It has been an exciting 85th year for our beloved LV118, Lightship Overfalls and the Overfalls Foundation. As we begin 2024, it’s nice to take a moment to reflect on what the Foundation has been able to accomplish this year.
First and foremost, 2023 marked the 50th year LV118 has been on the Lewes waterfront. As members, volunteers and donors, you need to be proud of the Lightship Overfalls National Historic Monument status that through your generous donations of time and money, we continue to maintain. We now have over 320 members in our organization, and I look forward to seeing more of you become members. For me personally, it’s a great feeling to know that I have a role in maintaining the only such maritime monument in the Great State of Delaware.
We had our usual program of guest speakers in the winter and then on to our happy hours and family programs this summer. All of these continue to grow in participation, but our summer happy hours with live music were our most popular event. Our opening day nearly rained out, but we still had one of our largest tour turnouts! We had several new successful events this year – we partnered with the Lewes Historical Society for the Sea Glass Festival (another big tour weekend), opened an Overfalls anniversary museum exhibit at the Cannonball House and had the first children’s pirate parade for Halloween. We also had our first Beer & Benevolence fundraising events at Dogfish Head Brewery & Eats that were also great successes. Our Lightship Overfalls and Monomoy participation in the Lewes July 4th Boat Parade continues to be a hit thanks to the Monomoy crew. 2023 also marked a year in which we inducted 5 new members into the Delaware Maritime Hall of Fame – Captain Sharon Dounce, Mr. Charles Fithian, Ms. Tracy Mulveny, Mr. Ronal Smith and Rear Admiral Samuel F. DuPont.
On the business front, we launched our new website that now works equally well across computers, electronic notebooks and cellphones. We’ve also selected a new contact management system that will help us improve how we manage and maintain our membership, volunteers, donors, and sponsors.
With the donation of nearly 4000 volunteer hours as of November 1, the ship, store, Monomoy and our museum grounds continue to look great. Ship preservation and maintenance is ongoing and this year saw continued preservation work inside the ship to include radio equipment and engine order telegraph restoration.
Our volunteers continue to do amazing work and I am proud that we are a 100% all-volunteer run organization. I especially want to congratulate our 2023 volunteer award recipients – Patty Jackson for the President’s Award; David Bernheisel for the Behind the Scenes Award; Dan Picciotta for receiving the Dirty Hands Gang Member of the Year and to Don Gansauer (who stepped down this year) for his years of leadership of the Dirty Hands Gang.
Looking to 2024, our programs will continue. Keep an eye on our website, Instagram and Facebook pages along with reading our E-Blasts to stay up to date on events.
Sincerely,
Mike Safina
PS: If you are not a member, please consider becoming one! We’d love to have you join our team.
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Man Overboard Lights
There are several life rings located on the Overfalls weather deck. These rings were to be tossed to someone who had fallen overboard. Right beside each life ring is something that looks like a large mustard-colored flashlight. These are man overboard rescue lights. They are battery powered and are designed to be tossed, with the life ring, to the person who has fallen in. It’s interesting to note that they are mounted upside down in their holders. They are weighted so that when they enter the water they invert and float upright. A switch inside automatically turns the light on when it inverts to help show the location of the life ring in the water at night.
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So What Kind of Clock Is That?
Located above the helm on Overfalls, this is a 24 hour Chelsea Clock. The United States military uses 24 hour timekeeping because it make it easier to differentiate between AM and PM. Two thirty in the morning is 0230 hours (usually referred to as “o-two-thirty”). Two thirty in the afternoon is 1430 (or “fourteen-thirty”). This avoids confusion about what time one needs to do something but it takes some getting used to. Obviously the face of the clock on our bridge takes some getting used to as well. The picture above shows the time as just shy of 10:20 in the morning.
We have three mechanical Chelsea clocks on board Overfalls and one of the routine duties of someone who was on watch was to keep the clocks wound. The seaman on duty would have to note in the log that he “wound escapement clocks”. The term escapement clock simply refers to any spring wound mechanical clock.
The Chelsea Clock Company was founded back in 1884 but still manufactures clocks at its factory just outside of Boston in Chelsea, Massachusetts. Like many companies during WW2, they shifted much of their production to government contacts, providing clocks for most all Navy and Coast Guard vessels of the day.
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Happy Birthday LV118!
LV118 under construction in 1938 Today is the 85th anniversary of the launching of Lightship Overfalls (LV118) and her christening. First named “Cornfield” to associate her with her first duty station at Cornfield Point, the event marked the first time the ship touched the water and is traditionally known as her birthday. Come on down today and have a tour to learn more about the different names that LV118 has had. You can also check out the Lewes Historical Society Sea Glass Festival in Canalfront Park and at their main campus. It’s a beautiful day to be outside!
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What on earth is that?
CP-95/PD
This is an artifact from the Cold War and was on LV118 when she arrived in Lewes in 1973. The CP-95/PD (commonly called a Radiac unit) was used to read the amount of radiation an individual had been exposed to. A small pendant on a chain (a “personnel dosimeter”) would be worn around the neck of an individual to be monitored. After exposure, the dosimeter would be placed inside the Radiac unit and the “ROENTGENS” meter would read the amount of radiation to which the wearer had been exposed. This particular unit dates from the early 1960’s.