Dragged off station in moving ice February 4, 1918, Cross Rip Lightship (LV-6) was last seen moving out the eastern entrance of Nantucket Sound by Head Keeper William Grieder of Great Point Lighthouse, Nantucket Island, who alerted the USLHS tender Azalea which searched for the ship to no avail.
In the same freeze of February 1918, four lightships were stuck in pack ice. Two were able to steam out on their own power and one was towed free from the ice, but LV-6 was too far out in the ice for any rescue vessels to reach her. The Captain, E.B. Phillips, was ashore and unable to get aboard. In command was First Mate Henry F. Joy, who walked across seven miles of sea ice to Nantucket Village in order to ask permission to abandon ship, but he was ordered by the local USLHS District Officer to return to his ship and maintain station.
LV-6 was seen with its ensign upside down, a sign of distress, when it was pulled out to sea with the ice floes. The ship and her crew were lost at sea.