Butler Flats Light June 27, 2009

Located in New Bedford harbor this lighthouse is built in shallow water without rock for a foundation. It is made of iron with brick on top, which gives it its "spark plug" appearance. It has stood for many years at the entrance to New Bedford harbor in southeastern Mass.. New Bedford is an old mill city and was once the whaling capitol of the world. It is also famous for having been mentioned in Moby Dick. The lighthouse is not open to the public, but is easily visible from the shore along East Rodney French Boulevard in New Bedford as well as other points along the city's waterfront. Built originally in 1898, this lighthouse was automated in 1978.

In 1960 the Coast Guard announced that it was replacing certain lightships with fixed offshore structures. The structures they noted, would provide more efficient optics and would provide greater luminous range than was possible with lightships.

The first lightship to be replaced was the Buzzards Bay Lightship located in Buzzards Bay approximately five miles south of Gooseberry Neck, Mass., in 61 feet (19 m) of water. The station was commissioned on November 1, 1961.

The underwater portion of the structure is a framework consisting of four 33-inch (840 mm) steel pipe members cross braced with 16-inch (410 mm) and 18-inch (460 mm) diameter steel pipe horizontally and diagonally. Through each of the 33-inch (840 mm) main pipe members, 30 inch cylindrical steel piles were driven and seated to bed rock at a depth of 268 feet (82 m) below mean low water. A portion of the piles is filled with concrete.

The platform above water rises 66 feet (20 m) above mean low water. The platform is two decks high, the lower deck housing fuel and water tanks and the upper deck consisting of quarters for the five Coast Guardsmen who man the station. The structure is equipped with a helicopter landing deck.

The light at the station is 101 feet (31 m) above water. A light of 5,000,000 candlepower is shown during periods of low visibility while a 400,000 candlepower light is normally in operation. The light can be seen for 16 miles (26 km). The station is also equipped with a radiobeacon and a fog horn. The piles are floodlighted from sunset to sunrise.

Since this first offshore structure, the Coast Guard has placed five more lights of this type in operation