Whaleback marks the approach to the harbor of Portsmouth, New Hampshire, and has often been referred to as a New Hampshire lighthouse, but this rugged granite tower is clearly is in Maine waters by about 1500 feet. The jagged ledge known as Whaleback lurks menacingly on the northeast side of the entrance to the Piscataqua River, approximately a half -mile south of Gerrish Island, part of the town of Kittery. The ledge, which is completely underwater at high tide, is, in fact, a continuation of the southern point of Gerrish Island.

Portsmouth, on the Piscataqua River, was established as an important port for shipbuilding and trade before the American Revolution, and the first federal shipyard in the United States was established on the Kittery side of the Piscataqua River in 1800. Wrecks occurred around the mouth of the river with sickening regularity.

One of the earliest known shipwrecks at Whaleback Ledge occurred in February 1733, when a schooner ran onto the rocks and suffered damage that eventually sank the vessel. Two of the five men on board drowned; the Boston Newsletter reported that the other three, “tho’ much chilled with the Cold,” were likely to survive.