Our HL club, NELL, had their Outing this weekend in Portsmouth, NH, and took a 5 hour cruise to see 5 lights, passing right by Whaleback which is in the harbor/river right off the Portsmouth shore and very close to Portsmouth Harbor Light, aka Fort Point Light, aka New Castle Light.

I asked the owner of the boat company who owns Whaleback. She said Maine definitely owns it, because of the boundary agreed upon going up the river and harbor. I have read in various books that Maine owns it; then another says NH. Right close to it is a small island with a lifeboat saving station on it, which is going to be restored. It is owned my Kittery --- Maine. Yet Harbour Lights has NH inscribed on its miniature of this lighthouse.

Those of you who do very serious definitive reading on lighthouse history, what is your answer and please quote your source to back up your answer. It would be nice to get a final answer.

After our cruise, we had a talk, tour, and climb at Portsmouth Harbor lighthouse, by a retired professor who now volunteers as an auxillary Coast Guard person and leads the tours. He has done extensive research and said that the true name of this light is not Whaleback, but rather Whale's Back. Have any of you seen this anywhere within your readings? He has gone back to primary source material - old Coast Guard records etc. to write up his talk.

From a curious lady lightkeeper!

Perhaps a little background from an earlier thread when this subject was brought up before would be helpful.

http://216.46.163.97/forums/Forum4/HTML/000055.html

Saint WackoPaul'
Keep the Flame

I too have been wondering which is correct, NH or ME. Can anyone find out what the folks at Harbour Lights used as their authority when deciding to put Whaleback in NH? When I looked at the old thread on this subject the majority of responses were that it was in Maine. However, if the states of New Hampshire and Maine haven't been able to resolve this can we?
foghornkeeper

Looking at the Internet Index of Lighthouse Links, there are two links to pages about Whaleback. One says the ownership is in dispute between NH and ME. The other says the lighthouse is owned by the town of Kittery Maine.

Here's an old etching, said to be an original wood engraving, from the 1860's.



The caption at the bottom reads "Whale's Back"