The first lightship to be moored in English waters was fitted out in 1731 by Robert Hamblin for the Nore Sands. It was known as the Nore Light.
THE NORE LIGHTSHIP WAS JUST OFF SHEERNESS
The Nore
1732: The first lightship known was placed to mark the Nore sands
1885: Dickens's Dictionary of the Thames -
Nore Light, about 50 miles from LondonBridge. The Nore light-ship is the first sea light to be passed on leaving the port of London. It is the first in order of seniority among its kind, for at this station the first light-ship set afloat on the coast of England was permanently laid in the year 1730
The Nore sandbank is in the Thames estuary, SE England, 3 mi (4.8 km) E of Sheerness. At the east end is Nore Lightship. The name is also applied to part of the Thames estuary, a famous anchorage. A mutiny in the British fleet there, shortly after the Spithead mutiny in 1797, failed to achieve its goals of a more equitable division of prize money and an end to brutality. Richard Parker, its leader, was executed.
The Nore Lightship 1906
In 1732 the first private light vessel, named "NORE", was placed in theThames estuary off the Southeast Coast of England, to mark the dangerous sands of the same name. It was a small cargo sailing vessel, which had a horizontal beam with two braziers, one at each end, on its mast. Both fires were lit at dusk. Even though the "NORE" was a big success, it took almost 80 years before the system was copied.
