“The visitor of a lightship cannot fail to
be struck with its admirable condition, and with the fine appearance of its
crew (Photo 841).
Sun-tanned and
weather-beaten, they are models of sailors:
frank, self-reliant, unassuming, obedient, nimble, vigorous, and
resolute. (Photo 842 – Repairs aboard
Osprey in 1905)
They seem well-contented with their lot, and
if they complain at all, it is of the quantity and quality of their
provisions.
The ration of bread (seven pounds a week)
is not quite sufficient for hearty men, and I confess, from my own experience,
that the sharp air to which they are exposed is well adapted to whet ones
appetite.
When they are at sea, their food is
supplied; when on shore, they receive instead one shilling and three-pence a day.
Their wages are fifty-five shillings per month; the master receives £80
per annum.
Two men at a time are charged with the care
of the lamps, the third being on shore; one of these two performs for a month
the functions of a cook. Formerly, if
we may believe public rumour, the lightship crews, isolated by continental
tempests which rendered the sea impracticable, have been reduced to the
extremest necessities, have even perished of hunger.
To prevent the recurrence of such
calamities, a steamboat or a good stout sailing-vessel regularly visits the
lightship once a month. In the worst
weather the communication is never interrupted for a longer period than six
weeks, and the stock of provisions is always sufficient to last the crew for
even a longer time”.
‘Lighthouses and Lightships’ by
W.H. Davenport Adams.
Some of the
ships in the CIL/NLI photographs are equipped with fog horns, but some still
have the fog bell on the foredeck (Photo 843).
By 1905 some were also equipped
with an underwater or submarine bell as sound carries further underwater than
in air. An example can be seen hanging
over the side on a chain.
I suppose many
warning devices were invented and tried, including a submarine ‘horn’ (Photo 844)
and a weird American device which looks as
though it uses the hull as a sounding board (Photo 845). The effect on the
ship’s crew must have been rather startling!
All these photographs are © Commissioners for Irish Lights and courtesy of The
National Library of Ireland.
David
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