LIGHTSHIPS
Lightships—or, at least, one lightship—can claim a big place in history. The first SOS signal which ever came over the air came from the East Goodwin Lightship in December, 1895. Experiments in wireless were taking place aboard the lightship when she broke away from her moorings. It is not thought that the signal was "SOS"; probably it was "CQD" ("Come quick; danger"). Mr. Maarslag in his book "SOS" gives the information on that point.
Like the old clippers and the new Blue Ribbon liners, some lightships are famous among sailors. The nearer home they are the dearer they are to
the heart of a sailor, and they are also dear to the navigator who looks not for a landfall but for a lightship such as Nantucket on the way to New York, or the Hugli- light-vessel1 after days of battering with the south-west monsoons from Ceylon. The Hugli light-vessel, by the way, was the first to have a light ' around the mast. Before her days lightships had their lanterns hung from the yardarms. R. Stevenson was responsible for her, construction, as he was for the Bell Rock Lighthouse and the North Carr lightship on the Firth of Forth, which,' one" is told, was the wonder of her day and the first lightship to be moored with chain cable because of her exposed position.
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https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/EP19370410.2.180.3
Bibliographic details
Evening Post, Volume CXXIII, Issue CXXIII, 10 April 1937, Page 24
Word Count
224LIGHTSHIPS Evening Post, Volume CXXIII, Issue CXXIII, 10 April 1937, Page 24
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