New light tower

Press, Volume CXII, Issue 32880, 1 April 1972, Page 12

New light tower

The lightships that used to mark a dangerous shoal some miles off the south coast of England, near the big seaside resort of Eastbourne, have been replaced by a futuristiclooking new light tower—the Royal Sovereign. Sally Atkins described it for 8.8. C. listeners. The new tower looks nothing like the traditional lighthouse, but more like the head of a great square bolt rising up out of the sea. It has a large platform on which helicopters can land, even in a full gale, and at one comer stands the squat, circular tower which carries the powerful revolving searchlight. The helicopter landing area forms the roof of the crew’s living quarters, and the stem of the bolt-like tower has a small platform round Utt just above sea level, so that the crew can come in?by boat, but usually they'fly in by helicopter, / The tower was built in two sections. First, the base was towed out and sunk in the seabed. Then the accommodation deck and helicopter platform was floated out and positioned over it. The telescopic inner tube of the base was jacked up and the two pieces fitted together and fixed permanently with a concrete collar. This modem construction, however still has one link with the past. Before the last lightship pulled away, it handed over the Order Book, in which are recorded all the events and incidents on the shoal since 1875.