A lightvessel, or lightship, is a ship that acts as a lighthouse. They are used in waters that are too deep or otherwise unsuitable for lighthouse construction.[1] Although some records exist of fire beacons being placed on ships in Roman times, the first modern lightvessel was located off the Nore sandbank at the mouth of the River Thames in London, England, and placed there by its inventor Robert Hamblin in 1734. Lightships have since become largely obsolete; being largely replaced by lighthouses as construction techniques advanced, and by large automated navigation buoys.[1]

Lightship Finngrundet, now a museum ship in Stockholm. The day markers can be seen on the masts.
Fehmarnbelt Lightship, now a museum ship in Lübeck
Bürgermeister O´Swald II was the world's largest manned lightship, the last lightship at position Elbe 1. In the picture on a visit to Ystad 12 July 2017.

Construction

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Former Belgian lightship West-Hinder II, now a museum ship in Zeebrugge
 
Some lightships, like this one in Amsterdam, were also equipped with foghorns.

The most important element of lightship design is a tall mast upon which to mount the light. Initially, these lights consisted of oil lamps that were run up the mast and could be lowered for servicing, while later vessels carried fixed lamps which were serviced in place. As they became available, Fresnel lenses were used, and many vessels housed them in smaller versions of lighthouse lanterns. Some lightships had two masts, with the second housing a reserve beacon, in case of the main light's failure.

Initially, lightship hulls were constructed of wood, shaped like the small merchant ships of the time, but this proved unsatisfactory for a permanently anchored ship, so the shape of the hull evolved to reduce rolling and pounding. As iron and steel hulls were popularized, they became used in lightvessels, and the advent of steam and diesel power led to self-propelled and electrically lit designs. Earlier vessels had no propulsion systems and had to be towed to and from their positions.

Much of the ship was taken up by storage for lamp oil and other supplies, as well as crew accommodations. The crew's primary duty was to maintain the light; other tasks included keeping records of passing ships, observing the weather, and occasionally performing rescues.

In the early 20th century, some lightships were fitted with warning bells mounted on their structure or lowered into the water, to warn of danger in poor visibility and to permit a crude estimation of the lightship's location relative to the approaching vessel. Tests conducted by Trinity House found that sound from a bell submerged some 18 feet (5.5 m) could be heard at a distance of 15 miles (24 km), with a practical range in operational conditions of one to three miles (1.6 to 4.8 km).[2][3]

Mooring

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Lightship Portsmouth (LV-101) shows its mushroom anchor. It can be seen at downtown Portsmouth, Virginia, and is a part of the Naval Shipyard Museum.

Holding the vessel in position was an important aspect of lightvessel engineering. Early lightships used fluke anchors, which are still in use on many contemporary vessels, though these anchors are prone to dragging, making their performance unsatisfactory in rough seas.

Since the early 19th century, lightships have used mushroom anchors, named for their shape, which typically weigh 3 to 4 tons. The first lightvessel equipped with one was a converted fishing boat, renamed Pharos, meaning lighthouse, which entered service on September 15th, 1807, near Inchcape, Scotland with an anchor weighing 1.5 tons.[4] The introduction of cast iron anchor chains in the 1820s improved their effectiveness dramatically, with the rule of thumb being 6 feet (1.8 m) of chain for every foot of water.

Appearance

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LV-11 (originally British lightship Trinity House) is docked in Rotterdam, Netherlands, as Breeveertien serving as a restaurant
 
The North Carr Lightship showing a large foghorn

As well as the light, which operated both at night and in fog from one hour before sunset to one hour after sunrise, early lightvessels were equipped with day markers at the tops of masts, which were the first objects seen from an approaching ship. These markers were primarily red and occasionally white, and their designs varied. Filled circles or globes, as well as pairs of inverted cones were the most common designs among them.

 
United States lightship Huron circa 1922

For visibility purposes, most later lightships had bright red hulls that displayed the name of the station in white, upper-case letters; relief light vessels displayed the word RELIEF instead. Some vessels had hulls coloured for specific purposes. For example, the Huron Lightship was painted black since she was assigned the black buoy side of the entrance to the Lake Huron Cut. From 1854 until 1860, the lightvessel that operated at Minots Ledge, Massachusetts, had a light yellow hull, to increase contrast between the blue-green seas and the hills behind it.

Lightvessel service

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British lightships

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Calshot Spit lightship on display at the Ocean Village marina, Southampton. The ship has since been moved to the Solent Sky museum, also in Southampton.
 
Breaksea Light Vessel following a refit at Swansea in 1978.

David Avery and Robert Hamblin in 1731 placed the earliest British lightship at The Nore near the mouth of the River Thames. This was a private venture that operated profitably and without the need for government enforcement of payment for lighting services.[5]

Further vessels were placed off Norfolk in 1736, at Owers Bank in Sussex in 1788, and at the Goodwin Sands in 1793.[6]

Over time, Trinity House, the public authority charged with establishing and maintaining lighthouses in England and Wales, crowded out[colloquialism] the private light vessels. Trinity House is now responsible for all the remaining lightvessels England and Wales, of which there are currently eight unmanned lightvessels and two smaller light floats.[7]

In the 1930s, "crewless lightships" were proposed as a way to operate a light vessel for six to twelve months without a crew.[8]

The first lightvessel conversion to solar power was made in 1995, and all vessels except the '20 class' have now been converted. The '20 class' is a slightly larger type of vessel that derives its power from diesel electric generators. Where a main light with a visible range in excess of 20 nautical miles (37 km) is required, a '20 class' vessel is used, as the main light from a Trinity House solar lightvessel has a maximum range of 19 nautical miles (35 km).

Hull numbers: 19, 22, 23 and 25 (the 20 class); 2, 5, 6, 7, 9, 10, 17 (solar lightvessels); and LF2 and LF3 (solar lightfloats).

American lightships

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Lightship Columbia, WLV-604

History

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The first United States lightship was established at Chesapeake Bay in 1820, and the total number around the coast peaked[colloquialism] in 1909 with 56 locations marked. Of those ships, 168 were constructed by the United States Lighthouse Service and six by the United States Coast Guard, which absorbed it in 1939. From 1820 until 1983, there were 179 lightships built for the U.S. government, and they were assigned to 116 separate light stations on four coasts (including the Great Lakes).[9]

 
Lightship #51 at Sandy Hook, New Jersey, as it appeared in the 1890s.

The first United States lightships were small wooden vessels with no propelling power. The first United States iron-hulled lightship was stationed at Merrill's Shell Bank, Louisiana, in 1847. Wood was still the preferred building material at the time because of lower cost and ability to withstand shock loading. Wooden lightships often survived more than 50 years in northern waters where the danger of rotting was reduced. Lightvessel 16 guarded Sandy Hook and Ambrose stations for more than 80 years; she had both an inner hull and an outer hull with the space between filled with salt to harden the wood and reduce decay. Several lightships built with composite wood and steel hulls in 1897 proved less durable than either wood or steel. The first modern steel lightship in United States service was lightvessel 44 built in 1882. One of the last United States wooden hulled lightships built, lightvessel 74, went into service at Portland, Maine, in 1902. The first United States lightships with steam engine propulsion were built in 1891 for service on the Great Lakes where seasonal ice required prompt evacuation of light stations to avoid destruction of the lightships.[10]

The official use of lightships in the United States ended on March 29, 1985, when the United States Coast Guard decommissioned its last such ship, the Nantucket I. Many lightships were replaced with Texas Towers or large navigational buoys – both of which are cheaper to operate than lightvessels. In fact, lighthouses often replaced lightships.[11]

Naming and numbering

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The naming and numbering of American lightships is often confusing. Up to and through the Civil War lightships were identified by name, usually that of the station where they served. As they were moved from station to station, however, the keeping of records became hopelessly tangled.[colloquialism] Therefore, in 1867 all existing lightships were given numbers by which they would be permanently identified, and the station at which they were presently serving was painted on their sides, to be changed as needed. Lightships held in reserve to serve in place of those in dock for maintenance were labeled "RELIEF".[12] Surviving lightships are commonly taken to be named according to these labels, but for instance the "Lightship Chesapeake" actually served at two other stations as well as being used for examinations, and last served at the Delaware Light Station. In another case, the LV-114 was labeled "NEW BEDFORD", though there has never been such a station.[13] In an attempt to sort out the early lightships, they were assigned one or two letter designations sometime around 1930; these identifications do not appear in early records, and they are to some degree uncertain.[12]

There are three different and overlapping series of hull numbers. The Lighthouse Service assigned numbers beginning with "LV-" and starting from 1; however, not all numbers were used. When the Coast Guard took over the lighthouse service, all existing lightships were renumbered with "WAL-" prefixes, beginning with "WAL-501". In 1965 they were renumbered again, this time with "WLV-"; however in this case the numbers given were not sequential. Given that only six vessels were constructed after the Coast Guard takeover, the "LV-" series numbers are most commonly used.

Surviving American lightships

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It is estimated that there are 15 United States lightships left today. Among them:

German lightships

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FS3 at position German Bight
 
FS3 in Wilhelmshaven

There are currently three identical unmanned German lightvessels in service, named FS1, FS3 and FS4. The initialism FS is short for Feuerschiff, which means lightvessel in German. Two of them are normally located at:

  1. 54°10.8′N 007°27.5′E / 54.1800°N 7.4583°E / 54.1800; 7.4583 (GB) German Bight (GB in charts and notices, G—B on vessels)[26][27]
  2. 54°09.9′N 006°20.7′E / 54.1650°N 6.3450°E / 54.1650; 6.3450 (GW/EMS) German Bight Western Approach (GW/EMS)[28][29]

Both positions have the same characteristics:

All three ships are operated by the Waterways and Shipping Office Wilhelmshaven and can be seen in the harbour of Wilhelmshaven during maintenance.

Russian lightships

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Lightship Nekmangrund (1898)

In Russia, lightships have been documented since the mid 19th century. The lightvessel service was subordinated to the Russian Hydrographic Office and most of the lightships under it were in the Baltic Sea. In the early 1900s there were about ten lightships in the Russian sector of the Baltics. Among these the following may be mentioned:

Yelaginsky, located on the Yelagin Channel – later moved to the Petrovsky Channel and renamed, Nevsky in the middle of the main channel to St. Petersburg, and Londonsky on Londonsky Shoal off Kotlin Island on the approach to Kronstadt.[30] Other Baltic lightships were located further to the West, with Werkommatala by Primorsk (Koivisto) harbour, Lyserortsky at the entrance of the Gulf of Finland, and Nekmangrund over the treacherous shoals off Hiiumaa Island's NW shore, known as Hiiu Madal in Estonian.[31]

Another well-known lightship was Irbensky of the Soviet Union era. It was the next-to-last Russian lightship. Having been located in the Baltic in the 1980s,[32] it was briefly renamed Ventspilssky while serving near Ventspils port in the Latvian Socialist Soviet Republic.

The last Russian lightvessel in service was Astrakhansky-priyomniy, of the same class as Irbensky. Until 1997 she was marking the deepwater channel leading to Astrakhan harbour while it was doing service in the Caspian Sea.[33]

Other countries

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Lightship CLS4 Carpentaria at wharf close to the ANMM, Sydney

Lost lightships

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Because lightvessels must remain anchored in specific positions for the majority of their time at sea, they are more at risk of damage or destruction. Many lightships have been lost in hurricanes.[35]

United States
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  • J. A. Froude, influential English historian, in 1884 famously used the metaphor of lightships cut from their moorings and freely adrift to describe the thrilling uncertainty of industrial and cultural revolution.[40]
  • Lightship, a 1934 novel by Archie Binns.
  • Men of the Lightship, a 1940 British propaganda film produced during World War II.
  • The Lightship, a translation of the 1960 short story Das Feuerschiff by Siegfried Lenz.
  • The Lightship, a 1985 film adapted from the Lenz novel, with Robert Duvall and Klaus Maria Brandauer.
  • The Lightship, a 1963 West German film adapted from the Lenz novel, with James Robertson Justice.
  • Lillie Lightship: A fictional lightship from the children's television series TUGS.
  • Lightship, a 2007 children's picture book by Brian Floca. A Richard Jackson Book: Atheneum Books for Young Readers. Simon & Schuster Children's Books A Junior Library Guild Selection. ISBN 1-4169-2436-1.

See also

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References

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  1. ^ a b Flint, Willard (1993). A History of U.S. Lightships (PDF). United States Coast Guard. Retrieved 2008-07-18.
  2. ^ Bowen, J. P. (1946). "Lighthouses". In Pendred, Loughan (ed.). The Engineer's Year-Book for 1946 (52 ed.). London: Morgan Brothers. p. 656.
  3. ^ "THE SUBMARINE BELL RIVALS JULES VERNE; Deep Under Water, It Sends Warnings in Fog and Storm. A TEST OF THE INVENTION Through the Signal's Receiver the Throb of an Unseen Steamship's Screw Could Be Heard". The New York Times. 7 June 1906. Retrieved 21 February 2019 – via NYTimes.com.
  4. ^ Cadbury, Deborah (2003). Seven Wonders of the Industrial World. Fourth Estate. pp. 79. ISBN 9780007163045.
  5. ^ Candela, Rosolino A. and Vincent J. Geloso (September 2018) "The lightship in economics", Public Choice, Vol. 176, Issue 3–4, pp. 479–506.
  6. ^ Marcus, G.J. (1975). Heart of Oak: A Survey of British Sea Power in the Georgian Era. Oxford University Press. pp. 53–54. ISBN 0192158120.
  7. ^ Aids to Navigation Archived 2008-08-28 at the Wayback Machine, Trinity House, accessed 02-09-08
  8. ^ "Crewless Lightship Is New Flying Dutchman" Popular Mechanics, December 1932
  9. ^ "Maritime Heritage Program - National Park Service". www.nps.gov. Retrieved 21 February 2019.
  10. ^ White, Richard D., Jr., LT USCG "Destination Nowhere - Twilight of the Lightship" United States Naval Institute Proceedings March 1976 pp.67-68
  11. ^ a b "Clarke Home - Central Michigan University". www.cmich.edu. Retrieved 21 February 2019.
  12. ^ a b "Early U.S. Lightships". United States Coast Guard. Retrieved 2008-07-16.
  13. ^ "Lightship New Bedford LV 114/WAL 536". Lighthousefriends.com. 2010-05-23. Archived from the original on 2012-10-04.
  14. ^ "1904 Lightship: No. 83, Swiftsure". Northwest Seaport. Archived from the original on 20 May 2016. Retrieved 7 May 2016.
  15. ^ "Lightship Ambrose". South Street Seaport Museum. Retrieved 7 May 2016.
  16. ^ "Lightship Portsmouth". Lightship Portsmouth Museum. City of Portsmouth, Virginia. Retrieved 7 May 2016.
  17. ^ Sellman, John J. Martin Reef: Lightship to Lighthouse. Cedarville, MI: Les Cheneaux Historical Association, 1995.
  18. ^ Wagner, John L., Chronology of Michigan lightship and lighthouses Beacons Shining in the Night, Clarke Historical Library, Central, Michigan University.
  19. ^ "Michigan Government on Huron Lightship". Retrieved 21 February 2019.
  20. ^ "Nantucket Lightship/LV-112". Nantucket Lightship/LV-112. United States Lightship Museum, Inc. Retrieved 7 May 2016.
  21. ^ "Lightship Frying Pan". Lightship Frying Pan. Retrieved 7 May 2016.
  22. ^ "LV116 Chesapeake". Historic Ships in Baltimore. Archived from the original on 21 May 2016. Retrieved 7 May 2016.
  23. ^ "Lightship Overfalls (LV-118)". Lightship Overfalls (LV-118). Overfalls Foundation. Retrieved 7 May 2016.
  24. ^ "Lightship Columbia". Columbia River Maritime Museum. Archived from the original on 17 April 2016. Retrieved 7 May 2016.
  25. ^ "Nantucket Lightship". Nantucket Lightship. Retrieved 7 May 2016.
  26. ^ "Feuerschiff German Bight". www.baken-net.de. Retrieved 21 February 2019.
  27. ^ "OpenSeaMap - The free nautical chart". map.openseamap.org. Retrieved 21 February 2019.
  28. ^ "UFS TW/EMS". www.baken-net.de. Retrieved 21 February 2019.
  29. ^ "OpenSeaMap - The free nautical chart". map.openseamap.org. Retrieved 21 February 2019.
  30. ^ "Lightships in Russia". www.plavmayak.ru. Retrieved 21 February 2019.
  31. ^ "Плавучий маяк "Nekmangrund"". diving.ee. Archived from the original on 8 October 2016. Retrieved 21 February 2019.
  32. ^ "Irbensky Lightship". www.plavmayak.ru. Retrieved 21 February 2019.
  33. ^ "Astrakhanskiy lightship". www.plavmayak.ru. Retrieved 21 February 2019.
  34. ^ Carpentaria, An Unmanned Lightship - ANMM Website (accessed 2017-01-10)
  35. ^ "U.S. Coast Guard Historical Bibliography on Lightships". Retrieved 21 February 2019.
  36. ^ "40.672184, -74.016706". Google Maps. Retrieved 21 February 2019.
  37. ^ Vogel, Michael N. and Paul F. Redding Maritime Buffalo, Buffalo History, Lightship LV 82. Archived 2012-05-28 at the Wayback Machine
  38. ^ "Historic Light Station Information and Photography: Michigan". United States Coast Guard Historian's Office. Archived from the original on 2017-05-01.
  39. ^ "LV-6 history, U.S. Coast Guard". Retrieved 21 February 2019.
  40. ^ "A Critical Sudy of the Literary Works of J. A. Froude with Special Reference to the Novels, the Essays, and the Biography of Carlyle". Retrieved 4 February 2024.

Further reading

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  • United States Coast Guard, Aids to Navigation, (Washington, DC: U. S. Government Printing Office, 1945).
  • Price, Scott T. "U. S. Coast Guard Aids to Navigation: A Historical Bibliography". United States Coast Guard Historian's Office.
  • Putnam, George R., Lighthouses and Lightships of the United States, (Boston: Houghton Mifflin Co., 1933).
  • Wright, Larry; Wright, Patricia (2011). Lightships of the Great Lakes. Ontario. p. 146. ISBN 9780987815101.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
  • Clark, Liam. Light in the darkness - a history of lightships and the people who served on them. (Amberley, 2016) ISBN 9781445646589
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