An Illuminating Experience
By Gordon MedlicottPublished by Whittles PublishingISBN 978-1-904445-64-7Paperback, 131 pagesPrice £ 14.99
Originally the
Stamford Brook
, the 20m
Dockman
has, amongst its other virtues, a bollard pull of 8.5 tons from 312 twin turbo Dorman engines installed by previous owner PR Services, which invested some £200,000 in a refit that included not only the engines, gearboxes and drives, but also the bigger helm position and windows. Together these give not just the much needed extra comfort but also enable better viewing of operations from the bridge.
This book is a wonderfully descriptive autobiographical account of author Gordon Medlicott’s time in the Trinity House Lighthouse Service and documents the service making the transition from clockwork to computers and from oil lights to satellites.
Gordon Medlicott joined the Trinity House in 1966 from the Merchant Navy as a Supernumeracy Keeper, tending oil lights and handling explosive fog signals.
During his time with the Light House Service, he travelled extensively around the coasts of England, Wales and the Channel Islands and had 22 postings which varied widely from offshore lighthouses, such as the famous Needles Rock, to the beautiful but remote Lundy Island.
Little did the author realise that he would become part of and witness a new technological age that would sweep through the industry, the introduction of unmanned lighthouses. The new lighthouses would be operated by remote control via telemetry links to a computer and satellite information provided by GPS.
An Illuminating Experience tells the story how the onset of automation, made it necessary for the keepers to share their living spaces with the contractors who installed the specialised equipment that ultimately resulted in their redundancy.
Especially interesting was the final chapter on ‘The final act’, which tells the story of how the author found himself as principal keeper of what was to be Britain’s last manned lighthouse, North Foreland.
This book would make a good read for anyone who worked for the Lighthouse Service or has simply been fascinated by lighthouses. It helps to ensure that the legacy of the lighthouse keepers and the importance of the contribution they made to the safe passage of mariners will not be forgotten.
