Type:
Year Established:
1854
Existing:
No
Source:
(Cipra, Lighthouses, Lightships, and the Gulf of Mexico, pp. 184-185)
Download:
Half Moon Shoal TX.jpg (5.48 MB)
File Type:
jpg (image/jpeg)
Photo Courtesy of:
US Lighthouse Society Archives
LOCATION
Location:
Galveston Bay
Latitude:
29° 24.02'
Longitude:
94° 50.33'
City / Town:
Galveston
U.S. State:
Texas
Country:
United States
OWNER & ACCESS
Open to Public:
No
STRUCTURE
Year Discontinued:
1900
Disposition:
Rebuilt 1869 After Steamer Ran Into It; Destroyed in Hurricane 1900, Replaced by a Beacon in 1902 and then a Buoy
Year Tower Established:
1854
Tower Construction Material:
Wood
Tower Foundation:
Screwpile with Platform
Height, in feet, from base of structure to center of lantern:
35 feet
Tower Shape:
Square
Fog Signal Building?:
No
Keeper's Quarters?:
No
Year Keeper's Quarters:
1854
Keeper's Quarters Construction:
Wood
OPTICS
Original Optic Type:
Sixth Order
Private Aid:
No
USCG Access to Optics:
No
Entered by:
Entered Date:
Jan 15, 2018
The Halfmoon Shoal Lighthouse, built in 1854, was constructed at the same time as the lighthouses at Redfish Bar and Clopper's Bar, as part of a combined effort to better light the heavily trafficked Galveston Bay. Originally, the lighthouse held a Sixth-Order Fresnel Lens 35 feet in the air over the bay. During the Civil War, the station experienced some damage, but due to its relatively low importance, it was not repaired until 1869. However, not long after these repairs were completed, a steamship rammed the substructure, bending several screwpiles. The lighthouse was eventually overhauled and repaired once more, and back in operation by 1870. It operated mostly without incident until 1900, when the infamous Hurricane of 1900 struck Galveston in September of that year. A British freighter, moored nearly 10 miles away, was struck by a Norwegian freighter driven out of control by the storm. The British freighter was sent hurling into the storm, and only stopped when it passed directly over the Halfmoon Shoal Lighthouse, pounding it into the sand. The keeper was never found.
In 1902, rather than rebuild the entire station, the USLHB placed a lens-lantern on pilings 50 yards from the old lighthouse site.