Having the only deep-water harbor between Mobile Bay and the Mississippi River, the island served as a vital anchorage for ships bearing explorers, colonists, sailors, soldiers, defenders and invaders. The French, Spanish, British, Confederate and Union flags have all flown over Ship Island.
French explorer Pierre Le Moyne d'Iberville charted Ship Island on 10 February 1699,[2] which he used as a base of operations in discovering of the Mississippi River. The island served as a point of immigration to French colonies in the New World. Some immigrants died upon arrival at Ship Island, and their bodies were burned in a furnace.
Ship Island's original brick and mortar 1853 lighthouse.Ship Island's 1886 wooden lighthouse. It was accidentally burned down in 1972 by campers.
In 1702, the island was named Ile aux Vaisseaux[2] (the French phrase for "Ship Island") due to its protected deepwater anchorage. After New Orleans was founded (1718) to the west, the island served as the principal port of entry from Europe for French colonists from 1720 until 1724. The island was given to Great Britain by France at the end of the Seven Years' War in 1763. In 1783, at the end of the American Revolution, Great Britain transferred the island to Spain.
The United States, as part of the Louisiana Purchase, claimed the island in 1810.
In the War of 1812, Admiral Sir Alexander Cochrane anchored between Ship Island and Cat Island with a fleet of fifty British warships and 10,000 soldiers in preparations for the Battle of New Orleans and the island was used as a launching point for British forces.
In 1849, the U.S. Navy anchored at Ship Island to discourage assembly of mercenaries on nearby islands for paramilitary invasion of Cuba.
In 1853, the island's first lighthouse was built. It was made of brick and mortar.
In 1858, Mississippi passed legislation that gave jurisdiction over the island to the United States government. After the war, Congress approved an ambitious plan to construct state-of-the-art masonry fortifications at strategic locations along the Atlantic and Gulf coasts, including Ship Island. Construction of a fort on the island began in 1859, and continued up to the Civil War when the Confederates named the uncompleted structure Fort Twiggs after Confederate General David E. Twiggs. The island later became a prison for Confederate prisoners of war,[3] and a base for the U.S. Second Regiment (Louisiana Native Guards led by Colonel Nathan W. Daniels), a unit composed of African-American soldiers. On July 9, 1861, a twenty-minute cannon exchange between Confederates in Fort Twiggs and the screw steamer USS Massachusetts occurred.[4]
In 1862, the fort was renamed Fort Massachusetts in honor of the Union warship which had seized the abandoned outpost. Construction on Fort Massachusetts was halted in 1866, although the fort was not fully completed.
The January 4, 1862, edition of Harper's Weekly describes Ship Island:
SHIP ISLAND was occupied by the advance-guard of General Butler's expedition on 3d December: The troops consisted of the 26th Massachusetts and 9th Connecticut Volunteers, under command of Brigadier-General Phelps. They left Massachusetts in the steamer Constitution; their embarkation was duly illustrated in Harper's Weekly at the time. On 3d inst., as we said, they arrived at their destination, landed, and occupied the island without molestation. It is understood that they are to be followed by other troops, on whose arrival operations will be commenced against Mobile or New Orleans, or both. The following account of Ship Island will, with our illustrations, enable our readers to understand the importance of the movement:
Ship Island is situated in longitude 89°W and a little north of latitude 30°N, and is the property of the State of Mississippi. It is about sixty miles [97 km] from New Orleans, nearly the same distance from the Northeast Pass, at the mouth of the Mississippi River, forty miles from Mobile, and ninety from Fort Pickens. It lies between Horn Island on the east and Cat Island on the west, and is distant about five miles [8 km] from each. Some ten or twelve miles [19 km] to the north, on the mainland of Mississippi, are the towns of Biloxi, Pascagoula, and Gulfport. These towns are favorite summer resorts for the wealthy planters and merchants of the Gulf States, and, in consequence of a bar off their shore, are now the places of refuge for rebel gun-boats.
Ship Island is somewhat undulating, and extends in a slight curve about seven miles [11 km] east-northeast and west-southwest. At West Point (the western end), where the fort is located, the island is little more than an eighth of a mile wide and is a mere sand spit, utterly barren of grass or foliage of any kind. This eastern end, or East Point, is about three-quarters of a mile in width and is well wooded with pine, cedar, and live-oak.
The whole island contains a fraction less than two square miles of territory. Excellent water can be obtained in unlimited supply by sinking a barrel anywhere on the place. The great advantage of this is too palpable to require comment.
The island possesses a very superior harbor, into which nineteen feet can be carried at ordinarily low water. It is situated north of the west end of the island. The anchorage, with water equal to the depth on the bar, is five miles long [8 km], and averages three and a quarter miles [5 km] in width. The harbor is safe for the most dangerous storms in the Gulf—those from the eastward, southward and eastward, and southward—and might be easily entered during these storms without a pilot if good light-houses were placed in proper positions. The rise and fall of the tide is only from twelve to fourteen inches [31-36 cm].
Accompanying Harper's Weekly January 4, 1862 illustration of Ship Island and Fort Massachusetts.FORT MASSACHUSETTS, of which we give an illustration, is thus described in the Herald letter:
This fort, which is situated on the sand spit at the extreme western end of the island, is nearly circular in shape, somewhat resembling a pear in form. As I have stated elsewhere, its construction was commenced by the Federal Government, and when in a state of considerable progress was burned by the rebels, who afterward rebuilt and then abandoned it. It is of brick and rendered bomb-proof by sand-bags placed five or six feet deep in front of the walls.
The rebels built eleven casemates, and our forces have built two more since they have occupied the fort. The casemates are bomb-proof. The fort is at present but one tier high. It is provided with Dahlgren's 9-inch [229 mm] shell guns of very heavy calibre and in perfect order, and they are hourly expecting sixteen more very heavy guns from Pensacola. Besides this, Captain Manning's battery has landed five of their steel rifled cannon, with the Sawyer projectile. There were six of these guns on board the Constitution, but unfortunately, one of them was lost overboard in removing them from the transport. It is hoped that they will be able to recover it, as a buoy floats right over the spot where it fell. —Harper's Weekly, January 1862
In 1880, the island was designated as the country's first quarantine station. The fort closed in 1903, and the quarantine station was placed on reserve status in 1916.
In 1886, a wooden lighthouse was built to replace the brick lighthouse erected in 1853, which was damaged by waves.
During World War II, the Coast Guard used the island for anti-submarine beach patrol. In 1942, the Army Air Corps used the quarantine station as a military recreation facility, as did Keesler Air Force Base in 1955.
In 1969, Hurricane Camille with its 30-foot (9.1 m) tidal surge cut Ship Island into two distinct islands, to form East Ship Island and West Ship Island. The gap was known as the Camille Cut.
Ship Island before (top) and after (below) Hurricane Katrina.
In 1972, the original 1886 wooden lighthouse was accidentally burned down by campers.
In 1998, Hurricane Georges washed away a mile of East Ship Island's beach.
In 1999, Friends of Gulf Islands National Seashore dedicated a commemorative reproduction of the 1886 wooden lighthouse.
In August 2005, Hurricane Katrina almost completely submerged East Ship Island. West Ship Island received most of the developed property damage as Katrina's 30-foot (9.1 m) tidal surge wiped out the visitor and employee facilities on the island, as well as the island's pier and boardwalk. These facilities included offices and sleeping quarters for National Park Service staff, public restrooms and showers, and the public concessions building. Fort Massachusetts received minimal damage and was soon reopened to the public. The pier and boardwalk were rebuilt as well. Temporary restrooms and a small concessions trailer were on the island while new facilities were rebuilt. The reproduction of the 1886 lighthouse was reduced to rubble.
In 2008, Ship Island was surveyed just 2 weeks after Hurricane Ike. Scientists had a difficult time finding the island. The eastern half of the island had completely disappeared, leaving only parts of the western half. It is unknown whether the island was eroded by Hurricane Ike, or if erosion occurred when Hurricane Gustav hit just 2 weeks earlier.[5]
In April 2009, the rebuilding of the island's ranger station, restrooms, visitor center and snack bar washed away by Hurricane Katrina began and was scheduled to be completed in the Fall of 2009. As part of this rehabilitation, parts of Fort Massachusetts damaged by Hurricane Katrina are also being repaired.[6]
In early 2019, the US Army Corps of Engineers completed the project to rejoin the two islands, eliminating Camille Cut.[1]
Ship Island (right) before (April 2001, bottom) and after (September 2005, top) Hurricane Katrina.
On the top of civil war era Fort Massachusetts on Ship Island.
Fort Massachusetts.
Entrance to Fort Massachusetts.
Activitiesedit
Today, Ship Island serves as a tourist destination. Activities include fishing, swimming, and tours of Fort Massachusetts.
Accessedit
Locations of West Ship Island & East Ship Island (center right), south of Biloxi (right-click to enlarge).
Ship Island is accessible through private or chartered boat. It is also accessible by a privately owned ferry boat company, Ship Island Excursions, running from Gulfport, Mississippi 12 miles (19 km) out to the island for a fee. Ship Island Excursions has been running boats to the island since before the National Park Service acquired the island. Today, they are an official Park Service Concession.
^Dean, Cornelia (2008-09-23). "After Hurricane Ike, Finding the Coastline Rearranged, Again". The New York Times. Retrieved 2010-05-23.
^"WLOX TV Biloxi". Wlox.com. Retrieved 28 July 2019.
"Ship Island People". Gulf Islands National Seashore. National Park Service. Retrieved 2006-05-03.
"Centuries of Change". Gulf Islands National Seashore. National Park Service. Retrieved 2006-05-03.
. NASA Earth Observatory. Archived from the original on 2005-09-15. Retrieved 2006-05-03.
External linksedit
Wikimedia Commons has media related to Ship Island (Mississippi).
Ship Island Excursions
Gulf Islands National Seashore - Official NPS site
February 15, 2024
ship, island, mississippi, ship, island, redirects, here, canadian, island, ship, island, newfoundland, labrador, this, article, needs, additional, citations, verification, please, help, improve, this, article, adding, citations, reliable, sources, unsourced, . Ship Island redirects here For the Canadian island see Ship Island Newfoundland and Labrador This article needs additional citations for verification Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources Unsourced material may be challenged and removed Find sources Ship Island Mississippi news newspapers books scholar JSTOR July 2019 Learn how and when to remove this template message Ship Island is a barrier island off the Gulf Coast of Mississippi one of the Mississippi Alabama barrier islands Hurricane Camille split the island into two separate islands West Ship Island and East Ship Island in 1969 In early 2019 the US Army Corps of Engineers completed the first stage of a project rejoining the two islands and recreating one Ship Island 1 Ship Island is the site of Fort Massachusetts built 1859 66 as a Third System fortification Part of the island is included in the Gulf Islands National Seashore Ship IslandAerial view of previously divided Ship Island looking east with West Ship Island in foreground Historical map of the changing geomorphology of Ship IslandShip IslandGeographyLocationGulf of MexicoCoordinates30 13 N 88 55 W 30 217 N 88 917 W 30 217 88 917ArchipelagoMississippi Alabama barrier islandsAdministrationUnited StatesStateMississippiCountyHarrison County Contents 1 History 2 Activities 3 Access 4 References 5 External linksHistory edit nbsp Fort MassachusettsHaving the only deep water harbor between Mobile Bay and the Mississippi River the island served as a vital anchorage for ships bearing explorers colonists sailors soldiers defenders and invaders The French Spanish British Confederate and Union flags have all flown over Ship Island French explorer Pierre Le Moyne d Iberville charted Ship Island on 10 February 1699 2 which he used as a base of operations in discovering of the Mississippi River The island served as a point of immigration to French colonies in the New World Some immigrants died upon arrival at Ship Island and their bodies were burned in a furnace nbsp Ship Island s original brick and mortar 1853 lighthouse nbsp Ship Island s 1886 wooden lighthouse It was accidentally burned down in 1972 by campers In 1702 the island was named Ile aux Vaisseaux 2 the French phrase for Ship Island due to its protected deepwater anchorage After New Orleans was founded 1718 to the west the island served as the principal port of entry from Europe for French colonists from 1720 until 1724 The island was given to Great Britain by France at the end of the Seven Years War in 1763 In 1783 at the end of the American Revolution Great Britain transferred the island to Spain The United States as part of the Louisiana Purchase claimed the island in 1810 In the War of 1812 Admiral Sir Alexander Cochrane anchored between Ship Island and Cat Island with a fleet of fifty British warships and 10 000 soldiers in preparations for the Battle of New Orleans and the island was used as a launching point for British forces In 1849 the U S Navy anchored at Ship Island to discourage assembly of mercenaries on nearby islands for paramilitary invasion of Cuba In 1853 the island s first lighthouse was built It was made of brick and mortar In 1858 Mississippi passed legislation that gave jurisdiction over the island to the United States government After the war Congress approved an ambitious plan to construct state of the art masonry fortifications at strategic locations along the Atlantic and Gulf coasts including Ship Island Construction of a fort on the island began in 1859 and continued up to the Civil War when the Confederates named the uncompleted structure Fort Twiggs after Confederate General David E Twiggs The island later became a prison for Confederate prisoners of war 3 and a base for the U S Second Regiment Louisiana Native Guards led by Colonel Nathan W Daniels a unit composed of African American soldiers On July 9 1861 a twenty minute cannon exchange between Confederates in Fort Twiggs and the screw steamer USS Massachusetts occurred 4 In 1862 the fort was renamed Fort Massachusetts in honor of the Union warship which had seized the abandoned outpost Construction on Fort Massachusetts was halted in 1866 although the fort was not fully completed The January 4 1862 edition of Harper s Weekly describes Ship Island SHIP ISLAND was occupied by the advance guard of General Butler s expedition on 3d December The troops consisted of the 26th Massachusetts and 9th Connecticut Volunteers under command of Brigadier General Phelps They left Massachusetts in the steamer Constitution their embarkation was duly illustrated in Harper s Weekly at the time On 3d inst as we said they arrived at their destination landed and occupied the island without molestation It is understood that they are to be followed by other troops on whose arrival operations will be commenced against Mobile or New Orleans or both The following account of Ship Island will with our illustrations enable our readers to understand the importance of the movement Ship Island is situated in longitude 89 W and a little north of latitude 30 N and is the property of the State of Mississippi It is about sixty miles 97 km from New Orleans nearly the same distance from the Northeast Pass at the mouth of the Mississippi River forty miles from Mobile and ninety from Fort Pickens It lies between Horn Island on the east and Cat Island on the west and is distant about five miles 8 km from each Some ten or twelve miles 19 km to the north on the mainland of Mississippi are the towns of Biloxi Pascagoula and Gulfport These towns are favorite summer resorts for the wealthy planters and merchants of the Gulf States and in consequence of a bar off their shore are now the places of refuge for rebel gun boats Ship Island is somewhat undulating and extends in a slight curve about seven miles 11 km east northeast and west southwest At West Point the western end where the fort is located the island is little more than an eighth of a mile wide and is a mere sand spit utterly barren of grass or foliage of any kind This eastern end or East Point is about three quarters of a mile in width and is well wooded with pine cedar and live oak The whole island contains a fraction less than two square miles of territory Excellent water can be obtained in unlimited supply by sinking a barrel anywhere on the place The great advantage of this is too palpable to require comment The island possesses a very superior harbor into which nineteen feet can be carried at ordinarily low water It is situated north of the west end of the island The anchorage with water equal to the depth on the bar is five miles long 8 km and averages three and a quarter miles 5 km in width The harbor is safe for the most dangerous storms in the Gulf those from the eastward southward and eastward and southward and might be easily entered during these storms without a pilot if good light houses were placed in proper positions The rise and fall of the tide is only from twelve to fourteen inches 31 36 cm nbsp Accompanying Harper s Weekly January 4 1862 illustration of Ship Island and Fort Massachusetts FORT MASSACHUSETTS of which we give an illustration is thus described in the Herald letter This fort which is situated on the sand spit at the extreme western end of the island is nearly circular in shape somewhat resembling a pear in form As I have stated elsewhere its construction was commenced by the Federal Government and when in a state of considerable progress was burned by the rebels who afterward rebuilt and then abandoned it It is of brick and rendered bomb proof by sand bags placed five or six feet deep in front of the walls The rebels built eleven casemates and our forces have built two more since they have occupied the fort The casemates are bomb proof The fort is at present but one tier high It is provided with Dahlgren s 9 inch 229 mm shell guns of very heavy calibre and in perfect order and they are hourly expecting sixteen more very heavy guns from Pensacola Besides this Captain Manning s battery has landed five of their steel rifled cannon with the Sawyer projectile There were six of these guns on board the Constitution but unfortunately one of them was lost overboard in removing them from the transport It is hoped that they will be able to recover it as a buoy floats right over the spot where it fell Harper s Weekly January 1862 In 1880 the island was designated as the country s first quarantine station The fort closed in 1903 and the quarantine station was placed on reserve status in 1916 In 1886 a wooden lighthouse was built to replace the brick lighthouse erected in 1853 which was damaged by waves During World War II the Coast Guard used the island for anti submarine beach patrol In 1942 the Army Air Corps used the quarantine station as a military recreation facility as did Keesler Air Force Base in 1955 In 1969 Hurricane Camille with its 30 foot 9 1 m tidal surge cut Ship Island into two distinct islands to form East Ship Island and West Ship Island The gap was known as the Camille Cut nbsp Ship Island before top and after below Hurricane Katrina In 1972 the original 1886 wooden lighthouse was accidentally burned down by campers In 1998 Hurricane Georges washed away a mile of East Ship Island s beach In 1999 Friends of Gulf Islands National Seashore dedicated a commemorative reproduction of the 1886 wooden lighthouse In August 2005 Hurricane Katrina almost completely submerged East Ship Island West Ship Island received most of the developed property damage as Katrina s 30 foot 9 1 m tidal surge wiped out the visitor and employee facilities on the island as well as the island s pier and boardwalk These facilities included offices and sleeping quarters for National Park Service staff public restrooms and showers and the public concessions building Fort Massachusetts received minimal damage and was soon reopened to the public The pier and boardwalk were rebuilt as well Temporary restrooms and a small concessions trailer were on the island while new facilities were rebuilt The reproduction of the 1886 lighthouse was reduced to rubble In 2008 Ship Island was surveyed just 2 weeks after Hurricane Ike Scientists had a difficult time finding the island The eastern half of the island had completely disappeared leaving only parts of the western half It is unknown whether the island was eroded by Hurricane Ike or if erosion occurred when Hurricane Gustav hit just 2 weeks earlier 5 In April 2009 the rebuilding of the island s ranger station restrooms visitor center and snack bar washed away by Hurricane Katrina began and was scheduled to be completed in the Fall of 2009 As part of this rehabilitation parts of Fort Massachusetts damaged by Hurricane Katrina are also being repaired 6 In June 2010 containment booms encircled the island in an attempt to protect it from oil leaking from the Deepwater Horizon oil spill In early 2019 the US Army Corps of Engineers completed the project to rejoin the two islands eliminating Camille Cut 1 nbsp Ship Island right before April 2001 bottom and after September 2005 top Hurricane Katrina nbsp On the top of civil war era Fort Massachusetts on Ship Island nbsp Fort Massachusetts nbsp Entrance to Fort Massachusetts Activities editToday Ship Island serves as a tourist destination Activities include fishing swimming and tours of Fort Massachusetts Access edit nbsp Locations of West Ship Island amp East Ship Island center right south of Biloxi right click to enlarge Ship Island is accessible through private or chartered boat It is also accessible by a privately owned ferry boat company Ship Island Excursions running from Gulfport Mississippi 12 miles 19 km out to the island for a fee Ship Island Excursions has been running boats to the island since before the National Park Service acquired the island Today they are an official Park Service Concession References edit nbsp Mississippi portal a b Ship Island off Mississippi Coast is one island again Biloxi Sun Herald www sunherald com Archived from the original on 20 February 2019 Retrieved 17 January 2022 a b Hancock County Then and Now Hancock County Historical Society 2010 webpage HCHS Theresa Arnold Scriber Terry G Scriber Ship Island Mississippi Rosters and History of the Civil War Prison Jefferson NC McFarland amp Company 2012 ISBN 0 7864 6899 8 John D Winters The Civil War in Louisiana Baton Rouge Louisiana State University Press 1963 ISBN 0 8071 0834 0 pp 49 50 Dean Cornelia 2008 09 23 After Hurricane Ike Finding the Coastline Rearranged Again The New York Times Retrieved 2010 05 23 WLOX TV Biloxi Wlox com Retrieved 28 July 2019 Ship Island People Gulf Islands National Seashore National Park Service Retrieved 2006 05 03 Centuries of Change Gulf Islands National Seashore National Park Service Retrieved 2006 05 03 Hurricane Katrina Erodes the U S Gulf Coast NASA Earth Observatory Archived from the original on 2005 09 15 Retrieved 2006 05 03 External links edit nbsp Wikimedia Commons has media related to Ship Island Mississippi Ship Island Excursions Gulf Islands National Seashore Official NPS site Retrieved from https en wikipedia org w index php title Ship Island Mississippi amp oldid 1206124565, wikipedia, wiki, book, books, library,
