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The Lightship Frying Pan
Rummage through this sunken ship, but leave your scuba gear at home
Category Museums and Collections, Unique Collections, Intriguing Environs
Upper Deck: Gangway during renovations
From 1930 to 1965, the Lightship Frying Pan, a floating lighthouse, guarded ships from the danger of running aground on the shoals 30 miles off of the coast of Cape Fear, North Carolina.
A total of 179 lightships were built for the US Coast Guard (originally the US Lighthouse Service) between 1820 and 1983. By 1985 all of the lightships that had faithfully protected 116 locations in US waters had been replaced by much cheaper navigational buoys or off shore light towers. Most of the entire fleet was scrapped for parts and materials. The Frying Pan is one of only fifteen lightships that remain. Most are in museum collections, like the Ambrose at South Street Seaport in Manhattan, a few are privately owned and kept for personal use.
For all the ships the Frying Pan saved from the watery depths of the sea, it is ironic that she herself sank while docked in the Chesapeake Bay. After spending three years submerged, the Frying Pan was resurfaced by salvors and sold to it's current owners. The ship was emptied of tons of shells and silt and the exterior of the ship was repaired for seaworthiness. However, the interior has been left rusted and barnacle encrusted to acknowledge her unique and curious past. Among the relics remaining aboard the ship are a cabinet full of jars containing small preserved creatures and a piano.
The Frying Pan is currently docked next to a bar that shares its name and can be easily boarded and explored by the bar's patrons.
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- Hours May-October: 12a-12pm
- Website fryingpan.com
- Address West 26th Street @ 12th Ave., Pier 66 Maritime Complex, New York City, New York, United States
- Cost Free
Frying Pan is docked at Pier 66 Maritime which is three blocks north of Chelsea Piers and located on Pier 66 @ W26th Street in the Hudson River Park. <strong>Public Transportation:</strong> Take M23 crosstown bus west to Chelsea Piers which is the last stop and walk 3 blocks or 3 piers north. You can catch the M23 from C/E lines on 8th Ave, the 1/9 lines on 7th, the F and Path Trains on 6th, the N/R on Broadway, or the 5,6 over on the east side. <strong>Bike:</strong> Take bike-way in the Hudson River Park to Pier 66 <strong>Car or Taxi:</strong> Exit Westside Highway on W26th Street Closest Parking Garage is in The Chelsea Piers Sporting Complex Please note that drop off of passengers in the Hudson River Park is PROHIBITED
Comments
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Anonymous
September 6, 2011
I've been to the Fryingpan -
I highly recommend The Frying Pan! The best thing about the boat is how shockingly accessible everything is. If you want to lie down on a rusty cot or sit in one of the moldy mismatched couches or play the piano, no one's there to stop you! (Just be careful, since no one's there to prevent you from falling down the dark staircases, either.)
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