Lightship Ambrose (LV87)

Original use: Floating lighthouse

Current use: Museum ship

Built: 1908

Dimensions: LOA 135' - Beam 29' - Draft 13'

Displacement: 683 tons

Construction: Steel

Speed: 9 knots

Original power: 4 Detroit deisel 550 hp

History: Lightship Ambrose was a floating lighthouse that marked Ambrose Channel, the main shipping channel for New York Harbor. She served this station until 1933 when she was reassigned to serve as the Lightship Scotland, a station much closer to Sandy Hook, New Jersey. In 1968, the United States Coast Guard donated the ship to the South Street Seaport Museum in New York City where she remains berthed and can be visited by the public.

Her original station at the head of Ambrose Channel was eventually replaced by a peremanent station that resembles an rig platform called the Ambrose Lightstation, in 1967. The original Ambrose lightship station was one of the two markers which were used to gauge a transatlantic liner's travel time to determine if it would hold the Blue Riband speed record for transtalantic crossings.

Website: www.southstseaport.org

Status: National Historic Landmark

Skipper: None

Contact: South Street Seaport Museum. 12 Fulton Street - New York City - 10038. 212.748.8600