Whilst not every dinghy cruising sailor can claim to be familiar with lighthouses and lightships there must have been many times when most of us have been glad to see the welcoming loom or beam from the many round our coasts. They are the responsibility of Trinity House. What follows is a potted guide to the history and present day function of that body.

The most well-known activity is the responsibility for all aids to navigation such as lighthouses, lightvessels, buoys and beacons. Trinity House, however, is also the pilotage authority for most of the major ports in the U.K., including London, Southampton and about forty others. They are also a charitable organization, helping mariners and their families who are in difficulties (financial or otherwise) and they have built numbers of houses in Kent to further this cause.

One could say, therefore, that the prime object of the corporation of Trinity House is the safety of shipping and the welfare of sailors.

Trinity House was incorporated in 1514 — formed from a benevolent body of a semi-religious nature which was in existence at that time. A Royal Charter was granted by Henry VIII on May 20th 1514 and authorised “our trewe and faithful subjects, the Shipmen and Mariners of this our Realm of England in honour of the blessed trinitie and St. Clement Confessor, to begyn of now and erecte and establish a Guild or brotherhood.... in the parish church of Deptford Stronde in the county of Kent.”

In 1573 the Trinity House coat of arms was granted, part of which is included in the fly of all red ensigns flown from all lighthouses and shore installations.

In 1594 the Lord High Admiral gave up the rights of beaconage and buoyage which were vested in him and these were transferred to Trinity House. It was many years, however, before all lighthouses etc. came under their control as many belonged to private individuals who had a right to collect tolls. These lights varied considerably in efficiency, but in 1836 Trinity House, aided by a state loan, was empowered to buy them out.

The pilotage responsibilities were more straightforward and by 1604 Trinity House had exclusive rights to licence pilots in the Thames and many other ports.

In fact, in the seventeenth century there were not many areas of maritime activity in which Trinity House did not have some interest or influence. It was their business to erect beacons, lay buoys, grant certificates to pilots, settle pilotage rates, examine and recommend Masters for the navy, sometimes to appoint British Consuls in foreign ports, and occasionally to act as auxiliary press gang!

They were also liable to serve the crown at sea. During the Spanish Armada incident the Master of Trinity House was ordered by the Lord Admiral to go with thirty sail of merchant ships to guard the mouth of the Thames. During the mutiny at the Nore in 1797 Trinity House removed or destroyed every beacon or buoy that could aid the mutineers, and in 1803 when a French invasion was imminent the corporation formed the Trinity House Volunteer Artillery to form a cordon of fully armed ships across the Thames. A number of these activities has now ceased, but the corporation still plays an active role in British maritime matters.

Nowadays, Trinity House has the sole power of erecting lights for general navigation, and the service is responsible for fixed and floating seamarks, and also for visual, audible and electronic aids to navigation. So far as numbers are concerned, they have 92 lighthouses, 21 light vessels and nearly 700 buoys, two thirds of which are lighted. Although some port authorities maintain sea marks within their own port limits, these are regularly inspected by Trinity House whose permission must be sought before any changes are made.

Trinity House also has responsibility for dealing with wrecks, with the exception of those occurring within local port limits and wrecks of H.M. ships.

The light vessels and offshore lighthouses have to be serviced by ships and there is a fleet of lighthouse tenders each of about 1500 tons designed specially for this purpose. The vessels are based at Swansea and Harwich with two sets of crew to each vessel, the crews working 14 days, with the following 14 days free of duty. Helicopters now help in this work to an increasing extent. The main workshops are at Blackwall where major servicing and manufacture takes place. There is also a research station at Dungeness in Kent where work is carried out to improve navigational aids and techniques. Much research has been carried out into the development of light sources and fog signals for example, enabling some of the cumbersome optics to be replaced by the sealed beam car headlight type of unit. Directional fog signals, too, are being, used and fog detectors also are enabling more standardisation and automation to be introduced.

A major recent development has been the introduction of the LANBYs (Large Automatic Navigation Buoys) to replace lightships. A Lanby is discus shaped, all steel, about forty feet in diameter. It carries an automatic electric fog and light signal with standby generators ready in case of power failure, and can run for six months without attention or servicing. Other Iightvessels have been replaced by light towers, perhaps the best known one being the Royal Sovereign.

Trinity House has maintained unlighted buoys for over 300 years, and it was not until 1880 that lighted buoys were first introduced. Today, buoys are either of mild steel or wrought iron, vary in diameter from five feet to twelve feet, and weigh (without moorings) from three to twelve tons.

Lighted buoys burn dissolved acetylene, and some have sound signals as well. The majority today carry radar reflectors. The introduction of plastic buoys and electric lighting is not too far away.

So far as pilotage is concerned, Trinity House licenses but does not employ pilots, who are self-employed. There are about 680 Trinity House pilots of whom 450 or so are in the London area. To qualify, a pilot must be British, fit, possess a foreign-going Master-Mariner’s Certificate, have eight years experience as watch-keeping officer, and be under 35. If selected, there is a training period and an annual review. The corporation own a number of pilot cutters and fast shore-based launches at many centres to get pilots to vessels requiring their services.

All these services and many more are costly to run, of course. The powers of Trinity House stem mainly from the Merchant Shipping Act of 1894 and finances are attained from Light Dues which are levied at every port in the U.K. and Eire. These dues are based on the net registered tonnage of the vessel. Customs Officers act as agents for the collection of dues and in 1976 collected £24,000,000. The corporation is responsible to the Department of Trade.

The day-to-day affairs of Trinity House are controlled by a board consisting of 10 members all of whom have had long experience of command in the Merchant or Royal Navy. There is also a Secretary who is the chief Administrative Officer. The members of the corporation are divided into two main categories which are the “Elder Brethren” and the “Younger Brethren”.

There are about 300 Younger Brethren who are Master Mariners or senior naval officers of high distinction. From this pool of experience are appointed the Elder Brethren, who are selected by invitation for distinguished services rendered. The head of the corporation is the Master. The Deputy Master is chairman of the board of the corporation. The present Master is Prince Philip.

Many of the lighthouses (31 in all) are open to the public free of charge, from 2 p.m. until one hour before sunset (except Sundays) without prior permission from Trinity House, but in case of local circumstances it could be worth a phone call to the individual lighthouse prior to a visit. The effort of a visit will be well rewarded.