Visit The Columbia River Lightship
The last Columbia River Lightship is located in Astoria, OR. You can take a tour through the ship and see how the sailors lived and worked on a lightship.
The United States once had a large fleet of lightships. All of them have been removed from active duty over the years.
Lightships were anchored where it was not feasible to build a lighthouse.
They were very expensive to maintain because they had to carry crews and be constantly supplied. It took twice as many men to man the ship as it did on isolated lighthouses.
The lightships were always placed at dangerous maritime crossroads or well offshore where they received the full fury of storms and rough seas.
The mouth of the Columbia River is known as the “Graveyard of the Pacific”. Hundreds of ships have wrecked off the mouth of the Columbia’s tricky but navigable channels. In 1892 the first lightship was anchored five miles out to sea marking the entrance to the Columbia River.
 Eight ships have served as the Columbia River Lightship. The last lightship was the Columbia WLV-604. This ship is now located at the Columbia River Maritime Museum. This museum is the official maritime museum of the State of Oregon. Today the channel is marked by a functional, unmanned, lighted buoy.
To fully appreciate what it was like to serve on the lightship, you will need to take a tour of the ship. Everything the crew needed had to be on board the ship. Just imagine cramped quarters, surrounded by a sea of fog and water.
Life On Board The Lightship
In the winter, weeks of rough weather prevented any supplies from being delivered. Life on board can best be described as long stretches of monotony and boredom. They rode gale force winds and rolling seas tossing the vessel to and fro.
Thirty-foot waves were not unusual during the fierce winter storms. Even the most experience sailors would get seasick. The lightship did not roll like a regular ship, but bobbed like a cork in all directions. The crew spent many sleepless nights listening to the foghorn.
The crew consisted of 17 men that worked two to four-week rotations, when ten men on duty at all times. They can take great pride in their duty keeping ships safe and on course. Sailors on these ships deserve our respect for the hazardous duty they performed.
Peter Iredale Shipwreck
 One of the best know shipwrecks off the mouth of the Columbia River is the Peter Iredale in 1906.
She wrecked with 27 hands on board (two were stowaways!).
The wreck of the Peter Iredale is still an attraction on the beach at Fort Stevens State Park.
| " Columbia River Lightship is operated by:" Columbia River Maritime Museum, Astoria, Oregon
Visitor Hours: 9:30 AM - 5:00 PM Daily
Closed Thanksgiving & Christmas |
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National Historic Lightship
The Columbia River Lightship was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1983.
It was declared a National Historic Landmark in 1989.
Lightship Decommissioned
The Columbia Lighthouse was the first lighthship to serve on the west coast, and the last one to be decommissioned on the west coast.
WLV 604 is open to the public at the Columbia River Maritime Museum in Astoria, Oregon.
The lightship is now located next to the Columbia River Maritime Museum.
You can take a tour through the ship and see how the sailors lived.
While you are there you need to visit the museum. Explore marine transportation from the days of dugout canoes, through the age of sail, to the present.
This is a museum of national distinction, designated the official Oregon State Maritime Museum in recognition of its quality, and recently expanded and improved in a $6 million rennovation.
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