remaining "floating lighthouses", which aided navigation in treacherous waters where lighthouses could not be built; and the W.P. Snyder, Jr., one of three extant steam-powered towboats, it was launched in 1918 to move coal barges along the Ohio and Monongahela Rivers.
[photo] Lightship No. 118

Sixty-one projects in 29 states and the District of Columbia were awarded these prestigous grants in 2005. By law each award requires a dollar-for-dollar non-Federal match. In all three cases the funds will be used to address structural deterioration.

For more information on the grant program, how to apply and past recepients, click on the following links Save America's Treasure Federal Grants .

W.P. Snyder Jr. in Cincinnati, OH (above) and Lightship No. 118 "Overfalls" in Lewes, DE (below)

SAVE AMERICA'S TREASURES GRANT RECIPIENTS was highlighted on our home page, 12/07/05 - 02/03/06.

BODIE ISLAND LIGHTHOUSE AND LENS

On Monday, April 25, 2005, the National Park Service (NPS) became the proud new owners of the first-order Fresnel lens that occupies the lantern room at Bodie Island Lighthouse on the Outer Banks of North Carolina. The light tower had transferred to the NPS in 2000. As the new caretakers, the NPS will operate the lens as a private aid to navigation.

The lens was manufactured by Barbier and Fenestre of Paris France in 1871 and installed the following year at Bodie Island. Bodie Island is one of the few lighthouses to retain its first-order lens. When restoration work begins at the tower, the lens will be temporarily removed and replaced with a modern optic. The lens too will receive conservation work to ensure its preservation and will be reinstalled in the tower when all work is complete.

For more information, click on the following links Bodie Island Lighthouse, the lens, and the Cape Hatteras National Seashore. To view Presidential proclamations and other information on National Maritime Day or the history of the steamship Savannah, check out these sites:

BODIE ISLAND LIGHTHOUSE AND LENS was highlighted on our home page, 05/06/05 - 12/07/05.

NATIONAL MARITIME DAY

On May 20, 1933, Congress passed a joint resolution designating May 22 as National Maritime Day. The date marks the anniversary of the steamship Savannah which left its homeport of Savannah, Georgia on the first successful transoceanic voyage under steam propulsion in 1819 "[t]hus making a material contribution to the advancement of ocean transportation…"

The resolution authorized and requested that the President annually issue a proclamation calling upon the people of the United States to observe National Maritime Day each May 22. President Franklin Delano Roosevelt issued the first proclamation in 1933 and each subsequent President has done the same. Special commemorations of the day were not uncommon throughout the 1940s honoring the men and women who worked in the shipyards and factories building the "emergency fleet" as well as those seaman who had lost their lives in the line of duty.

To view Presidential proclamations and other information on National Maritime Day or the history of the steamship Savannah, check out these sites:

U.S. Maritime Service Veterans - National Maritime Day and Other Resolutions, Proclamations, Speeches and Commemorations

MARAD - Education (Maritime History)

Historic Speedwell Inc. - The S.S. Savannah

NATIONAL MARITIME DAY was highlighted on our home page, 05/10/03 - 05/06/05.

NATIONAL HISTORIC LIGHTHOUSE PRESERVATION ACT

The National Historic Lighthouse Preservation Act of 2000 (NHLPA), 16 U.S.C. 470, authorizes the disposal of historic lighthouses and stations. The Act amends the National Historic Preservation Act of 1966 and establishes a national lighthouse preservation program. NHLPA recognizes the cultural, recreational, and educational value associated with these historic resources by allowing lighthouse properties to be transferred at no cost to federal agencies, state and local governments, nonprofit corporations and community development organizations for park and recreation, cultural and historic, and educational uses.

For more information on the NHLPA program including the next group of potential light stations to be excessed, click here.

NATIONAL HISTORIC LIGHTHOUSE PRESERVATION ACT was highlighted on our home page, 06/10/02 - 05/09/03.

MARITIME NHL'S

Three properties relating to the maritime heritage of the United States were designated National Historic Landmarks in August of 2001. The J.C. Lore Oyster House in Solomons, Maryland (see picture at right) and Rudolph Oyster House in West Sayville, New York are among five identified nationally significant oyster-processing structures which represent the height of the industry from the 1860s to the 1920s as well as the processing stages of culling, shucking, packing and canning. The third property, the Modesty, is a Long Island "south-sider" shellfish dredging sloop built in 1923. Also located in West Sayville New York – the Modesty is the only known sailing scallop dredge to survive. These three properties are part of the overall theme study on the Oyster Fisheries of the United States. MARITIME NHL'S was highlighted on our home page, 01/31/02 - 06/10/02.

CAPE HATTERAS

Cape Hatteras Light, completed in 1870, is the tallest lighthouse in the U.S. and the second tallest brick light tower in the world. The light station consists of the lighthouse tower as well as a principal keeper's dwelling, duplex assistant keeper's dwelling, and oil house. The light station is part of the Cape Hatteras National Seashore, National Park Service. Because of continuing threats from shoreline erosion, the light station was relocated 1600 feet from the current coastline during the summer of 1999. All the light station buildings were placed in their original configuration with the same orientation to the ocean as they had in 1870. To learn more about the Cape Hatteras Light Station, please see the National Historic Landmark study found on this site or visit the Cape Hatteras National Seashore web site. CAPE HATTERAS was highlighted on our home page, 2/01/01 - 01/31/02.

HOGA

U.S. Navy yard tug HOGA is typical of hundreds of World War II-era naval service craft. She is the only known surviving yard craft present at Pearl Harbor during the Japanese attack on the U.S. Pacific Fleet on December 7, 1941. HOGA and crew performed heroic service during the attack in helping to beach the burning and sinking USS NEVADA and battling the blazing hulk of USS ARIZONA. Currently located at Suisun Bay Reserve Fleet, HOGA is listed on donation hold status as a potential museum or memorial. To learn more about HOGA, please see the National Historic Landmark study found on this site or visit the Navy Ship Donation Program web pages. HOGA was highlighted on our home page, 12/01/00 - 01/31/01.

Last Modified: Mon, Oct 2 2006 10:00:00 am EDT
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