Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-vdxz6 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-26T04:38:14.507Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

The Evolution of Navigation Lights for Ships

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  21 October 2009

John Kemp
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Extract

The earliest record of a requirement for ships to carry lights that the author has been able to find is in the Rhodian Laws. These appear to date from about the 3rd or 2nd century B.C., and were certainly incorporated into Roman Law by A.D. 161, although Ashburner suggests that the earliest known copy dates from Byzantine times, A.D. 600–800. The Laws contain a section intended to prevent collisions between vessels under way and vessels at anchor or stopped.

Keywords

1. History.2. Navigation lights.3. Collision regulations.
Type
Research Article
Information
The Journal of Navigation , Volume 48 , Issue 2 , May 1995 , pp. 256 - 267
Copyright
Copyright © The Royal Institute of Navigation 1995

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

REFERENCES

1Ashburner, W. (1909). Rhodian Sea Law. Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
2Henningsen, H. (1993). Private communication to the author.Google Scholar
3SirTwiss, J. T. (1871–6). The Black Book of the Admiralty. Longman and Co., London.Google Scholar
4 Royal Naval Signal Book (1893). Night Signals and Instructions for Ships of War, section XII.Google Scholar
5Senior, W. (1913). The beginning of sidelights. The Mariner’s Mirror, 3, 257.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
6 Report of the Royal Commissioners appointed to inquire into the Laws and Regulations relating to Pilotage. 26 Feb. 1836.Google Scholar
7 ‘A skipper’ (1836). Regulations for the conducting of Steam Ships. Letter to the Editor, The Nautical Magazine, 5, 488.Google Scholar
8 Parliamentary Report on Steamships Accidents (1839).Google Scholar
9 ‘An Old North Sea Cruiser’. (1840). Letter to the Editor of The Nautical Magazine, 9, 891.Google Scholar
10Calver, E. K. (1841). Nautical Magazine, 10, 73.Google Scholar
11 Trinity House Order (30 Oct. 1840). Navigation of Steam Vessels.Google Scholar
12 Act for the Regulation of Steam Navigation 9° and 10° Victoria, cap 100, 28 Aug. 1846.Google Scholar
13 Act amending the Law for the Regulation of Steam Navigation 14° and 15° Victoria, cap 79, 8 Aug. 1851.Google Scholar
14 The Merchant Shipping Act, 17° and 19° Victoria, cap 104, 10 Aug. 1854.Google Scholar
15 Admiralty Regulations as to Lights (1848). By authority of the 1846 Act (ref. 11).Google Scholar
16Schumburg, A. (1923). Om Lanternor och Styringsregler m.m. Stockholm. The author–s attention was drawn to this reference by Captain Sven Gylden of Gothenburg and by Hans Orstadius of the Sjöhistoriska Museet, Stockholm.Google Scholar
17 Report of Admiralty Committee (1857). Lights for Steam and Sailing Vessels. Reproduced in The Nautical Magazine, 26, 249.Google Scholar
18 Full text is contained in appendix of Kemp, J. F. (1974). Factors in the Prevention of Collisions at Sea. Ph.D. thesis, London(Guildhall) University.Google Scholar
19 Board of Trade (1895). Report of Deputation to the President of the BoT. Recorded in collected BoT correspondence on Rule of the Road at Sea. National Maritime Museum, Greenwich.Google Scholar
20Hayman, B. (1992). See and be seen. Navigation News, Jan/Feb. Royal Institute of Navigation, London.Google Scholar