Having the only deep-water harbor between Mobile Bay and the Mississippi River, the island served as a vital anchorage for ships bearing explorers, colonists, sailors, soldiers, defenders and invaders.

The French, Spanish, British, Confederate and Union flags have all flown over Ship Island.

French explorer Pierre Le Moyne d'Iberville charted Ship Island on 10 February 1699,[2] which he used as a base of operations in discovering of the Mississippi River.

After New Orleans was founded (1718) to the west, the island served as the principal port of entry from Europe for French colonists from 1720 until 1724.

In 1858, Mississippi passed legislation that gave jurisdiction over the island to the United States government.

After the war, Congress approved an ambitious plan to construct state-of-the-art masonry fortifications at strategic locations along the Atlantic and Gulf coasts, including Ship Island.

On July 9, 1861, a twenty-minute cannon exchange between Confederates in Fort Twiggs and the screw steamer USS Massachusetts occurred.

During World War II, the Coast Guard used the island for anti-submarine beach patrol.

In 1999, Friends of Gulf Islands National Seashore dedicated a commemorative reproduction of the 1886 wooden lighthouse.

[5] In April 2009, the rebuilding of the island's ranger station, restrooms, visitor center and snack bar washed away by Hurricane Katrina began and was scheduled to be completed in the Fall of 2009.

In early 2019, the US Army Corps of Engineers completed the project to rejoin the two islands, eliminating Camille Cut.