Listing Lewes Lightship? Just add water

Dave Shook and Pat Lynch had a recipe to right the ship.

The Lightship Overfalls had been listing to its starboard side since before Christmas. It was only getting worse.

“We had a one-degree slope tilt in it Jan. 2. We’ve gotten up to six or seven degrees,” Lynch said.

Shook, president of the Overfalls Foundation, and Lynch, a board member, needed a quick fix so they can open the ship to visitors for this season.

The listing is caused by silt that flows down the Lewes-Rehoboth Canal and builds up in the Overfalls’ slip as the tide goes in and out, according to Shook. He said the weight of the 4,000-pound mushroom anchor on the starboard side is also pulling the ship down.

The recipe? Call the Lewes Fire Department. Ask for a pumper truck. Add water. Watch the big red ship stir.

Anthony Esposito of Lewes FD brought the truck filled with 750 gallons of water March 13.

He hooked up a hose, ran it up the gangway, through a door, down to the lower deck and into one of the ship’s 10 ballast tanks on the port side.

Once the water started flowing, the ship started tilting the other way.

A total of 700 gallons of water added about 6,000 pounds, which got the Overfalls moving over to the other side.

It all happened at high tide. But, when the water receded again, Shook and Lynch found themselves back to square one.

“It worked when she was in a high tide, which is a step in the right direction, but she is still listing 5% to starboard in low tide,” Shook said a few days later.

He said they are hoping the Overfalls will settle back into the mud, altering the divot that is causing the starboard list.

If it doesn’t, Shook said they might have the fire department come back to add another 700 gallons of water to another one of the ship’s ballast tanks.

“The long-term fix is dredging, but if we can avoid that, if this sits flat at low tide, it doesn’t make any sense to do anything else because this was free,” Shook said.

Shook said another long-term solution might be to extend the berm on the shoreline so the water maintains momentum going by and doesn’t drop silt at the slip.

Lynch said once the list is crossed off the list, volunteers will give the ship a good cleaning before the season begins.

Follow the progress of the listing lightship on the live feed at overfalls.org.