The lightships named Nantucket that stood guard over the New York / Europe shipping lane for over 100 years have gone through several incarnations, with LV112 being the last surviving ship in a general orginal state - now moored in East Boston. Further reading. The last ship, Nantucket II is the one you often see moored in Boston Harbor (Rowes Wharf), but it has been rescued and fully refurbed as a pleasure boat now. Would be a hoot.
Anyhow, nice potted history below about life on a lightship, including tricks like using a wet table cloth so plates don't slide around. Or when headed back to MV after a month or more at sea the men would call ahead to the Leeside Tavern (now Leeside Bar & Grill) and tell the bartender to get some cash so they could cash their checks, and then attempt to drink all the beer in Woods Hole...
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Love a good Lightship. Baltimore's got the Chesapeake in the Inner Harbor and there's the Ambrose docked at the South Street Seaport in NYC. That part of Eastie where the Nantucket is docked gets some great light at sunset and the Nantucket is very photogenic.
I've got nothing but anecdotal evidence to back this, but that color red used to paint the lightships, I've read, when faded, is the "original" Nantucket Red.
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