100 THE EVOLUTION OF THE LIGHTSHIP. 



Let me quote from W. J. Hardy, who, after making an elaborate study of the ques- 

 tion, pubHshed in his book, "Lighthouses," the following: 



"* * * in 1629 * * * persons petitioned the king for license to light 

 the Goodwin Sands. * * * After setting forth the dangers of the sands in 

 the usual terms, they state that they are ready, in order to warn vessels of those 

 dangers, to maintain at their own costs, 'a light upon the main' at or near the 

 Goodwins, 'whereby every meanly skilful mariner' could, on the darkest night, 

 safely pass the place of danger. * * * 'upon the main' must here mean the 

 main or open sea, especially as the words 'at or near the Goodwins' immediately 

 follow: that expression cannot refer to the mainland, 8 miles off at its nearest 

 point, for lights at the two Forelands were then already established, and the ex- 

 pression 'on the main' would not have been used if a tower built on the sand 

 had been intended. There is, I think, but one way of interpreting this * * * 

 that is, * * * for a floating light or lightship at the Goodwins." 



It is therefore fair to say that the first positive sea mark contemplated by the 

 English was the lightship, although the first Eddystone Lighthouse was fin- 

 ished in 1700, thirty years before the project which ultimately established the 

 lightship was put forward. 



By 1730 the work of lighting the coasts of England had been, to a great 

 extent, assumed by the well-known Trinity House Corporation. The introduction 

 of the lightship, however, is due to two men, Robert Hamblin and David Avery, 

 who were regarded by that body as mere adventurers. Hamblin obtained a patent 

 from the Crown in 1730 permitting him to establish lightships along the coast. 

 Unwisely, he proclaimed his intention of displacing all other sea marks with light- 

 ships, and the Trinity House looked upon his efforts as an infringement of its 

 privileges and opposed them with all means at its command. 



The result was a general cancellation of the Hamblin patent,, with excep- 

 tion of the rights to a few stations which he had already sold to Avery. By a 

 little diplomacy Avery obtained the good-will and co-operation of Trinity House, 

 and in 1732, at the east end of the Nore Sands in the estuary of the Thames, estab- 

 lished the first modern lightship. 



The characteristics of this vessel were those of a small fishing sloop (Plate 52). 

 Two small lanterns, burning oil with flat wicks, were carried at the extremities 

 of a yard. The light was dim at its best, and the lanterns were so defective that 

 the flame was frequently blown out in stormy weather. Then, too, the violent pitch 

 and roll of the vessel often snapped the lanterns bodily from their lashings, and the 

 vessel itself chafed its hempen moorings and broke them again and again. 



In spite of these defects the first lightship proved itself indispensable. A sim- 

 ilar vessel was stationed on the Dudgeon Shoal in 1736, and its lanterns were 

 especially arranged to distinguish it from the Nore. Thus it appears that the now 

 general use of characteristic lights for all beacons originated on board the light- 

 ship. 



