New Bedford Lightship
LV 114/WAL 536
New Bedford, Ma. A disasterous waste of taxpayers money |
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The so called New Bedford Lightship never was used for that purpose in New Bedford.
It was built at a cost of $228,212.00 in 1930, in Portland Oregon.
Length: 133.3 feet (ca. 40.60 m) -
Beam: 30 feet (ca. 9.14 m) -
Draught: 13 feet (ca. 3.96 m) Displacement: 630 tons
The City of New Bedford got it in 1975.
In 1976, it was refurbished for the New Bedford bicentennial celebration.
After that, it was pretty much left to rot.
Despite that on May 30, 1980 it was added to the National Historic Register as a National Landmark. |
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Still it was ignored and on May 31, 2006 the New Bedford Lightship keeled over and sank at the dock.
So now the real fiasco begins.
New Bedford paid out $212,000 to get it up and clean it.
Then...on Sept 2006 the city of New Bedford posted it for sale on Ebay.
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That didn't work out so in the end despite all of the money invested in it the ship was sold for $10,000 in May of 2007.
To top it off, on June 30, 2007 it was chopped up and sold for scrap.
All one can say is "Why?".
Someone could have lived on it and maintained it well as a houseboat for $10,000. |
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