Lightship Archive

Born in Leicester, England, I grew up by the sea at Margate in Kent. From my childhood experiences I gained a lifelong interest in shipping and maritime history. For my education I specialised eventually in chemistry and later became a materials scientist investigating the properties of substances as diverse as paper, pigments, plastics, alloys and optical fibres; studies which in my earlier career took me to the United States and Canada.

Approaching early retirement, I concentrated on writing about the Kent coast, to which I returned with my late wife in 1996 to live near Dover, spending a lot of time on craft varying in size from sailing yachts to oil tankers and container ships. I had also followed the fortunes of the lighthouse keepers locally in their final years of service and particularly sought out the retired lightship crews about which very little had been written either before or after the final vessel was automated in 1989.

Now resident in Wiltshire, I have over more than thirty-five years amassed a very large collection of documents, plans, pictures, articles and books about the Trinity House Lightvessel Service and the services of other countries. The intention is to reproduce many of my relevant articles and technical facts about the vessels on this website.

Anthony Lane