"Three In One"
, formation =
, founding_location =
Deptford
Deptford is an area on the south bank of the River Thames in southeast London, within the London Borough of Lewisham. It is named after a ford of the River Ravensbourne. From the mid 16th century to the late 19th it was home to Deptford Dock ...
, London, England
, status =
Royal Charter
A royal charter is a formal grant issued by a monarch under royal prerogative as letters patent. Historically, they have been used to promulgate public laws, the most famous example being the English Magna Carta (great charter) of 1215, bu ...
corporation and registered charity
, purpose = Maintenance of lighthouses, buoys and beacons
, headquarters = Trinity House,
Tower Hill
Tower Hill is the area surrounding the Tower of London in the London Borough of Tower Hamlets. It is infamous for the public execution of high status prisoners from the late 14th to the mid 18th century. The execution site on the higher gro ...
,
London
London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...
, England
, region =
, membership =
, leader_title = Master
, leader_name =
Anne, Princess Royal
Anne, Princess Royal (Anne Elizabeth Alice Louise; born 15 August 1950), is a member of the British royal family. She is the second child and only daughter of Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh, and the only sister of ...
, leader_title2 = Deputy Master
, leader_name2 = Captain
Ian McNaught
Captain Ian McNaught, (born 1954) is Deputy Master of Trinity House, and was Captain of ships for Cunard and Seabourn including the last Captain of the Queen Elizabeth 2 (QE2).
Education
He studied at Monkwearmouth Academy in Sunderland.
Car ...
, revenue = £38,405,000 (2020)
, expenses = £46,801,000 (2020)
, staff = 312 (2020)
, website
trinityhouse.co.uk
![Trinity House edited](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/e/e8/Trinity_House_edited.jpg)
The Corporation of Trinity House of Deptford Strond, also known as Trinity House (and formally as 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
Deptford is an area on the south bank of the River Thames in southeast London, within the London Borough of Lewisham. It is named after a ford of the River Ravensbourne. From the mid 16th century to the late 19th it was home to Deptford Dock ...
in the County of Kent), is the official authority for
lighthouse
A lighthouse is a tower, building, or other type of physical structure designed to emit light from a system of lamps and lenses and to serve as a beacon for navigational aid, for maritime pilots at sea or on inland waterways.
Lighthouses mar ...
s in
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...
,
Wales
Wales ( cy, Cymru ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by England to the Wales–England border, east, the Irish Sea to the north and west, the Celtic Sea to the south west and the ...
, the
Channel Islands
The Channel Islands ( nrf, Îles d'la Manche; french: îles Anglo-Normandes or ''îles de la Manche'') are an archipelago in the English Channel, off the French coast of Normandy. They include two Crown Dependencies: the Bailiwick of Jersey, ...
and
Gibraltar
)
, anthem = " God Save the King"
, song = " Gibraltar Anthem"
, image_map = Gibraltar location in Europe.svg
, map_alt = Location of Gibraltar in Europe
, map_caption = United Kingdom shown in pale green
, mapsize =
, image_map2 = Gib ...
. Trinity House is also responsible for the provision and maintenance of other navigational aids, such as
lightvessel
A lightvessel, or lightship, is a ship that acts as a lighthouse. They are used in waters that are too deep or otherwise unsuitable for lighthouse construction. Although some records exist of fire beacons being placed on ships in Roman times, t ...
s,
buoys, and maritime radio/satellite communication systems. It is also an official deep sea
pilotage
Piloting or pilotage is the process of navigating on water or in the air using fixed points of reference on the sea or on land, usually with reference to a nautical chart or aeronautical chart to obtain a fix of the position of the vessel or air ...
authority, providing expert navigators for ships trading in
Northern European waters.
Trinity House is also a maritime
charity
Charity may refer to:
Giving
* Charitable organization or charity, a non-profit organization whose primary objectives are philanthropy and social well-being of persons
* Charity (practice), the practice of being benevolent, giving and sharing
* C ...
, disbursing funds for the welfare of retired seamen, the training of young cadets and the promotion of safety at sea; for the financial year ending in March 2013 it spent approximately £6.5 million in furtherance of its charitable objectives.
Funding for the work of the lighthouse service comes from "
light dues
Light dues are the charges levied on ships for the maintenance of lighthouses and other aids to navigation.
British Isles
Light dues are levied on commercial vessels and larger pleasure boats calling at ports in the British Isles and paid into th ...
" levied on commercial vessels calling at ports in the
British Isles
The British Isles are a group of islands in the North Atlantic Ocean off the north-western coast of continental Europe, consisting of the islands of Great Britain, Ireland, the Isle of Man, the Inner and Outer Hebrides, the Northern Isles, ...
, based on the net registered tonnage of the vessel. The rate is set by the
Department for Transport, and annually reviewed. Funding for the maritime charity is generated separately.
The corporation was founded in 1514. Its first master was
Thomas Spert
Vice-Admiral of England Sir Thomas Spert (spelled in some records as Pert) (died December 1541) was a mariner who reached the rank of vice admiral in service to King Henry VIII of England. He was sailing master of the flagships ''Mary Rose'' and ...
(later Sir),
sailing master of
Henry VIII's flagship ''
Mary Rose
The ''Mary Rose'' (launched 1511) is a carrack-type warship of the English Tudor navy of King Henry VIII. She served for 33 years in several wars against France, Scotland, and Brittany. After being substantially rebuilt in 1536, she saw her ...
'' and of ''
Henry Grace à Dieu
''Henry Grace à Dieu'' ("Henry, Thanks be to God"), also known as ''Great Harry'', was an English carrack or " great ship" of the King's Fleet in the 16th century, and in her day the largest warship in the world. Contemporary with '' Mary Ros ...
.''
Master of the Corporation
The Master of the Corporation (now an honorary title) is
Anne, Princess Royal
Anne, Princess Royal (Anne Elizabeth Alice Louise; born 15 August 1950), is a member of the British royal family. She is the second child and only daughter of Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh, and the only sister of ...
. Previous Masters of Trinity House have included
Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh
Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh (born Prince Philip of Greece and Denmark, later Philip Mountbatten; 10 June 1921 – 9 April 2021) was the husband of Queen Elizabeth II. As such, he served as the consort of the British monarch from E ...
;
Vice-Admiral of England
The Vice-Admiral of the United Kingdom is an honorary office generally held by a senior Royal Navy admiral. The title holder is the official deputy to the Lord High Admiral, an honorary (although once operational) office which was vested in t ...
Thomas Spert
Vice-Admiral of England Sir Thomas Spert (spelled in some records as Pert) (died December 1541) was a mariner who reached the rank of vice admiral in service to King Henry VIII of England. He was sailing master of the flagships ''Mary Rose'' and ...
, master of the warship ''
Henry Grace à Dieu
''Henry Grace à Dieu'' ("Henry, Thanks be to God"), also known as ''Great Harry'', was an English carrack or " great ship" of the King's Fleet in the 16th century, and in her day the largest warship in the world. Contemporary with '' Mary Ros ...
'' under
Henry VIII; the diarist
Samuel Pepys;
William Pitt the Younger
William Pitt the Younger (28 May 175923 January 1806) was a British statesman, the youngest and last prime minister of Great Britain (before the Acts of Union 1800) and then first prime minister of the United Kingdom (of Great Britain and Ire ...
;
Field Marshal the Duke of Wellington
Arthur Wellesley, 1st Duke of Wellington, (1 May 1769 – 14 September 1852) was an Anglo-Irish soldier and Tory statesman who was one of the leading military and political figures of 19th-century Britain, serving twice as prime minister of ...
; and
Admiral
Admiral is one of the highest ranks in some navies. In the Commonwealth nations and the United States, a "full" admiral is equivalent to a "full" general in the army or the air force, and is above vice admiral and below admiral of the fleet, ...
William Penn
William Penn ( – ) was an English writer and religious thinker belonging to the Religious Society of Friends (Quakers), and founder of the Province of Pennsylvania, a North American colony of England. He was an early advocate of democracy a ...
(father of
William Penn
William Penn ( – ) was an English writer and religious thinker belonging to the Religious Society of Friends (Quakers), and founder of the Province of Pennsylvania, a North American colony of England. He was an early advocate of democracy a ...
, founder of
Pennsylvania
Pennsylvania (; ( Pennsylvania Dutch: )), officially the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, is a state spanning the Mid-Atlantic, Northeastern, Appalachian, and Great Lakes regions of the United States. It borders Delaware to its southeast, ...
).
Other prominent individuals in Britain, often connected with commercial shipping or
the Admiralty
The Admiralty was a department of the Government of the United Kingdom responsible for the command of the Royal Navy until 1964, historically under its titular head, the Lord High Admiral – one of the Great Officers of State. For much of it ...
, have been associated with Trinity House, including
Winston Churchill
Sir Winston Leonard Spencer Churchill (30 November 187424 January 1965) was a British statesman, soldier, and writer who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom twice, from 1940 to 1945 Winston Churchill in the Second World War, dur ...
. He gained his status as an Elder Brother of Trinity House as a result of his position as
First Lord of the Admiralty
The First Lord of the Admiralty, or formally the Office of the First Lord of the Admiralty, was the political head of the English and later British Royal Navy. He was the government's senior adviser on all naval affairs, responsible for the di ...
before and during the
First World War
World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...
. Often, especially on naval-related forays during the
Second World War
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...
, Churchill was seen in the Trinity House cap or uniform. Churchill also had a Trinity House vessel (THV) named after him, THV ''Winston Churchill''.
Governance
![Thv wiki lic](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/6/6e/Thv_wiki_lic.jpg)
Trinity House is ruled by a court of thirty-one Elder Brethren, presided over by a Master. These are appointed from 300 Younger Brethren who act as advisors and perform other duties as needed. The Younger Brethren are appointed from lay people with maritime experience, mainly naval officers and
ships' masters, but also
harbourmaster
A harbourmaster (or harbormaster, see spelling differences) is an official responsible for enforcing the regulations of a particular harbour or port, in order to ensure the safety of navigation, the security of the harbour and the correct opera ...
s,
pilot
An aircraft pilot or aviator is a person who controls the flight of an aircraft by operating its directional flight controls. Some other aircrew members, such as navigators or flight engineers, are also considered aviators, because they a ...
s, yachtsmen, and anyone with useful experience.
Headquarters of the Corporation
The headquarters of the corporation is the present Trinity House, which was designed by architect
Samuel Wyatt
Samuel Wyatt (8 September 1737, Weeford, Staffs. – London, 8 February 1807) was an England, English architect and engineer. A member of the Wyatt family, which included several notable 18th- and 19th-century English architects, his work was prima ...
and built in 1796. It has a suite of five state rooms with views over Trinity Square, the
Tower of London
The Tower of London, officially His Majesty's Royal Palace and Fortress of the Tower of London, is a historic castle on the north bank of the River Thames in central London. It lies within the London Borough of Tower Hamlets, which is sep ...
and the
River Thames
The River Thames ( ), known alternatively in parts as the River Isis, is a river that flows through southern England including London. At , it is the longest river entirely in England and the second-longest in the United Kingdom, after the R ...
.
History
The Corporation came into being in 1514 by
Royal Charter
A royal charter is a formal grant issued by a monarch under royal prerogative as letters patent. Historically, they have been used to promulgate public laws, the most famous example being the English Magna Carta (great charter) of 1215, bu ...
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."
The charter came as a result of a petition put forward on 19 March 1513 by a guild of
Deptford
Deptford is an area on the south bank of the River Thames in southeast London, within the London Borough of Lewisham. It is named after a ford of the River Ravensbourne. From the mid 16th century to the late 19th it was home to Deptford Dock ...
-based mariners. They were troubled by the poor conduct of unregulated pilots on the Thames and asked the king for licence to regulate pilotage. The first Master was
Thomas Spert
Vice-Admiral of England Sir Thomas Spert (spelled in some records as Pert) (died December 1541) was a mariner who reached the rank of vice admiral in service to King Henry VIII of England. He was sailing master of the flagships ''Mary Rose'' and ...
(later Sir), sailing master of Henry's flagship ''
Mary Rose
The ''Mary Rose'' (launched 1511) is a carrack-type warship of the English Tudor navy of King Henry VIII. She served for 33 years in several wars against France, Scotland, and Brittany. After being substantially rebuilt in 1536, she saw her ...
'' and the ''
Henry Grace à Dieu
''Henry Grace à Dieu'' ("Henry, Thanks be to God"), also known as ''Great Harry'', was an English carrack or " great ship" of the King's Fleet in the 16th century, and in her day the largest warship in the world. Contemporary with '' Mary Ros ...
''. The name of the guild derives from the
Holy Trinity and St. Clement, the patron saint of mariners.
As John Whormby, a Clerk to the Corporation, wrote in 1746, their general business was:
In 1566,
Elizabeth I's
Elizabeth or Elisabeth may refer to:
People
* Elizabeth (given name), a female given name (including people with that name)
* Elizabeth (biblical figure), mother of John the Baptist
Ships
* HMS ''Elizabeth'', several ships
* ''Elisabeth'' (s ...
Seamarks Act enabled Trinity House:
![050123 28 bristol lightship](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/8/84/050123_28_bristol_lightship.jpg)
With the increasing number of ships lost along the
Newcastle Newcastle usually refers to:
*Newcastle upon Tyne, a city and metropolitan borough in Tyne and Wear, England
*Newcastle-under-Lyme, a town in Staffordshire, England
*Newcastle, New South Wales, a metropolitan area in Australia, named after Newcastle ...
to London coal route, Trinity House established the
Lowestoft Lighthouse
Lowestoft Lighthouse is a lighthouse operated by Trinity House located to the north of the centre of Lowestoft in the English county of Suffolk. It stands on the North Sea coast close to Ness Point, the most easterly point in the United Kingdom. ...
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 Argand lamp is a type of oil lamp invented in 1780 by Aimé Argand. Its output is 6 to 10 candelas, brighter than that of earlier lamps. Its more complete combustion of the candle wick and oil than in other lamps required much less frequent ...
, the first ‘catoptric’ mirrored reflector in 1777, and
Fresnel
Augustin-Jean Fresnel (10 May 1788 – 14 July 1827) was a French civil engineer and physicist whose research in optics led to the almost unanimous acceptance of the wave theory of light, excluding any remnant of Newton's corpuscular the ...
’s ‘dioptric’ lens system in 1823.
The Nore
The Nore is a long bank of sand and silt running along the south-centre of the final narrowing of the Thames Estuary, England. Its south-west is the very narrow Nore Sand. Just short of the Nore's easternmost point where it fades into the ch ...
lightship was established as the world's first floating light in 1732.
Trinity House took over the management of all public buoys in the kingdom in 1594 from the
Lord High Admiral. A warrant, dated 11 June 1594, granted to the corporation the right of,
By 1847, revenue collected from this source was £11,000 to £12,000 per year.
In 1836, Trinity House accepted powers to levy out the last private lighthouse owners and began refurbishing and upgrading its lighthouse estate.
In 1803, the Corporation established the Blackwall Depot as a buoy workshop, and six district depots were later established at Harwich, Great Yarmouth, East Cowes, Penzance, Holyhead and Swansea. In December 2002, Trinity House announced that the Great Yarmouth, Penzance and East Cowes depots would close. Today, Trinity House's operational headquarters is in
Harwich, supported by depots in
Swansea and a flight operations base at
St Just in
Cornwall
Cornwall (; kw, Kernow ) is a historic county and ceremonial county in South West England. It is recognised as one of the Celtic nations, and is the homeland of the Cornish people. Cornwall is bordered to the north and west by the Atlantic ...
. Its operations are also supported by three vessels; the two large tenders THV ''Patricia'' and THV ''Galatea'', and the Rapid Intervention Vessel THV ''Alert''. A small secretariat is based at
Tower Hill
Tower Hill is the area surrounding the Tower of London in the London Borough of Tower Hamlets. It is infamous for the public execution of high status prisoners from the late 14th to the mid 18th century. The execution site on the higher gro ...
.
During the First World War, the Corporation served a number of functions: it buoyed shipping lanes and naval operations, moved lightvessels, and laid hundreds of buoys. During the Second World War, Trinity House kept sea lanes marked and lighted for
Allied
An alliance is a relationship among people, groups, or states that have joined together for mutual benefit or to achieve some common purpose, whether or not explicit agreement has been worked out among them. Members of an alliance are called ...
convoy
A convoy is a group of vehicles, typically motor vehicles or ships, traveling together for mutual support and protection. Often, a convoy is organized with armed defensive support and can help maintain cohesion within a unit. It may also be used ...
s. The Pilotage Service guided ships to their ports under hazardous conditions; at the time of the
Dunkirk evacuation, a number of pilots helped in piloting vessels to and from the beaches.
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. (The restored house was reopened by
Elizabeth II
Elizabeth II (Elizabeth Alexandra Mary; 21 April 1926 – 8 September 2022) was Queen of the United Kingdom and other Commonwealth realms from 6 February 1952 until her death in 2022. She was queen regnant of 32 sovereign states during ...
on 21 October 1953.)
In preparation for the
D-Day landings on 6 June 1944, Trinity House laid 73 lighted buoys and two lightvessels to indicate a safe route for landing craft. Trinity House pilots were responsible for all commercial vessels involved and many of the service vessels. In the month following D-Day, nearly 3,000 vessels were handled by 88 river pilots and nearly 2,000 ships by 115 sea pilots working day and night.
In 1969, Trinity House initiated the debut of helicopter reliefs to and from offshore lighthouses, succeeding the boat reliefs. These had been susceptible to being delayed by months during inclement weather. 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.
By the 1960s, Trinity House licensed about 500 pilots, of whom about 350 were in the London District, handling an estimated 60% of the nation's piloted tonnage. The
1987 Pilotage Act authorized Trinity House to pass its District Pilotage responsibilities to various local harbour authorities, becoming instead a licensing authority for deep sea pilotage.
The completion of the lighthouse automation programme came with a ceremony held at the
North Foreland Lighthouse
North Foreland is a chalk headland on the Kent coast of southeast England, specifically in Broadstairs.
With the rest of Broadstairs and part of Ramsgate it is the eastern side of Kent's largest peninsula, the Isle of Thanet. It presents a ...
on 26 November 1998, attended by the last six keepers and Master, the Duke of Edinburgh. On 9 June 1989, the last manned lightvessel was towed from the Channel lightvessel station to Harwich.
As a charitable body, the Corporation has owned a number of properties for benevolent purposes, chief among them the estate at
Newington in south London (now rebranded as Trinity Village) and
almshouses at
Deptford
Deptford is an area on the south bank of the River Thames in southeast London, within the London Borough of Lewisham. It is named after a ford of the River Ravensbourne. From the mid 16th century to the late 19th it was home to Deptford Dock ...
,
Mile End
Mile End is a district of the London Borough of Tower Hamlets in the East End of London, England, east-northeast of Charing Cross. Situated on the London-to-Colchester road, it was one of the earliest suburbs of London. It became part of the m ...
, and
Walmer
Walmer is a town in the district of Dover, Kent, in England. Located on the coast, the parish of Walmer is south-east of Sandwich, Kent. Largely residential, its coastline and castle attract many visitors. It has a population of 6,693 (2001), i ...
; the last of these estates was built in 1958 and is in use by the corporation today.
In 2011, the Princess Royal succeeded the Duke of Edinburgh as Master. She was aboard ''Trinity House Motor Boat No.1'' during the
Diamond Jubilee
A diamond jubilee celebrates the 60th anniversary of a significant event related to a person (e.g. accession to the throne or wedding, among others) or the 60th anniversary of an institution's founding. The term is also used for 75th anniver ...
procession.
In 2014, the
Royal Mint issued a
two pound coin commemorating the 500th anniversary of the granting of Trinity House's Royal Charter.
Trinity High Water
![JosephHuddartZh](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/8/8e/JosephHuddartZh.jpeg)
Trinity High Water (or High Water, Trinity Standard), abbreviated T.H.W., was a
vertical datum
In geodesy, surveying, hydrography and navigation, vertical datum or altimetric datum, is a reference coordinate surface used for vertical positions, such as the elevations of Earth-bound features (terrain, bathymetry, water level, and built str ...
used for legal purposes in the River Thames and informally over a much wider area. Though not thus defined, it was about 12 feet 6 inches above mean sea level.
The concept had its origin in the London Dock Act 1800 which authorised the making of the Wapping basin of the
London Docks
London Docklands is the riverfront and former docks in London. It is located in inner east and southeast London, in the boroughs of Southwark, Tower Hamlets, Lewisham, Newham, and Greenwich. The docks were formerly part of the Port ...
and specified its minimum depth i.e. over the
sill. At that time there was no
Ordnance Datum or other accepted vertical benchmark. Therefore, the 1800 Act defined the benchmark for this dock as "the level of the river at low-water mark". Since opinions about this might vary, it added
Accordingly. Trinity House — in the person of Captain
Joseph Huddart
Joseph Huddart FRS (1741–1816) was a British hydrographer, engineer and inventor. He surveyed harbours and coasts but made a fortune from improving the design and manufacture of rope. He was highly regarded in his time, and his likeness featu ...
— set a stone in the external wing wall of the
Hermitage entrance to the London Docks. It was inscribed Similar stones were afterwards set for Wapping and Shadwell entrances.
This established a benchmark which was supposedly extended for further purposes e.g. the sill heights of other docks and for high water also.
Trinity High Water Mark was much used as a datum in London for legal purposes. It was required to be marked on all drawings of property adjacent to the river when submitted to the
Thames Conservancy
The Thames Conservancy (formally the Conservators of the River Thames) was a body responsible for the management of the that river in England. It was founded in 1857 to replace the jurisdiction of the City of London up to Staines. Nine years la ...
. As another example, the minimum height of river walls were specified in feet and inches above T.H.W. The benchmark was used in other contexts, such as "Luton is 400 feet above Trinity high-water"; the elevations of water reservoirs; depths in the Geological Survey (London Basin); the depth of an archaeological find; and for railway elevations.
Despite the importance of the Trinity Standard benchmark for legal purposes, it appears that there were discrepancies, some of them grave. Inconsistent standards purporting to be T.H.W. existed.
Some stones set by Captain Huddart afterwards could not be found.
Eventually, it was deemed by the Port of London Act 1968 to be a level having a value of 11.4 feet (3.475 metres) above
Ordnance Datum Newlyn
Ordnance may refer to:
Military and defense
*Materiel in military logistics, including weapons, ammunition, vehicles, and maintenance tools and equipment.
**The military branch responsible for supplying and developing these items, e.g., the Unite ...
. and thus the connection with the Trinity House marker stones was abandoned.
Nautical assessors
In legal cases involving issues of navigation or seamanship e.g. collisions at sea, Elder Brethren of Trinity House act as expert nautical advisers to the
Admiralty Court in London. Usually, two Elder Brethren sit with the Admiralty judge. Their function is not to decide the case themselves, but to advise the presiding judge about the practicalities of seamanship and ship handling. When this happens, the parties are not allowed to produce expert witnesses of their own without a special reason, since the court considers itself to be well enough advised already. But if one of the colliding ships was a Trinity House vessel, Elder Brethren cannot be employed. Elder Brethren may perform the same functions in appeals.
In a 2020 case about a multiple ship collision in the
Suez Canal the Admiralty judge wrote a 306-paragraph judgment ending thus:
Operational responsibilities and role of the corporation
![Trinity House, Harwich](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/d4/Trinity_House%2C_Harwich.jpg)
Trinity House has three main functions:
*It is the General Lighthouse Authority for England, Wales, the Channel Islands and Gibraltar, responsible for a range of general aids to navigation, 'signs of the sea', from lighthouses to
radar beacon
Radar beacon (short: racon) is – according to ''article 1.103'' of the International Telecommunication Union's (ITU) ITU Radio Regulations (RR) – defined as "A transmitter-receiver associated with a fixed navigational mark which, when trig ...
s.
*It is a charitable organisation dedicated to the safety, welfare and training of mariners.
*It is a
Deep Sea Pilotage Authority, licensing expert navigators to act as deep sea pilots for ships trading in Northern European waters.
The Corporation also inspects buoys provided by local harbour authorities. It no longer provides local pilots for entering ports. Contrary to popular belief, Trinity House is not (and never has been) part of
HM Coastguard
His Majesty's Coastguard (HMCG) is a section of the Maritime and Coastguard Agency responsible, through the Secretary of State for Transport to Parliament, for the initiation and co-ordination of all maritime search and rescue (SAR) within the ...
, although it does work closely with the
Maritime and Coastguard Agency.
Trinity House's activities as a lighthouse authority are financed from "
light dues
Light dues are the charges levied on ships for the maintenance of lighthouses and other aids to navigation.
British Isles
Light dues are levied on commercial vessels and larger pleasure boats calling at ports in the British Isles and paid into th ...
" levied on commercial shipping calling at ports in the
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotland, Wales and North ...
.
Assets
![Trinity House Flag on Portland Bill Lighthouse](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/8/8b/Trinity_House_Flag_on_Portland_Bill_Lighthouse.JPG)
*
Lighthouses in England
This is a list of lighthouses in England. It includes lighthouses which are no longer in use as a light but are still standing. It also includes some of the harbour and pier-head lights around the country.
Details of several lighthouses and li ...
*
Lightvessels in the United Kingdom
The history of the many lightvessel stations of Great Britain goes back over 250 years to the placement of the world's first lightship at the Nore in the early 18th century.
A lightvessel station is a named position at which a lightvessel was pl ...
Lighthouses
Trinity House maintains 65 lighthouses ranging from isolated rock towers like the
Eddystone to mainland towers like
Southwold lighthouse.
All Trinity House lighthouses have been automated since November 1998, when the UK's last manned lighthouse,
North Foreland in Kent, was converted to automatic operation. Lighthouse automation began as long ago as 1910, thanks to an invention of
Gustaf Dalén
Nils Gustaf Dalén (; 30 November 1869 – 9 December 1937) was a Swedish Nobel Laureate and industrialist, engineer, inventor and long-term CEO of the AGA AB, AGA company and inventor of the AGA cooker and the Dalén light. In 1912 he was award ...
. His
sun valve was fitted in a number of lighthouses powered by
acetylene gas. The vital component was a black metal rod, which was suspended vertically and connected to the gas supply. As it absorbed the sun's heat, the rod expanded downwards, cutting off the gas during the day.
Automation in the modern context began in the early 1980s, made possible firstly by the construction of lantern-top helipads at remote rock lighthouses, to enable the rapid transfer of technicians to a lighthouse in the event of a breakdown, and secondly, by the development of remote control technology, which enables all lighthouses and lightvessels to be monitored and controlled from the Trinity House Operations and Planning Centre, in Harwich, Essex.
The other General Lighthouse Authorities in other parts of the
British Isles
The British Isles are a group of islands in the North Atlantic Ocean off the north-western coast of continental Europe, consisting of the islands of Great Britain, Ireland, the Isle of Man, the Inner and Outer Hebrides, the Northern Isles, ...
:
*
Commissioners of Irish Lights
The Commissioners of Irish Lights ( ga, Coimisinéirí Soilse na hÉireann), often shortened to Irish Lights or CIL, is the body that serves as the general lighthouse authority for Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland and their adjacen ...
— Ireland (
Northern Ireland
Northern Ireland ( ga, Tuaisceart Éireann ; sco, label= Ulster-Scots, Norlin Airlann) is a part of the United Kingdom, situated in the north-east of the island of Ireland, that is variously described as a country, province or region. Nort ...
and
Republic of Ireland
Ireland ( ga, Éire ), also known as the Republic of Ireland (), is a country in north-western Europe consisting of 26 of the 32 counties of the island of Ireland. The capital and largest city is Dublin, on the eastern side of the island. A ...
)
*
Northern Lighthouse Board
The Northern Lighthouse Board (NLB) is the general lighthouse authority for Scotland and the Isle of Man. It is a non-departmental public body responsible for marine navigation aids around coastal areas.
History
The NLB was formed by Act of P ...
(formerly known as Commissioners for Northern Lights) — Scotland and the
Isle of Man
)
, anthem = "O Land of Our Birth"
, image = Isle of Man by Sentinel-2.jpg
, image_map = Europe-Isle_of_Man.svg
, mapsize =
, map_alt = Location of the Isle of Man in Europe
, map_caption = Location of the Isle of Man (green)
in Europe ...
Vessels
Ships
![THV Alert](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/e/e8/THV_Alert.jpg)
Trinity House vessels have the
ship prefix THV. three such vessels operate around the coast of England, Wales and the Channel Islands.
*
THV ''Patricia'' (1982) is an 86.3m Multi Functional Tender that carries out maintenance work on navigation aids, towing, wreck location and marking. She has a
helicopter-landing pad, a 20-tonne main crane and 28-tonne bollard pull and towing
winch
A winch is a mechanical device that is used to pull in (wind up) or let out (wind out) or otherwise adjust the tension of a rope or wire rope (also called "cable" or "wire cable").
In its simplest form, it consists of a spool (or drum) attach ...
.
*
THV ''Alert'' (2006) is a 39.3 m Rapid Intervention Vessel, able to respond rapidly to maritime incidents on the southeast coast of England. She is capable of buoy handling, wreck marking and towing. Fitted with multibeam and side scan hydrographic surveying capability and DP1 dynamic positioning, ''Alert'' can be utilised as a research platform with a large working deck.
*
THV ''Galatea'' (2007) is an 84m Multi Functional Tender with a helicopter-landing pad. Fitted with a range of high specification survey equipment and a 30-tonne capacity crane,
azimuthing propellers, two 750 kW bow thrusters and DP2 dynamic positioning, ''Galatea'' replaced the 1987-built THV ''Mermaid''.
Boats
Trinity House operates a number of small boats, mostly functioning as
ship's tender
A ship's tender, usually referred to as a tender, is a boat, or a larger ship, used to service or support other boats or ships. This is generally done by transporting people or supplies to and from shore or another ship.
A second and distinctl ...
s to the vessels in the section above. The historic right of Trinity House to escort the
sovereign when travelling by ship in
territorial waters
The term territorial waters is sometimes used informally to refer to any area of water over which a sovereign state has jurisdiction, including internal waters, the territorial sea, the contiguous zone, the exclusive economic zone, and potent ...
is still exercised on ceremonial occasions. On the River Thames and inland waterways the duty is carried out by the vessel designated ''Trinity House No 1 Boat'', a name which designates any boat assigned to this duty; a tender of THV ''Galatea'' is used for such ceremonial duties. However, for the
Thames Diamond Jubilee Pageant
The Thames Diamond Jubilee Pageant was a parade on 3 June 2012 of 670 boats on the Tideway of the River Thames in London as part of the celebrations of the Diamond Jubilee of Elizabeth II. The Queen, Prince Philip and other members of th ...
on 3 June 2012, this boat had the name "T.H. No 1 Boat" painted onto the bow (left and right sides) whilst carrying the Master (the Princess Royal) in the jubilee flotilla. On 8 November 2014, Trinity House entered a float into the annual
Lord Mayor's Show
The Lord Mayor's Show is one of the best-known annual events in London as well as one of the longest-established, dating back to the 13th century. A new lord mayor is appointed every year, and the public parade that takes place as his or her in ...
in the
City of London
The City of London is a city, ceremonial county and local government district that contains the historic centre and constitutes, alongside Canary Wharf, the primary central business district (CBD) of London. It constituted most of London fr ...
, consisting of a heavy low-loader lorry, with the ''Trinity House No 1 Boat'' mounted on the low-loader trailer as an exhibit.
Property
In addition to the maritime assets, the Corporation of Trinity House also owns two listed estates: one of predominantly residential buildings at Trinity Village in
Borough, London
Southwark ( ) is a district of Central London situated on the south bank of the River Thames, forming the north-western part of the wider modern London Borough of Southwark. The district, which is the oldest part of South London, developed d ...
; and a working farm at
Goxhill
__NOTOC__
Goxhill is a large village and civil parish in North Lincolnshire, England. The population of the civil parish taken at the 2011 census was 2,290. It is situated east from Barton-upon-Humber and north-west from Immingham.
Goxhill ...
, Lincolnshire. The rents from these properties form a substantial part of the corporation's income.
Other assets
Amongst other significant assets, Trinity House operates a
helicopter
A helicopter is a type of rotorcraft in which lift and thrust are supplied by horizontally spinning rotors. This allows the helicopter to take off and land vertically, to hover, and to fly forward, backward and laterally. These attributes ...
capable of landing on lighthouse and ship landing pads. From May 2011 to November 2015, the aircraft in principal use was an
MD Helicopters MD Explorer 902 owned by Police Aviation Services (PAS) and operated under lease. Since December 2015 a
Eurocopter EC135 G-GLAA owned and operated by PDG Aviation Services has fulfilled the role.
Ensign
The Ensign of Trinity House is a British
Red Ensign defaced with the shield of the coat of arms (a
St George's Cross
In heraldry, Saint George's Cross, the Cross of Saint George, is a red cross on a white background, which from the Late Middle Ages became associated with Saint George, the military saint, often depicted as a crusader.
Associated with the cru ...
with a sailing ship in each quarter). The Master and Deputy Master each have their own flags.
When escorting the sovereign, Trinity House vessels may fly the
White Ensign
The White Ensign, at one time called the St George's Ensign due to the simultaneous existence of a cross-less version of the flag, is an ensign worn on British Royal Navy ships and shore establishments. It consists of a red St George's Cross ...
.
[
]
File:Trinity House Flag (pre-1937).svg, (pre-1937)
File:Trinity House Ensign (pre-1937).svg, Ensign (pre-1937)
File:Trinity House Master's Flag RMG RP-32-3-4.jpg, Master's
A master's degree (from Latin ) is an academic degree awarded by universities or colleges upon completion of a course of study demonstrating mastery or a high-order overview of a specific field of study or area of professional practice. Flag (1901-1937)
File:Trinity House Flag.svg, (1937–present)
File:Trinity House Ensign.svg, Ensign (1937–present)
See also
*
Her Majesty's Coastguard
His Majesty's Coastguard (HMCG) is a section of the Maritime and Coastguard Agency responsible, through the Secretary of State for Transport to Parliament, for the initiation and co-ordination of all maritime search and rescue (SAR) within the ...
*
Northern Lighthouse Board
The Northern Lighthouse Board (NLB) is the general lighthouse authority for Scotland and the Isle of Man. It is a non-departmental public body responsible for marine navigation aids around coastal areas.
History
The NLB was formed by Act of P ...
*
Commissioners of Irish Lights
The Commissioners of Irish Lights ( ga, Coimisinéirí Soilse na hÉireann), often shortened to Irish Lights or CIL, is the body that serves as the general lighthouse authority for Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland and their adjacen ...
*
IALA – The International Association of Lighthouse Authorities
*
List of oldest companies
*Two other institutions, with a similar history and longevity, are licensed for the examination and licensing of deep-sea pilots in England:
**
Hull Trinity House
The Hull Trinity House, locally known as ''Trinity House'', is a seafaring organisation consisting of a charity for seafarers, a school, and a guild of mariners. The guild originated as a religious guild providing support and almshouses for the n ...
**
Newcastle-upon-Tyne Trinity House
Newcastle-upon-Tyne Trinity House is a private corporation in Newcastle upon Tyne which emerged in the 16th century as a guild formed by the City's seafarers. For the past 500 years it has occupied premises in Broad Chare on the Newcastle's Quay ...
*
Trinity House National Lighthouse Museum
*
National Coastwatch Institution
The National Coastwatch Institution is a voluntary organisation and registered charity providing a visual watch along the UK's coasts, and is not to be confused with HM Coastguard.
History
The National Coastwatch Institution (NCI) was found ...
voluntary organisation coverering England and Wales
*
Lightvessels in the United Kingdom
The history of the many lightvessel stations of Great Britain goes back over 250 years to the placement of the world's first lightship at the Nore in the early 18th century.
A lightvessel station is a named position at which a lightvessel was pl ...
Notes
References
The Corporation of the Hull Trinity House, established 1369.The Newcastle Trinity House.europilots.org.uk
*"A fortnight in Egypt at the opening of the Suez Canal," London : Smith and Ebbs, 1869. Written by Captain Sir Frederick Arrow
eputy Master of Trinity House
External links
Trinity House official websitePhotos of vessels1685 Royal Charter of Trinity HouseTrinity Hospital, Mile End – Survey of London, Monograph 1
{{Authority control
1514 establishments in England
Grade I listed buildings in the City of London
Department for Transport
Lighthouse organizations
National government buildings in London
Non-departmental public bodies of the United Kingdom government
Organisations based in the City of London
Water transport in England
Water transport in Wales