And here's the rest of the story....
The Columbia River Lightship, LV-50, was constructed in 1892 and had sails, but no engine for propulsion, so when the anchor chain broke in a gale on November 28, 1899, the crew had a difficult time handling the ship with only sail power and thus had to eventually beach the lightship. The Lighthouse Service tried to refloat the lightship for 16 months without success. A plan was eventually devised where a house moving company, yes a house moving company would build a marine railway, the lightship would be jacked into a cradle and then moved on the marine railway 700 yards overland as noted by Paul. I would guess this was the only lightship or any ship of similar size that was ever moved by house movers.
For more information, click on the link below for an article written in 2004 by Jim Claflin for the Lighthouse Digest. There are also 3 interesting photos showing 3 stages of the move. A unique and interesting story in the history of lightships.
http://www.lighthousedepot.com/lite_digest.asp?action=get_article&sk=02127&bhcd2=1259813061 Another good job Paul, your turn.
mg
