Ambrose Light Rebuilt in New Location

Ambrose Light, a tower that has stood watch eight nautical miles offshore in the vessel approach lanes to the Port of New York and New Jersey since 1968, was replaced by a modern tower 1.5 miles southeast of the old tower's position. Offshore Specialty Fabricators, Inc., a marine construction company based in Houma, La., performed the two-week installation of the new and removal of the old light towers. The original square Texas oil rig-style tower - a familiar beacon to mariners for 31 years - was struck and damaged beyond repair Oct. 5, 1996 by tanker vessel Aegeo. Damage to the tower included removal of a 15-ft. section in one of its four legs. Temporary repairs were performed to stabilize the structure until the $4.5 million funding was available for the tower's replacement. The new tower was built in 95 ft. of water, 2,900 yards seaward of the previous tower, to create more space for inbound and outbound vessel traffic. The old Ambrose Light was a manned Light Station with a crew of six until it was automated in 1988. The new Ambrose Light is a fully automated aid-to-navigation operating on solar power. The beacon flashes once every five seconds at 60,000 candlepower and can be seen more than 18 nautical miles to sea.