Lightship Overfalls LV-118 — Attraction in Lewes

This historic 1930s lightship is in fantastic condition. Below decks requires a guide. It's not an arduous tour, and is very interesting - the guides are knowledgeable and the whole thing takes about 45 minutes top to bottom. The tour covers the pilothouse (the bridge), radio room, and then down across the first level below, stem to stern. Tours do not go to the lowest deck where the engines and generators are. There is also no access to the upper deck where the mast is. So visitors can see the main deck, and the lower level, as well as the interior of the superstructure. I really enjoyed seeing the different seakeeping features of the ship. The surrounding park was also very nice. The lightship folks own the little historic Monomoy surfboat under the pavilion, while Lewes Historical Society operates the Life-Saving Museum - a great companion site to the lightship & surfboat - immediately next door. In my opinion, these are all very related topics (Lifesaving Service and Lighthouse Service) and should be visited together. Check the website for specific hours, as the days open depend on the season. There is ample parking in the gravel parking lot for the Canalfront Park, but I would recommend considering parking on the street up by the Episcopal Church if its a Little League game day (assuming the parking lot fills up quickly on...

Lightship Overfalls LV 118/WAL 538 Lighthouse

The Overfalls Lightship Station was located near the mouth of Delaware Bay, roughly three miles east of Cape Henlopen and 8.5 miles southwest of Cape May, and marked the Overfalls Shoal where the shallowest spot had a depth of only ten feet. Just four different lightships serviced the station between 1898 and 1960, when a buoy was used to mark the location. LV 101/WAL 524 had the longest tenure at the station, being anchored therefrom 1926 to 1951, and is now permanently docked at Portsmouth, Virginia where it is open to the public as a museum. WLV-605 bore the station mark OVERFALLS on her sides from when she was built in 1951 until the station was discontinued in 1960. A crew of fifteen was assigned to WLV-605 when a reporter visited her in 1955. One seaman and an engineman were on watch at all times, and a four-hour watch was typically served followed by eight hours off. The men lived aboard for twenty-one days and were then treated to an...

Very informative tour that is inexpensive at only five dollars per adult, it is an impressive thing to think of lighthouse service and later coastguard out in the mouth of the Delaware bay on one of those ships. Talk about an exposed anchorage. The ships themselves were basically floating air compressors and generators to run the fog horn light and radio beacon. The boat lists because it is aground in its slip, the current on the lewes channel silts the slip in, about 17,000 hours so far have been put into the restoration of the boat and it is in pretty good shape for a 75 year old steel boat. The park and marina that it is near is very well maintained and right off the main drag of Lewes Delaware with excellent food options,...