Deactivated 1945 Construction square wooden house Automated 1932 | Foundation Screw-pile Focal height 42 ft (13 m) | |
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Year first constructed 1860 (first house)1883 (second house) Similar Pass Christian Light, East Pascagoula River Light, Horn Island Light, Cat Island Light, Ship Island Light | ||
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 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. In 1932 it was automated, and in 1945 the house was removed and replaced by a skeleton tower on the same foundation. This tower was damaged by the hurricanes of 2005 and was discontinued in 2007.