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The Forgotten History of Lightships
A relic of a bygone era (PHOTOS)
For a two-hundred-year period, lightships could be found bobbing in the world’s most popular waterways. Lightships were essentially floating lighthouses, and they are one of those things that look odd when you see them and have fallen into one of history’s many cracks. They have all but been forgotten. They occupy an interesting space between lighthouses, which have become iconic and romanticized, and buoys, which are mundane and instantly recognizable. Lightships are neither. They have not been fondly remembered, and they are hardly recognizable. And I find that fascinating.
The earliest lightship was built by the British in 1734 and was parked in the Thames estuary. Lightships were built for dangerous places where lighthouse construction was impossible, infeasible, or too expensive to consider. Places where waters were too deep, coastlines too poor, or regions too remote were good candidates for lightships. Lightships had simple wooden hulls and tall masts. The earliest examples simply carried oil lanterns at the top of the masts. The lanterns were on pulleys and could be lowered for easy refilling.
