Merrill Shell Bank Light
Lighthouse
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The Merrill Shell Bank Light was a screw-pile lighthouse which once stood on its eponymous shoal in the Mississippi Sound, west of Cat Island and south of Pass Christian, Mississippi. It was replaced by a skeleton tower on the same foundation.
1883 (second house)[2]
undated photograph of Merrill Shell Bank Light (USCG) | |
 | |
| Location | Mississippi Sound south of Pass Christian |
|---|---|
| Coordinates | 30.2425°N 89.2489°W[1] |
| Tower | |
| Constructed | 1860 (first house) 1883 (second house)[2] |
| Foundation | Screw-pile[1] |
| Construction | square wooden house[1] |
| Automated | 1932 |
| Light | |
| Deactivated | 1945 |
| Focal height | 42 ft (13 m)[1] |
![](./Https://quickstatements.toolforge.org/#/v1=Q23074258|P31|Q39715||Q23074258|P625|@30.2425/-89.2489|S143|Q328||Q23074258|P571|+1860-00-00T00:00:00Z/9|S143|Q328||Q23074258|P730|+1945-00-00T00:00:00Z/9|S143|Q328||Q23074258|P793|Q24410992|P585|+1932-00-00T00:00:00Z/9|S143|Q328||Q23074258|P2923|42_ftU11573|S143|Q328||Q23074258|P18|"Merrill_shell_bank_light.JPG"|S143|Q328|P2096|en:"undated_photograph_of_Merrill_Shell_Bank_Light_(USCG)"){kind=small}
History
The shoal was first marked by the hull of the former revenue cutter McLane serving as a lightship beginning in 1847, but this was replaced by a screw-pile light in 1860. The light was extinguished by the Confederates but was undamaged, and was re-lit in 1863. The house was damaged by fire in 1880, and was utterly destroyed in 1883 by another fire; it was rebuilt the same year.[3] In 1932 it was automated, and in 1945 the house was removed and replaced by a skeleton tower on the same foundation.[4] This tower was damaged by the hurricanes of 2005 and was discontinued in 2007.[5]