Rusted, looted, stuck in the mud: But there's a sliver of hope for the Barnegat Lightship
CAMDEN - Among the discarded and sunken boats abandoned after Superstorm Sandy and the overgrown vegetation of a neglected boatyard, sits the once proud U.S. Coast Lightship Barnegat.
Once a beacon to mariners sailing the long, sandy stretch of the Long Beach Island coast, the Barnegat has been rusting away for the last 30 years, stuck in the Camden mud at Pyne Poynt Marina where the Delaware and Cooper rivers meet.
But, there is a sliver of hope now for the vessel. The marina was purchased by Camden County in April for $633,000 using both county and state Green Acres money. The county and its partner, the state Department of Environmental Protection, want the marina for a new park in its overall plan to revitalize Camden's waterfront.
The marina lies next to Pyne Point Park to the west and Cramer Hill Waterfront Park to the east. Across from it lies Petty Island, which is held by the New Jersey Natural Land Trust, and where a wildlife sanctuary is envisioned.
Mysteries of the sea revealed: Surfaced from a watery Jersey Shore grave, Morro Castle anchor finds new life
The Barnegat came with the marina. Just what the future holds for it is still up in the air. Camden County Commissioner Jeffrey Nash said officials there have to assess the condition of the steel vessel to see if it is cost efficient to save.
The boat is not seaworthy. Birds have built nests in one of the masts, and over the years pieces of it have been carried away by looters.
"I can almost guarantee you its not going to be a floating restaurant," Nash quipped, referring to the Frying Pan, another decommissioned U.S. Coast Guard lightship which has a new life as floating seafood restaurant in Manhattan.
Camden County parks director Maggie McCann Johns said the goal is to restore the Barnegat to the point that it is safe for people to board and walk around the boat as an historic centerpiece to the park.
Foghorns every 30 seconds
The lightship was built in 1904 in Camden by the New York Shipbuilding Co. The vessel first served as a lightship moored offshore of Cape May, then Barnegat Light. During World War II it patrolled Delaware Bay, inspecting all ships entering the river and keeping lookout for German subs. After the war it returned to Barnegat Light where it was anchored about eight miles outside of the inlet.
Andrea Doria wreck discovery: Millstone captain finds bow of ship that sunk her
U.S. Coast Guard servicemen, or "coasties" as they're sometimes called, would be stationed on the boat for two weeks to a month at a time. John Hedgepath, 85 of Little Egg Harbor, was stationed on the boat in its final years, from 1965 to 1967, and said it was a tough job but one he took pride in.
"We had TV and we played cards. The food was good. Sometimes the guys would dive off the boat into the water," Hedgepath said.
Of course, those dives took some daring due to the occasional shark that was drawn to the food chain that grew underneath the boat.
"I remember my dad used to run supplies out to the men stationed on the boat. Mostly beer. He really loved the 'coasties,'" recalled Kirk Larson, mayor of Barnegat Light and owner of the Miss Barnegat Light, a party fishing boat.
Larson said the boat, which did not move but bobbed up and down on the anchor, used to collect a lot of fish, such as the golden colored mahi-mahi, which scavenge off floating debris in the ocean.
The Barnegat was equipped with a beacon to aid navigators and a fog horn that blew every 30 seconds and could be heard for eight nautical miles. The horn, Hedegpath said, took some time getting used to. The crew was also tasked with collecting weather data and sending bottom samples to Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution in Massachusetts, he said.
With the advent of LORAN, or long-range navigation using hyperbolic radio transmissions, the United States' lightship fleet became obsolete and the vessels were decommissioned. The Barnegat was taken out of service in 1967.
'It's got to be in bad shape'
The lightship was moved to a wharf in Philadelphia and for a time a nonprofit maintained it as a museum. But as the years passed the steel ship became leaky and the group could not pay for the upkeep.
In the early 1990s the late Rodney Sadler, the owner of Pyne Poynt Marina, stepped in and took ownership of the vessel, hoping to fix its leaks and make it an historical attraction. However, he never was able to get the funding and the vessel slowly began to corrode. Sadler died in 2019.
Three years ago the Barnegat Light Historical Society bought the ship's 1,000-pound bell. Larson said they had to weave themselves around all the abandoned boats that were dumped there after Sandy to get to the Barnegat. They used a crane to hoist the bell off the boat and bring it to Barnegat Light. The society got the bell's shine back and it's now on display at pavilion park across from the Coast Station on Bayview Avenue.
Perhaps its vessel will have the same fortune.
"It be nice if they could restore her. Perhaps they'll make a museum out of it, but it's got to be in bad shape. The boat was built in 1904," Hedgepath said.
When Jersey Shore native Dan Radel is not reporting the news, you can find him in a college classroom where he is a history professor. Reach him @danielradelapp; 732-643-4072; dradel@gannettnj.com.
This article originally appeared on Asbury Park Press: Lightship Barnegat could be saved as Camden County park centerpiece
