The Butler Flats Lighthouse Slated For Auction August 1

NEW OWNERS MUST COMPLY WITH STRICT COVENANTS

Up for Sale: The Butler Flats Lighthouse - USCG Photo

By MLBaron 

 NEW BEDFORD:    The most prominent maritime fixture in New Bedford’s outer harbor will be sold at auction August 1. The GSA (General Services Administration) Boston office that is overseeing the sale has declared 4 lighthouses in Southern New England “not an operational necessity” surplus which includes the Butler Flats Lighthouse. “This is an opportunity for the right person (s) or organization to acquire a unique piece of local maritime history” said Patrick Sclafini, Public Affairs Officer for the GSA Region I. 

The Butler Flats Lighthouse - USCG Photo

     Built in 1898, the Butler Flats Lighthouse replaced the aging Clark’s Point Light that had been in service since 1804. It was designed by Francis Hopkinson Smith, who is also credited for designing the base for The Statue of Liberty. The “sparkplug” style lighthouse standing 53-feet above the water has a circular tank iron caisson base with an upper brick structure. There a four floors, with the lowest level for storage, the middle 2 floors, 37 feet in diameter are for living quarters and the upper floor is for the light operations and watch decks. The original Fresnel lense the (only 2 of it’s kind ever installed in the US) is now on display at The Maine Lighthouse Museum in Rockport, Maine.. 

     Although it was obscure as to who actually owned the property, wether it was The City of New Bedford or the Federal Government., the GSA has made it clear that they own the property but did lease it to the city after it was decommissioned in 1978. Shortly afterwards, the Butler Flats Lighthouse became one of the first automated - solar powered lighthouses in the country.

     In 1979 the US Coast Guard granted a revocable license for use of the property by the city as a historic site and private ATON (Aid to Navigation). In 2012 the GSA issued a notice of availability pursuant to the National Historic Lighthouse Preservation Act. There were 3 expressions of interest, none of which went any further in filing a formal application. 

     Arthur Motta, former Director of Tourism in the city expressed concern with the potential new owners of the property. Motta, an avid local historian has received numerous commendations for his efforts in the preservation of the Palmer’s Island and Butler Flats lighthouses along with the late Dr. John B. O’Toole. A strictly enforced covenant stipulating the historic preservation and appearance of the light house will be a standard part of the buyer/seller agreement according the auction sale web site listed at http://www.realestatesales.gov. Sale-Lot Number : BOSTON - 113-019-001. The opening bid starts at $25,000.


     (Author’s Note:) If only the Butler Flats Lighthouse could tell it’s story. It would recall how it has seen countless ships of all kinds enter and depart New Bedford Harbor from Whale ships, fishing vessels that evolved from sail to motor, from wood to steel, ships of war, and many vessels and crew that passed it by never to return to port again. It greeted The USS Constitution in 1933 and bid a sad good-bye to The Charles W. Morgan in November 1941. 

     It has endured through the most severe weather nature could throw at it, from nameless nor’easters, to the pounding waves and winds of The Hurricanes of 1938, 1944, Carol 1954, Donna 1960, Gloria 1985, Hurricane Bob 1991 and many other powerful storms. Most old lighthouses can tell similar stories but this one is ours, an indelible place in the hearts of local generations of fishermen, seafarers and beach goers alike. One can only hope that The Butler Flats Lighthouse that has faithfully served our mariners will continue to shine it’s light for another 115 years.

There are a few web sites on the history of Butler Flats Lighthouse including one at this link: http://www.lighthouse.cc/butler/history.html

FAIRHAVEN FIRE DEPARTMENT HEROES 89 YEARS AGO

Burned to the water line, the Ferry Steamer "Sankaty" lies at the bottom along side The Charles W. Morgan at Union Wharf, in Fairhaven, MA. 

FAIRHAVEN FIRE DEPARTMENT HEROES 89 YEARS AGO

By MLBaron Correspondent westislandweather.com

    On June 30, 1924 a huge pier fire lit the skies of New Bedford harbor. Bales of hay, barrels of kerosene, and other goods bound for the islands from the Steamship Dock near Pier 3 provided the fuel for a fire that ravaged out of control. This dockside conflagration lit the night sky and glowed for dozens of miles away. Onlookers watched along the shores of Fairhaven and New Bedford. 

    The fire burned off the lines to the steamer "Sankaty" and the ship caught fire and drifted into the middle of the harbor. It was like a giant floating fire ball drifting slowly towards Fairhaven and eventually along side the Charles W. Morgan, that was tied up at Fairhaven Union Wharf. The Morgan's port side began to get scorched by the intense fire. Smoke and steam began to consume the historic whale ship. 

    Through the heroic efforts of The Fairhaven Fire Department the Charles W. Morgan was saved. Story compiled from recollections of the late Fire Chief Lindsay Gifford who was there. From The MLBaron Historic Archives.

New Bedford Yacht Club Final Moments

A rare look at The New Bedford Yacht Club c1905. Photo taken of the south facing part of the building. Photo Courtesy of The Claire T Carney Library UMASS Dartmouth.

The New Bedford Yacht Club in it's heyday looking east on Rt 6 towards Fairhaven. Old postcard photo c1910


By MLBaron Hurricane Historian and westislandweather.comThe final moments of The New Bedford Yacht Club at Pope's Island during the 1938 Hurricane. People can be seen looking out the windows on the top floor. (photo below)

     "Some were having a "hurricane party" including some students from the recent FHS Class of '38" stated one graduate, the late Mary Battainy of Fairhaven. She told me that she was one of those looking out the window. Just minutes after this photo was taken from Marine Park looking towards the club everybody ran from the club as high winds exceeding 110MPH caused the building to lean back and sway. A huge wave then crashed into It and disintegrated into a large debris field that scattered across RT 6 and into the parking lot across the highway. 

The remains of The New Bedford Yacht Club among the wreckage of demolished cars after the '38 Hurricane 

    Nothing was left of the legendary NB Yacht Club and it was never replaced. All survived, but one naked man was seen clutching to the top of a broken mast as it headed underneath the New Bedford Fairhaven Bridge and blown up the Acushnet River, nothing was ever heard of him again. Standard-Times photo from The MLBaron Historic Archives.

At the Height of WW II, The Hurricane of 1944 Claimed Most of Its Lives at Sea

By M.L.Baron westislandweather.com

FAIRHAVEN: Some local survivors will argue that the hurricane that struck near midnight on September 14, 1944 was more destructive than the infamous‘1938 Hurricane six years prior. To a certain extent they were right. The category 3 hurricane impacted a smaller land mass, but for the areas that got hit, the damage was incredible. It appears that wind damage had more of a destructive feature than the tidal surge. In a town report, the Fairhaven tree warden reported more trees fell in town than in 1938. The newly erected radio tower in1940, for WNBH-WFMR at Crow Island had 225ft snapped off leaving a 120ft stub at the base. Although the death toll reached 46 on land it was much higher at sea.

    WW II Navy veteran Antone “Tony-Tex” Teixeira, 91 of North Fairhaven (right) recalled being right in “the middle of hell” with a naval task force steaming south down the east coast en route to the Panama Canal.
    After just completing several dangerous missions in The Battle for The Atlantic, they were re-assigned to head into the Pacific theatre. The convoy ran smack into the hurricane that had 75 foot seas and 150 mph gusts. Radio silence was strictly enforced, so if any ship got into trouble they were mostly on their own.
    Mr Teixeira recalls as a sailor on board the destroyer escort USS ORLANDO, that the Captain decided at one point to reverse screws and let the storm push at them with less resistance, rather than let the ship face it head on.
    As the ship tossed about, the stern would rise out of the sea and the engines would rev up as the propellers spun rapidly out of the water. With the ocean this intense it could easily break a good sized ship in half. Somehow they made it and the convoy proceeded to the war in the Pacific.


    However, 5 ships sank which included the 381 ft. USS Warrington DD 383 about 450 miles east off Vero Beach, Florida with 248 lost out of a crew of 321. (Above: The USS Warrington DD 383 with crew on deck in New York harbor.1939 US Navy photo )
A minesweeper, along with 2 Coast Guard cutters - the Bedloe and Jackson - that were escorting a torpedo damaged liberty ship into port were sunk, drowning 85 sailors off Cape Hatteras, North Carolina.

    The 128 ft. Vineyard Sound Lightship (US Navy photo below) took all 11 of its crew to the bottom 3 miles off Cuttyhunk Island. In a 1963 expedition to the Vineyard Sound, divers found bow plates punched in were the ships center storm anchor may have come loose and was tossed about freely during the height of the storm creating a gaping hole in the hull that quickly sank the ship. Ships of this type lacked any real water tight bulk heads. One diver described the sunken wreck as they approached it. The ship still sits upright in sixty feet of water as if in a perpetual vigil. When inside the wreck, greenish rays of sunshine glisten eerily through the hole as fish swim in and out of the ship. It’ is a haunting yet beautiful and peaceful sight. He said. This storm is referred to as The Great Atlantic Hurricane. Named hurricanes began in the early 1950's. The first named hurricane to strike New England was Carol on August 31, 1954. For more info on The 1944 Hurricane visit westislandweather.com.