Trinity House is also responsible for the provision and maintenance of other navigational aids, such as lightvessels, buoys, and maritime radio/satellite communication systems.

It is also an official deep sea pilotage authority, providing expert navigators for ships trading in Northern European waters.

Trinity House is also a maritime charity, disbursing funds for the welfare of retired seamen, the training of young cadets and the promotion of safety at sea.

[4] Funding for the work of the lighthouse service comes from "light dues" levied on commercial vessels calling at ports in the British Isles, based on their net registered tonnage.

The corporation came into being in 1514 by Royal Charter granted by Henry VIII under the name "The Master, Wardens, and Assistants of the Guild, Fraternity, or Brotherhood of the most glorious and undivided Trinity, and of St Clement in the Parish of Deptford Strond in the County of Kent.

As John Whormby, Clerk to the Corporation, wrote in 1746, their general business was:[7] to improve the art and science of mariners; to examine into the qualifications, and regulate the conduct of those who take upon them the charge of conducting ships; to preserve good order, and (when desired) to compose differences in marine affairs, and, in general, to consult the conservation, good estate, wholesome government, maintenance and increase of navigation and sea-faring men; and to relieve decayed seamen and their relatives.Elizabeth I's Sea Marks Act 1566 (8 Eliz.

1. c. 13) enabled Trinity House: at their wills and pleasures, and at their costs, [to] make, erect, and set up such, and so many beacons, marks, and signs for the sea… whereby the dangers may be avoided and escaped, and ships the better come into their ports without peril.With the increasing number of ships lost along the Newcastle to London coal route, Trinity House established the Lowestoft Lighthouse in 1609, a pair of wooden towers with candle illuminants.

Until the late 18th century, candle, coal, or wood fires were used as lighthouse illuminants, improved in 1782 with the circular-wick oil-burning Argand lamp, the first ‘catoptric’ mirrored reflector in 1777, and Fresnel’s ‘dioptric’ lens system in 1823.

A royal warrant, dated 11 June 1594, granted the corporation the right of: ... making, erecting, setting up, placing or laying out, all buoys, beacons, marks and signs, for the sea or seashore, to hold the same with all profits and emoluments thereunto belonging, as of the manor of East Greenwich, in free and common soccage.

On the night of 29 December 1940, Trinity House was destroyed by the most severe of the air attacks on London; the interiors were completely gutted and many archives and treasures were lost.

Trinity House played a major part in the design of the IALA Maritime Buoyage System, laying the first buoy off Dover, watched over by representatives of 16 nations on 15 April 1977.

Other prominent individuals in Britain, often connected with commercial shipping or the Admiralty, have been associated with Trinity House, including Winston Churchill.

Since opinions about this might vary, it added: The same shall be settled and determined by two of the Elder Brothers of the Trinity House, within three calendar months next after the passing of this Act, who shall certify the same in writing under their hands and seals.

Accordingly, Trinity House — in the person of Captain Joseph Huddart[17] — set a stone in the external wing wall of the Hermitage Entrance to the London Docks.

[18] It was inscribed Low water mark is 17 feet 10 inches below the lower edge of this stone, settled by the Corporation of Trinity House Augt.

collisions at sea, Elder Brethren of Trinity House act as expert nautical advisors to the Admiralty Court in London.

[30] In a 2020 case[31] about a multiple ship collision in the Suez Canal the Admiralty judge wrote a 306-paragraph judgment ending thus: I am grateful to Trinity House and its Elder Brethren for the expert and wholly independent advice they give to the Admiralty Court (and have given for over four centuries) on questions of seamanship and ship handling.

Trinity House, since its incorporation in 1514, has been dedicated to the safety of navigation and the advice given by the Elder Brethren enables the Admiralty Court to ensure that its decisions reflect and uphold the standards and requirements of good seamanship... [O]ne of the functions of the Admiralty Court is to help to avoid collisions in the future, [and] Trinity House has an essential role in ensuring that that function of the Admiralty Court is discharged.Trinity House has three main functions: The Corporation also inspects buoys provided by local harbour authorities.

Trinity House's activities as a lighthouse authority are financed from "light dues" levied on commercial shipping calling at ports in the United Kingdom.

[34] The other General Lighthouse Authorities elsewhere in the British Isles are: Trinity House vessels have the ship prefix THV.

[35] The Corporation operates a number of small boats, mostly functioning as tenders to Trinity House vessels as described in the section above.

The historic right of Trinity House to escort the Sovereign when travelling by ship in territorial waters is still exercised on ceremonial occasions.

No 1 Boat" painted onto the bow (port and starboard) whilst carrying the Master (the Princess Royal) in the jubilee flotilla.