Swiftsure

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This article is about the United States ship. There have also been several United Kingdom HMS Swiftsure ships.

Lightship #83, now called Swiftsure, is a ship launched in Camden, New Jersey, in 1904. She steamed around the tip of South America to her first station at Blunts Reef in California, where she saved 150 people when their ship ran aground in dense fog. Formerly known as Relief, Number 83 had numerous names on her sides, all of which indicated the location of her station. Swiftsure refers to the Swiftsure Bank near the entrance to the Strait of Juan de Fuca, which separates Washington from Vancouver Island. She also guided ships near Umatilla Reef and the Columbia River Bar.

Swiftsure is one of the oldest lightships in the country and the only one to have her original steam engines. She is 129 feet long, with a beam of 28 feet, six inches and a draft of 12 feet, six inches. Her displacement is 668 tons. Her aids to navigation include a 1,000 watt primary light, a 140-decibel Diaphone horn, and a 1,000 pound foredeck fog bell.

The ship was decommissioned in 1960, and purchased by Northwest Seaport in 1969. She is listed on the National Register of Historic Places, is a National Historic Landmark, and on the Washington State Heritage Register. She is moored on Lake Union, in Seattle, Washington, for restoration.