Lightvessel stations of Great Britain

The world's first lightvessel was the result of a business partnership between Robert Hamblin, a former barber and ship manager from King's Lynn, and David Avery, an investor.[1] In 1730 the pair secured a government licence to moor a ship, with a prominent light affixed to it, to serve as a navigation aid at the Nore in the Thames mouth. Hamblin and Avery intended to profit from the vessel by collecting a fee from passing merchant vessels. The licence was opposed by Trinity House, which considered that it possessed a monopoly on construction and maintenance of navigation aids in British waters. After extensive legal dispute the licence was revoked in 1732 and Trinity House assumed direct responsibility for the proposed lightship; Hamblin and Avery were granted nominal lease revenues in exchange.[2] The Nore lightship commenced operations in 1734.[3]

A second lightvessel was placed at the Dudgeon station, off the Norfolk coast, in 1736, with others following at Owers Bank (1788) and the Goodwin Sands (1793).[3] While the Admiralty opposed the 1802 Sunk lightvessel, claiming it would aid enemy ships, it soon afterwards placed three vessels of its own to protect the fleet during the Napoleonic Wars; they were taken over by Trinity House a few years later.[4] Many others were commissioned during the nineteenth century, especially off England's east coast and the approaches to the Thames, where there were many treacherous shoals.

Lightship LV86, on station at the Nore from 1931 to 1974

Following their acquisition of the Admiralty ships, all English and Welsh lightvessels were maintained by Trinity House, with the exception of the four vessels in the approaches to the River Mersey, which were maintained by the Mersey Docks and Harbour Board until 1973, and those in the Humber Estuary, which were the responsibility of the Humber Conservancy Board.

Unlike lightships in the United States and other parts of the world, Trinity House lightvessels were usually unpowered and needed to be towed to or from their position. In order to act as effective daymarks they were painted red, with the station name in large white letters on the side of the hull, and a system of balls and cones at the masthead for identification. The first revolving light was fitted to the Swin Middle lightvessel in 1837: others used occulting or flashing lights. White lights were preferred for visibility though red and very occasionally green (as with the Mouse lightvessel) were also used.[12]

It is likely that photographs on various websites showing named lightvessels, may appear to be structurally different to comparable records on other web pages due to the fact that the particular vessel might have been withdrawn from a station after photographing and being towed away for drydocking, overhaul and possible direction to a new station and therefore a different lightvessel would have been substituted at the named station on withdrawal of the previous lightvessel. This has been most evident on those vessels that have been withdrawn and shipped to another port at home or abroad to become a floating museum, floating restaurant, 'clubhouse', etc. Scarweather LV and Helwick LV have for instance changed their rôle in their lifetime and their appearance on various records varies considerably.

Lightvessels in Scotland and the Isle of Man were maintained by the Northern Lighthouse Board, with the exception of those maintained by the Clyde Lighthouse Trust and by the Dundee Port Trustees. Of the NLB vessels, only the North Carr was crewed.

Name	Position	Operator	Sea	Vessels employed	Notes
Abertay	Gaa Sand 🌍	Trustees of the Harbour of Dundee	Firth of Tay		Established 1877. First lightship in Europe to be fully automated, 1971; discontinued 1984.[79]
Bahama Bank	Bahama Bank 🌍	Northern Lighthouse Board	Ramsey Bay	Bahama Bank (from 1848), Bahama Bank[80] (from Sep 1879)	Replaced by Maughold Head Lighthouse in 1914.
Cath Sgeir	Isle of Gigha	Northern Lighthouse Board	Sound of Jura		Uncrewed "lightboat". Established 2 June 1905[81]
Clyde	Kilbrannan Sound 🌍	Northern Lighthouse Board	Firth of Clyde	North Carr	Wartime station; established c. 1944[82]
Garmoyle	Port Glasgow	Clyde Lighthouse Trustees	River Clyde		Established 1868. Replaced by buoy in 1905[83]
Garvel		Clyde Lighthouse Trustees	River Clyde	Garvel	Original crewed lightship replaced 1882 by unattended, gas lit vessel built by Blackwood & Gordon.[84] Removed 1915
North Carr	North Carr	Northern Lighthouse Board	Firth of Forth	North Carr (from 1887 until 1889), North Carr (from 1889 until 1933), North Carr (from 1933 until 1975)
Skeirinoe	The Minch	Northern Lighthouse Board	Sea of the Hebrides		Uncrewed "lightboat" stationed near Scalpay;[85] established 1906.
Otter Rock	Otter Rock 🌍		North Channel		Scottish Maritime Museum in Irving has a small scale coloured General Arrangement (1923) from Builder (Clyde Shipbuilding and Engineering Co. Ltd. hull #249, 60 ft [183 m]).

• 
  The Bahama Bank Lightship, date unknown
• 
  North Carr lightship in 1988

Breaksea Light Vessel following a refit at Swansea in 1978.

Scarweather

Former Welsh lightships were maintained by Trinity House. Remaining substitute navigational aids still are.

Name	Position	Operator	Sea	Vessels employed	Notes
Breaksea	🌍	Trinity House	Bristol Channel	Trinity[86]	Replaced by a LANBY, then a lightfloat and currently a lighted buoy with RACON radar facility

• Helwick (off Worms Head)
• Milford Haven Lightvessel
• Scarweather (Swansea Bay; replaced with buoy 1989)
• St Gowan (off Pembrokeshire coast). The station once carried the name St Govan, i.e., spelling change

• List of lightvessels of Great Britain
• List of lighthouses in the United Kingdom
• Lightvessels in Ireland
• Trinity House
• Men of the Lightship
• Light float

Media related to Lightships of the United Kingdom at Wikimedia Commons