Lightvessels in Ireland

Last updated January 26, 2024

Lightvessels in Ireland describes any lightvessel or light float previously stationed off the coast of Ireland. The Commissioners of Irish Lights are responsible for the majority of marine navigation aids around the whole of the island of Ireland.

Lightvessels

Guillemot: built 1921/23 – sold 1968 – set in concrete as the Kilmore Quay Maritime Museum retains much original equipment and fittings. Scrapped during 2011. http://www.wexfordcameraclub.com/cgi-bin/yabb2/YaBB.pl?num=1300478453 Archived 30 August 2012 at the Wayback Machine
Kittiwake: built 1955 – Currently sold and docked in Dublin. There is a superbuoy in its place. It was removed from station in 2009.^{[ citation needed ]}^[1]
Osprey: built 1953/55 – sold 1975 – now known as Le Batofar, a nightclub/pub moored on the Seine in Paris^[2]
Petrel: built 1913/15 – sold 1968 – club house for Down Cruising Club in Ballydorn ^[3]
Puffin Lightvessel , Roche's Point, Cork – washed away in 1896

Name	Built	By	Where	Length	Breadth	Depth	Frame	Decks	Cost £	Withdrawn	Fate	Notes^[4]
Palmer's Light	1735	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	1768		Replaced by Poolbeg Lighthouse
Richmond	1806	—	—	—	—	—	Oak	Oak, teak and elm	1,500	1826	Broken up
Seagull	1824	W. Roberts	Milford Haven	67	20	9½	Oak	Oak, teak and elm	1,659	1864	Sold	First purpose-built lightvessel
Star	1825	W. Roberts	Milford Haven	67	20	9	Oak	Oak, teak and elm	1,841	1855	sold
Relief	1826	W. Roberts	Milford Haven	67	20	9½	Oak	Oak, teak and elm	1,841	1867	Sold
Brilliant	1832	Brady's	Dublin	67	20	9½	Oak	Oak, teak and elm	1,983	1867	Sold
Seagull II	1853	Charles Hill & Sons	Bristol	82	21	11	Oak	Oak, teak and elm	3,651	1867	Sold.
Petrel	1854	Charles Hill & Sons	Bristol	82	21	11	Oak	Oak, teak and elm	3,800	1867	Sold.
Brilliant II	1856	Wheeler	Cork	82	21	11	Oak	Oak, teak and elm	3,200	1913	Sold.
Star II	1857	Wheeler	Cork	82	21	11	Oak	Oak, teak and elm	3,200	1862	Sold.
Star III	1862	Charles Hill & Sons	Bristol	91	21	10	Oak	Oak, teak and elm	4,189	1911	Sold and scrapped.
Relief II	1863	Charles Hill & Sons	Bristol	91	21	10	Oak	Oak, teak and elm	4,189	1925	Sold.
Gannet	1865	Charles Hill & Sons	Bristol	91	21	10	Oak	Oak, teak and elm	4,189	1928	Sold and scrapped.	when stationed at DAUNT, run into by Largo Bay, in 1884
Comet	1867	J & W Dudgeon	Cubitt Town, London	91	21	10	Composite ship Wrought iron	Teak	5,750	1905	Sold and scrapped.
Shamrock	1867	Walpole, Webb & Bewley	Dublin	96	21	10	Oak	Oak, teak and elm sheathed with muntz metal.	5,125	1936	Sold	day markers were introduced
Osprey	1868	Walpole, Webb & Bewley	Dublin	96	21	10	Wood	Wood	5,125	1915	Sold.
Albatross	1875	Fletcher & Farnall, Millwall	London	91	21	10	Wood	Wood	5,625	8 September 1902	Salvaged and sold.	Run down and sunk on Kish by RMS Leinster.
Cormorant	1878	Victoria Shipbuilding Co	Passage West, Cork	91	21	11	Iron	Two thicknesses of 3-inch teak, sheathed with muntz metal	7,500	1942	Salvaged and sold.	Renamed Lady December and moored at Hoo, Near Rochester, Kent.
Torch	1881	Milford Haven Co	Milford Haven	91	21	11	Iron	Two thicknesses of 3-inch teak, sheathed with muntz metal	8,100	1945	Sold and scrapped.
Puffin	1887	Schlesinger Davis & Co	Wallsend	91	21	11¼	composite	composite	6,000	8 October 1896	Salvaged, beached at Rushbrooke, scrapped on beach.	Sank during storm on Daunt, 8 October 1896, crew of 7 lost.
Shearwater	1894	Allsup & Sons	Preston	96	22⅔	11¾	Steel sheathed with teak	Teak sheathed with muntz metal;	7,900	1955	Sold and scrapped.	watertight bulkhead
Guillemot	1894	Allsup & Sons	Preston	96	22⅔	11¾	Steel sheathed with teak	Teak sheathed with muntz metal;	7,900	28 March 1917	Sunk by a German submarine	crew survived
Kittiwake	1898	Allsup & Sons	Preston	96	24	12	Steel sheathed with teak	Teak sheathed with muntz metal;	7,900	1956	Sold and scrapped.	first to have an engine to work the windlass and the first fitted with oil engines for the siren
Seagull	1901	Allsup & Sons	Preston	96	24	12	Steel sheathed with teak	Teak sheathed with muntz metal;	7,900	28 March 1917	Sunk by a German submarine	Crew survived
Fulmar	1904	J. Reid	Glasgow	96	23	12¼	Steel	Iron	6,600	1964	Sold for scrap	Five watertight bulkheads
Comet II	1904	J. Reid	Glasgow	96	23	12¼	Steel	Iron	6,740	1965	Became Radio Scotland	Crew rescued by RNLB Mary Stanford 1936
Penguin	1910	Dublin Dockyard	Dublin	100	24	12¼	Steel	Iron	7,230	1966	renamed Hallowe'en, as a Youth Adventure Sea Training Vessel	1995 Maritime Museum at Inveraray Pier
Tern	1912	L. Hawthorn & Co	Leith	102	24	13¼	Steel	Iron	7,420	1967	Sold and scrapped	Wireless
Petrel	1915	Dublin Dockyard	Dublin	102	24	13¼	Steel	Iron	10,310	1968	Club House for Down Cruising Club, Strangford Lough	now privately owned
Guillemot	1923	Cran & Somerville	Leith	102	24	12½	Steel	Steel	17,700	1968	now Wexford Maritime Museum	Set in concrete at Kilmore Quay. Scrapped in 2011.
Albatross	1925	H. Robb Ltd	Leith	102	24	13¼	Steel	Iron	15,650	1970	sold to Scouting Association of Ireland	now privately owned in Arklow
Gannet	1954	Philip and Son	Dartmouth	134	25	15	Steel	Steel	95,200	still in service	as an automatic light float
Osprey	1955	Philip & Son	Dartmouth	134	25	15	Steel	Steel	98,100	1975	Sold	Moored on the Seine, Paris as the Batofar Restaurant
Shearwater	1955	Philip & Son	Dartmouth	134	25	15	Steel	Steel	98,100	1976	Sold for scrap
Kittiwake	1959	Philip & Son	Dartmouth	134	25	15	Steel	Steel	124,128	2005	Sold	moored beside O2 (Point Depot), Dublin
Skua	1960	Philip & Son	Dartmouth	134	25	15	Steel	Steel	124,128	2005	Rotting at the North Quay of Arklow Harbour	The "Blue Planet" charity are seeking restoration funds^[5]
Cormorant	1964	Charles Hill & Sons	Bristol	133	26½	19½	Steel	Steel	145,750	1983	Sold

Lightvessel stations

Coningbeg, off the Saltee Islands, 14 km from the County Wexford coast, was established in 1824 and replaced on 26 February 2007 with a "Superbuoy"^[6]

Gallery

Lightvessel on the Blackwater station, c.1890-1909
LV Osprey, now a Parisian nightclub^[7] moored on the Seine, Paris
LV Kittiwake, moored on the Liffey, Dublin
Oil painting by Bernard Finnigan Gribble of the rescue of the crew of LV Comet by RNLB Mary Stanford 1936
A model of LV Petrel.
Note the day marker on the mast.
LV Guillemot 'berthed' in concrete at Kilmore Quay as a maritime museum.

Related Research Articles

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. Although some records exist of fire beacons being placed on ships in Roman times, the first modern lightvessel was off the Nore sandbank at the mouth of the River Thames in London, England, placed there by its inventor Robert Hamblin in 1734. The type has become largely obsolete; lighthouses replaced some stations as the construction techniques for lighthouses advanced, while large, automated buoys replaced others.

The history of the many lightvessel stations of Great Britain goes back over 250 years to the placement of the world's first lightship at the Nore in the early 18th century.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">United States Lighthouse Service</span> Former agency of the United States government

The United States Lighthouse Service, also known as the Bureau of Lighthouses, was the agency of the United States Government and the general lighthouse authority for the United States from the time of its creation in 1910 as the successor of the United States Lighthouse Board until 1939 when it was merged into the United States Coast Guard. It was responsible for the upkeep and maintenance of all lighthouses and lightvessels in the United States.

The Spurn Lightship is a lightvessel, previously anchored in Hull Marina in the British city of Kingston upon Hull, England. It was relocated to a shipyard in October 2021 for restoration, prior to becoming a display together with the Arctic Corsair.

The Commissioners of Irish Lights, often shortened to Irish Lights or CIL, is the body that serves as the general lighthouse authority for Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland and their adjacent seas and islands. As the lighthouse authority for the island of Ireland it oversees the coastal lights and navigation marks provided by the local lighthouse authorities, the county councils and port authorities.

The Lightship Finngrundet is a lightvessel built in 1903 and now a museum ship moored in Stockholm, Sweden.

United States lightship <i>Huron</i> (LV-103) 1920 lightvessel, now a museum ship in Port Huron, Michigan, United States

The United States lightship Huron (LV-103) is a lightvessel that was launched in 1920. She is now a museum ship moored in Pine Grove Park, Port Huron, St. Clair County, Michigan.

Ocean Village is a mixed-use marina, residential, business and leisure development on the mouth of the River Itchen in Southampton, on the south coast of England. Originally the site of Southampton's first working docks, the "Outer Dock" which opened in 1842, the area was redeveloped in 1986 and became the leisure marina it is today. After experiencing a period of stalled development with the late-2000s recession, Ocean Village underwent another series of major, multimillion-pound redevelopment projects. Current recreational facilities include a cinema, cafes, wine bars and restaurants.

Sevenstones Lightship is a lightvessel station off the Seven Stones Reef which is nearly 15 miles (24 km) to the west-north-west (WNW) of Land's End, Cornwall, and 7 miles (11 km) east-north-east (ENE) of the Isles of Scilly. The reef has been a navigational hazard to shipping for centuries with seventy-one named wrecks and an estimated two hundred shipwrecks overall, the most infamous being the oil tanker Torrey Canyon on 18 March 1967. The rocks are only exposed at half tide. Since it was not feasible to build a lighthouse, a lightvessel was provided by Trinity House. The first was moored near the reef on 20 August 1841 and exhibited its first light on 1 September 1841. She is permanently anchored in 40 fathoms (73 m) and is 2.5 miles (4.0 km) north-east (NE) of the reef. Since 1987, the Sevenstones Lightship has been automated and unmanned.

Whiterock is a small village in County Down, Northern Ireland. It is within the townland of Killinakin, in the civil parish of Killinchy and historic barony of Dufferin, on the western shore of Strangford Lough, near to the village of Killinchy. It is in the Ards and North Down Borough. It had a population of 355 people in the 2011 Census.

LV Osprey entered service as a Light Vessel for the Commissioners of Irish Lights in 1955. On 9 May 1975 she was sold to the New Ross Harbour Commissioners for use as a floating oil berth, pilot station and harbour store. In March 1998 she was sold again and moored on the Seine.

United States lightship <i>Frying Pan</i> (LV-115)

Frying Pan (LV-115) is a lightvessel moored at Pier 66a in the Chelsea neighborhood of Manhattan in New York City. It served at Frying Pan Shoals, off Cape Fear in North Carolina, for over 30 years.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">LANBY</span>

LANBY, a contraction of Large Automatic Navigation BuoY, was a type of floating navigational aid designed to replace lightships. Now obsolete, they were originally made in the USA by General Dynamics and adapted by Hawker Siddeley Dynamics for use in British waters in the early 1970s. They consisted of a circular hull with a raised central structure containing a 360° light and foghorn, and sometimes also a radio beacon. They were monitored from onshore and designed to run for extended periods without repair. Their running costs were estimated to be as low as 10% of those of lightships.

RNLB Mary Stanford was the Ballycotton Lifeboat from 1930 to 1959. Ballycotton is on Ireland's southern coast, a trade route to the Americas. There are many dangerous rocks and shallows with on-shore prevailing winds. Ballycotton has a long tradition of life-saving. Mary Stanford had 41 rescues, or "shouts", and saved 122 lives. She performed the notable Daunt Lightship rescue on 11 February 1936. After her withdrawal from service she lay for some years in a backwater of Dublin's Grand Canal Dock, but has now been returned to Ballycotton and restored.

The Fehmarnbelt Lightship was built in 1906–1908 at Brake on the River Weser and entered service in 1908 as the lightship Außeneider. Until 1945 it was moored at the position known as Außeneider guarding the estuary of the river Eider on the North Sea coast. In the years from 1956 to 1965 it was a reserve lighthouse in the Baltic Sea and then from 1965 to 1984 it was positioned under its present name in the Fehmarn Belt.

The United States lightship Barnegat (LV-79/WAL-506), is located in Camden, Camden County, New Jersey, United States. The lightship was built in 1904 and was added to the National Register of Historic Places on 29 November 1979.

Lightship Overfalls (LV-118) was the last lightvessel constructed for the United States Lighthouse Service before the Service became part of the United States Coast Guard. She is currently preserved in Lewes, Delaware as a museum ship.

Lightship 2000 was a restored old red lightvessel with a cafe and chapel on board situated in Cardiff Bay. During the redevelopment of Cardiff Bay, the Cardiff Bay Development Corporation called together the churches in Cardiff to discuss the role of Christianity in the Bay. Lightship 2000 was the result of these discussions.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Grays Reef Light</span> Lighthouse in Michigan, United States

The Grays Reef Light is a lighthouse located in northeastern Lake Michigan, 3.8 miles (6.1 km) west of Waugoshance Island in Bliss Township, Michigan. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2005.

References

↑ "JHLPHOTOGRAPHY". irishseashipping.com. Archived from the original on 14 February 2009.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: unfit URL (link)
↑ Klempau, Iris. "Irish Lightvessel Osprey – Lightship Batofar". www.feuerschiffseite.de. Archived from the original on 8 May 2008. Retrieved 31 October 2009.
↑ Klempau, Iris. "Lightship PETREL". www.feuerschiffseite.de. Archived from the original on 20 August 2009. Retrieved 31 October 2009.
↑ "Lightships in the Irish Lighthouse Service". Commissioners of Irish Lights. Archived from the original on 1 January 2009. Retrieved 1 November 2009.
↑ "Blue Planet Charity". Lightship Skua, promoting renewaible energy. Archived from the original on 8 November 2009. Retrieved 28 January 2010.
↑ "End of service for the Coningbeg". Enniscorthy Echo. 15 March 2007. Retrieved 31 October 2009.^{[ permanent dead link ]}
↑ "Beat the Boat: Batofar". www.batofar.org. Archived from the original on 10 December 2009. Retrieved 1 November 2009.

External links

Lightships in the Commissioners of Irish Lights service
Lightships from all over the world Archived 5 June 2007 at the Wayback Machine

This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.

[1] "JHLPHOTOGRAPHY". irishseashipping.com. Archived from the original on 14 February 2009.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: unfit URL (link)

[2] Klempau, Iris. "Irish Lightvessel Osprey – Lightship Batofar". www.feuerschiffseite.de. Archived from the original on 8 May 2008. Retrieved 31 October 2009.

[3] Klempau, Iris. "Lightship PETREL". www.feuerschiffseite.de. Archived from the original on 20 August 2009. Retrieved 31 October 2009.

[4] "Lightships in the Irish Lighthouse Service". Commissioners of Irish Lights. Archived from the original on 1 January 2009. Retrieved 1 November 2009.

[5] "Blue Planet Charity". Lightship Skua, promoting renewaible energy. Archived from the original on 8 November 2009. Retrieved 28 January 2010.

[6] "End of service for the Coningbeg". Enniscorthy Echo. 15 March 2007. Retrieved 31 October 2009.^{[ permanent dead link ]}

[7] "Beat the Boat: Batofar". www.batofar.org. Archived from the original on 10 December 2009. Retrieved 1 November 2009.

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v t e Lighthouses in Ireland
Lighthouses are shown in anti-clockwise sequence beginning from the north and proceeding west, south, east, and back to north.
County Donegal	Inishowen Inishtrahull Fanad Dunree Buncrana Tory Island Arranmore Ballagh Rocks Rathlin O'Birne Rotten Island St. John's
County Sligo	Blackrock Lower Rosses Metal Man Oyster Island
County Mayo	Broad Haven Eagle Island Blackrock Blacksod Bay Achillbeg Inishgort
County Galway	Slyne Head Cashla Bay Eeragh Straw Island Inisheer
County Clare	Blackhead Loop Head Kilcredaun Head Corlis Point Front Corlis Point Rear Scattery Island
County Kerry	Little Samphire Island Inishtearaght Cromwell Point Valentia Rear Valentia Front Skelligs
County Cork	Bull Rock Ardnakinna Castletown Directional Light Roancarrig Sheep's Head Mizen Head Crookhaven Copper Point Fastnet Rock Baltimore Beacon Galley Head Old Head of Kinsale Charlesfort Spit Bank Roche's Point Ballycotton Youghal
County Waterford	Mine Head Ballinacourty Point Dunmore East
County Wexford	Duncannon Hook Head Tuskar Rock
County Wicklow	Wicklow Head
County Dublin	Muglins Poolbeg North Bull North Bank Kish Bank Baily Howth Harbour Rockabill
County Louth	Dundalk
County Down	Green Island Vidal Bank Haulbowline St. John's Point Angus Rock Donaghadee Mew Island
County Antrim	Blackhead Chaine Memorial The Maidens Rathlin East Rue Point Rathlin West
Coastal landforms of Ireland Commissioners of Irish Lights Lightvessels in Ireland List of islands of Ireland List of lighthouses in Ireland Irelandportal Northern Irelandportal

v t e Lightvessels
List of lightvessels
Stations	Five Fathom Bank light station Lightship Ambrose Lightship Nantucket
Lists	Ireland United Kingdom United States
Museums	Ambrose (1907) Barnegat Carpentaria Chesapeake Columbia Finngrundet Fladen Gedser Rev Huron Lightship 2000 (Helwick) Nantucket (1936) Overfalls Portsmouth Relief (1950) Spurn Swiftsure
Related	Lanby Light float Lighthouse Men of the Lightship Trinity House Relief (1904)
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