Lightvessel stations of Great Britain

The world's first lightvessel was the result of a business partnership between Robert Hamblin, a former barber and ship manager from King's Lynn, and David Avery, an investor.

After extensive legal dispute the licence was revoked in 1732 and Trinity House assumed direct responsibility for the proposed lightship; Hamblin and Avery were granted nominal lease revenues in exchange.

[3] While the Admiralty opposed the 1802 Sunk lightvessel, claiming it would aid enemy ships, it soon afterwards placed three vessels of its own to protect the fleet during the Napoleonic Wars; they were taken over by Trinity House a few years later.

After a series of shipwrecks, an experiment was conducted whereby a nine-mile undersea cable was run from the Sunk lightvessel in the Thames Estuary to the post office at Walton-on-the-Naze.

As a result of a motion brought forward by Sir Edward Birkbeck, a Royal Commission was established to look at the issue of 'electrical communication' and gave its first Report in 1892;[6][7] the East Goodwin lightvessel was used during one of Guglielmo Marconi's early experiments in radio transmission in 1896.

It was also noted that "a general tone of decent, orderly and superior conduct" was observed, that the men were "very respectable [...] swearing and profane language are [...] prohibited" and that every man was supplied with a Bible as well as "a library of varied and entertaining literature".

In order to act as effective daymarks they were painted red, with the station name in large white letters on the side of the hull, and a system of balls and cones at the masthead for identification.