Merrill Shell Bank Light
{{Infobox lighthouse
| name = Merrill Shell Bank Light
| image = Merrill shell bank light.JPG
| caption = undated photograph of Merrill Shell Bank Light (USCG)
| location = Mississippi Sound south of Pass Christian
| coordinates = {{coord|30.2425|N|89.2489|W|region:US_type:landmark|display=inline,title}}{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=bw5AAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA242|pages=242, 243|title=List of Lights and Fog Signals on the Atlantic and Gulf Coasts of the United States|date=March 1, 1907|publisher=Government Printing Office|accessdate=2016-02-19}}
| yearbuilt = 1860 (first house)
1883 (second house){{cite uscghist|MS|accessdate=2009-02-26}}
| yearlit =
| automated = 1932
| yeardeactivated = 1945
| construction = square wooden house
| focalheight = {{convert|42|ft|m|abbr=on}}
| admiralty =
}}
The Merrill Shell Bank Light was a screw-pile lighthouse which once stood on its eponymous shoal in the Mississippi Sound, west of Cat Island and south of Pass Christian, Mississippi. It was replaced by a skeleton tower on the same foundation.
History
The shoal was first marked by the hull of the former revenue cutter McLane serving as a lightship beginning in 1847, but this was replaced by a screw-pile light in 1860. The light was extinguished by the Confederates but was undamaged, and was re-lit in 1863. The house was damaged by fire in 1880, and was utterly destroyed in 1883 by another fire; it was rebuilt the same year.{{cite book|title=America's Lighthouses|first=Francis Ross|last=Holland, Jr.|page=145|publisher=Dover|year=1988|isbn=9780486139272|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=j43Iw8LsWmUC&pg=PA145|accessdate=2016-02-19}} In 1932 it was automated, and in 1945 the house was removed and replaced by a skeleton tower on the same foundation.{{cite web|url=http://www.foghornpublishing.com/digest/database/uniquelighthouse.cfm?value=941|title=Merrill's Shell Bank Light|website= Lighthouse Explorer Database|publisher=Foghorn Publishing|accessdate=2016-02-20}} This tower was damaged by the hurricanes of 2005 and was discontinued in 2007.Local Notice to Mariners: District 8: Gulf. January 17, 2007. United States Coast Guard: p. 25.
References
{{reflist}}
{{Lighthouses of Mississippi}}
{{authority control}}
Category:Lighthouses in Mississippi
Category:Lighthouses completed in 1860
Category:1860 establishments in Mississippi
Category:Buildings and structures demolished in 1883
Category:Buildings and structures completed in 1883
Category:Buildings and structures demolished in 1945
Category:Buildings and structures in Harrison County, Mississippi