Deep Water Shoals

Deep Water Shoals - National Archives - 1885

Deep Water Shoals - National Archives - 1885

Deep Water Shoal Lighthouse, stood on the shoal on the starboard hand of the channel in the James River above Mulberry Island Point. Like the other 2 James River Lighthouses, It had a 20 foot square foundation on 5, 5" diameter iron screwpiles. The cottage was also 20" square, single story with an internal step ladder leading to the lantern room. The lantern was fitted with a steamship lens, first exhibited February 6, 1855. Confederates attacked the lighthouse and extinguished it until the light was again exhibited in June 1862. Then in September 1862, the Light House Board removed the lens and stored it at Fort Monroe because of rebel activity and because the war effort had moved to Northern Virginia.

Deep Water Shoals light station was the first on the James River to become an ice casualty when on January 20, 1867, ice floes completely destroyed the structure. The damage report following the destruction noted several problems. The station was located on the edge of the shoal, allowing ice flowing in the channel to build up against the pilings. The foundation structure formed a 20 foot square using just 5 - 5 inch diameter iron piles, screwed 10 feet into the bottom. The combination of a weak foundation design and risky location proved to be too much.

Until a replacement lighthouse could be built, a lightship moored in place of the station. An appropriation of $16,000 was approved by Congress May 2, 1867. The new lighthouse was located away from the edge of the shoal on a river bottom better suited to hold the pilings. The new foundation, hexagonal in shape, had eight wood piles fitted with cast iron sleeves. The keeper's station, mounted on top of the foundation, was also hexagonal in design. The new Deep Water Shoals Lighthouse opened on January 15, 1868 with a sixth order Fresnel lens. The light served until it was decommissioned in the 1950's.

Keepers

  1. James H. Ransom - September 12, 1854 - May 1806

  2. Allen Hogg - May 1, 1860 - uncertain

  3. William Anderson - October 10, 1865 - October 28, 1867

  4. William Anderson - January 10, 1868 - June 18, 1868

  5. Cornelius Merton - June 11, 1868 - July 9, 1870

  6. Robert B. Mitchell - July 9, 1870 - March 18, 1873

  7. Isaac F. Leburn - April 5, 1873 - June 17, 1873

  8. Wm E Crockett - June 17, 1873 - March 11, 1874

  9. Samda A. Morse - March 11, 1874 - July 1, 1885

  10. Theodonck Bland - August 20, 1885 - September 11, 1885

  11. Benjamin Fenner - September 11, 1885 - November 30, 1888

  12. William M Colgin - December 6, 1888 - October 10, 1889

  13. William Walker - October 16, 1889 - December 3, 1889

  14. William Walker - December 3, 1889 - December 3, 1889

  15. James B. Hurst - January 19, 1890 - March 21, 1891

  16. Edward W. Lee - April 8, 1891 - July 1, 1894

  17. Charles E. Respess - July 16, 1894 - October 1, 1897

  18. Josiah J. Wilson - October 26, 1897 - May 26, 1900

  19. James T. Parks - June 27, 1900 - October 1907

  20. Alex P. Hurst - May 1, 1907-September 04, 1928

  21. A.J. Quidley - September 04, 1928 - August 05, 1929

  22. G.G. Johnson - August 05, 1929 - May 08, 1935

  23. A.F. Ripley - May 08, 1935 - March 09, 1936

  24. J.R. Edwards - March 09, 1936 - November 11, 1943

  25. T.J. Cropper - November 1943 - May 1944