Trinity House
lightvessel no. 55

JOHN SEABSTIAN

- active lightvessel from 1886 until 1954 -

 

 

Technical data:

Length: 103 feet (ca. 31,40 m)
Beam: 24.2 feet (ca. 7,37 m)
Draught:
Displacement: 274.5 t

Authorities: Trinity House, London

Year of construction: 1885

Shipyard: unknown

Yard No.:
Contract price:
Material: teak on oak timbers, the hull is copper-sheathed below the waterline
 
Populsion: no
 
Illuminat: Oil (1927)
Latern:
Elevation: 39 feet (ca. 11,90 m)
Range: 11 sm
Focal Length:
 
Anchor:

Fog horn:

 

History:

1886 Commissioned

1888 Station Cross Sand

1910 Station Smith´s Knoll

14.10.1914-15.12.1914 Newarp Station

1922 Swarte Bank Station, where during November she withstood terrible gales

1927 Station Cross Sand

15.03.1937-17.05.1939 Owers Station

14.07.1939-18.01.1942 English and Welsh Grounds Station

1942-1947 taken to Milford Haven for overhaul and lay in Holyhead Harbour as a spare

18.03.1947-01.09.1953 English and Welsh Grounds Station

01.09.1953 sold out of service to breakers. She was salvaged by two lots of breakers and then beached at New Passage (preparatory to burning). The owner of the forestore rights objected and the hulk was towed to Portishead Dock and put up for sale again

10/1955 the lightship was purchased by the Cabot Cruising Club who named her JOHN SEBASTIAN and moored her at Welsh Back

1956 in the late summer she was towed to Bathurst Basin in Bristol

03.05.1959 formally opened as club house. Remained in Bristol until today. Most of the deck fittings and interior equipment have been removed. JOHN SEBASTIAN is the last of the wooden vessels to survive

Visitor address:
Cabot Cruising Club
Bathurst Basin
Bristol BS1 4RL
England

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