The Old Lightship

Many people will be familiar with the lightships. For many years, before the dawn of the age of the automatic light beacons, these ships were dotted all around the coasts of Britain and Ireland in places where it was impossible to erect a lighthouse. For the crewmen it must have been a lonely life, lying at anchor for weeks on end in all weathers in order to make life safer for mariners of all nations. The crews were changed at sea when conditions were calm enough but the ships stayed at anchor until they had to come in for repairs and maintenance, which was not very often.

Now of course their day has passed, overtaken by unmanned, automatic devices but some of the old ships have survived the scrap yards. When the new marina was being developed in Arklow this old timer was obtained and is permanently moored nearby. Unfortunately not one splash of paint has crossed her bows in the last 10 years and she is beginning to look rather shabby. Like the rest of us, I imagine she will have to ride out the storm of the recession before she can expect a bit of a spruce up.