Lightship Frying Pan

Original use: United States Lightship #115

Current use: Dockside attraction. Bought while on the bottom of the Chesapeake Bay at White Haven, MD

Built: 1929

Dimensions: 133'3" x 29' x 10'

Displacement: 600 tons.

Construction: Riveted steel

Speed: 3-4 knots

Original power: Single 350 HP GE motor powered by four 6-71 Graymarine Diesel generators.

Current power: Re-powered in 1989 with a single 370 HP Cummins VT8370M Diesel engine.

History: Lightship #115 was stationed at its namesake, Frying Pan Shoals, 30 miles off of Cape Fear, NC, from 1930 to 1965. 15 men lived aboard ship to keep the light atop the mast burning and the foghorn sounding regardless of the weather, season or time of day. After being abandoned for 10 years at an old oyster cannery in the Chesapeake Bay, she sank and was underwater for three years before being raised by her current owners. After tons of silt and shells were removed from the hull, the ship was outfitted with a replacement engine and in 1989 cruised under power to her current home at Pier 66 Maritime at the foot of West 26th Street and North River in Manhattan. While the outside of the ship has been restored to her original appearance, the inside retains the barnacle-encrusted, sunken-ship motif that acknowledges her storied past. Open to the public year-round, begining May 2008.

Website: www.FryingPan.Com

Status: Listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

Skipper: John Krevey

Contact: 212 989 9090 or Info@FryingPan.Com