Albumen photograph of the iron light house constructed on Ship Island Shoal opposite the Mississippi Gulf Coast in 1857

As issued.. Good; image with some fading but otherwise clean.. Mounted albumen print meas. appx. 258 x 188 mm. The mount bearing the neatly hand written legend: Iron Light House for Ship Island Shoals, Gulf of Mexico, constructed by J P Morris Co. Port / Richmond Iron Works Philadelphia --- William B Franklin L.H. Engineer --- 1857

A commemorative record (unique?) of an iron light house appx. 8 stories tall. There is nothing that remains on the island to show that it ever existed. The Ship Island Shoal is appx. 7 miles long and opposite Gulfport and Biloxi off the Mississippi Gulf Coast. William Buel Franklin was educated at West Point, accompanied the Kearny Expedition west (1845), and took part in the Mexican-American War. Upon his return he taught for several years at West Point and was then appointed by the War Dept. as Army Engineer Secretary of the Light House Board where he was responsible for constructing several light houses along the Atlantic coast. In 1859 he was appointed to oversee the construction of the Capitol dome. After the Civil War he was employed by the Colt Fire Arm Co. There appears to be no record of the Ship Island Shoal Light House. DAB VI, 601-602.