Lightship Columbia

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Career

Builder:	Rice Brother Corporation, Boothbay, Maine
Built:	1950
Decommissioned:	1979
Fate:	Museum ship
General characteristics
Tonnage:	317 displ
Length:	128'
Beam:	30'
Draft:	11'
Propulsion:	Atlas Imperial 8 cylinder diesil engine
Speed:	10.7 knots
Armament:	none

The Lightship Columbia WLV-604 was the first lightship on the Pacific Coast of the United States. The Columbia River lightships have guided vessels across the “Graveyard of the Pacific” from 1892 until 1979. This lightship, WLV-604, was essentially a small town anchored five miles out to sea marking the entrance to the Columbia River.

Everything the crew needed had to be on board. In the winter, weeks of rough weather prevented any supplies from being delivered. Life on board the lightship can best be described as long stretches of monotony and boredom intermixed with riding gale force storms. The crew of 17 men worked two to four week rotations, with ten men on duty at all times.

Thirty-foot waves were not unusual during fierce winter storms. Even the most experienced sailors got seasick. The lightship did not roll like a regular ship, but bobbed like a cork in all directions. The crew can recall many sleepless nights listening to the foghorn, but they took great pride in their duty: keeping ships safe and on course at the entrance to the Columbia River.

WLV-604 is now located at the Columbia River Maritime Museum—the official maritime museum of the State of Oregon.

The Columbia was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1983.[1]