Frying Pan Shoals Light, Maritime lighthouse in Brunswick County, North Carolina, United States.

Frying Pan Shoals Light is a steel framework lighthouse 32 miles (51 km) off the coast of North Carolina in the Atlantic Ocean. The construction stands on four massive steel legs above the water and contains several levels with living quarters and a lantern at the top.

A lightship patrolled the shoals from 1854 before the steel tower was built in 1964 and staffed year-round by a four-person crew. Automation came in 1979, and the station was decommissioned in 2004 as GPS made it obsolete. The Coast Guard then sold it at online auction: a $515,000 bid in 2009 fell through, and in August 2010 it went for $85,000 to a private buyer.

The name comes from the shallow underwater sandbars shaped like a frying pan that threatened ships for centuries. Science teams work here regularly and use the tower as a floating research base for ocean and weather studies.

Travel is only possible with private boats or helicopters as there are no regular ferry connections. Visits are only possible by prior arrangement and require a certain level of fitness because of the steep ladders between levels.

During Hurricane Florence in 2018, an Explore.org camera on the tower showed the American flag being torn to shreds as the storm approached. Livestream viewers, not the Coast Guard, gave the flag the name Kevin. After the storm it was recovered and auctioned to raise money for the Wilmington Red Cross.