1913: The Completion of a Lighthouse Located Off the Jersey Shore

February 13, 1913

The Miah Maull Shoal Light off the coast of southern New Jersey was completed. This lighthouse is specifically located on the north side of the ship channel in Delaware Bay and southwest of the mouth of the Maurice River. 

The Miah Maull Shoal Light became the last offshore lighthouse to be built in Delaware Bay. The structure owes its distinctive name to Nehemiah Maull, a river pilot in the region during the 18^th century. In 1780, Maull lost his life while on board the ship that he planned to sail to England. The ship was wrecked on the then-unnamed shoal where the lighthouse can now be found. That shoal was named in memory of Maull (with his multi-syllabic first name shortened to Miah) and his longtime service on the Delaware Bay and other local waterways. 

Maull’s great-great-great-great-grandson Bryan C. Helm, who is a graduate of the U.S. Merchant Marine Academy and also a U.S. Navy reservist, carried on the family maritime tradition for many years. He did so by serving as port captain for the Delaware River & Bay Authority’s Cape May-Lewes Ferry system in the same part of the world where his ancestor once sailed.

Measuring 46 feet (14 meters) in height, the Miah Maull Shoal Light was added to the U.S. National Register of Historic Places in 1991. (The accompanying photo of the lighthouse was taken in 1933.)

Photo Credit: U.S. Coast Guard

For more information on the Miah Maull Shoat Light, please check out https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Miah_Maull_Shoal_Light