The Helwick Lightship Leaves Cardiff Bay. - News Article Locations on Waymarking.com

From the Penarth Times; May 15 2015.
"The ship was originally built in Devon for Trinity House in 1953 and performed lightship service at several locations including Kentish Knock in the Thames estuary, Cowes (Isle of Wight), Scarweather (Swansea Bay) and Morecambe Bay before her final assignment off Rhossili, on the Gower peninsula where she warned shipping of the dangerous Helwick sandbank.

The lightship was withdrawn from service in 1989 but in 1993 was bought and restored, with support from Cardiff Bay Development Corporation and renamed “Lightship 2000” to function as a floating meeting-place and café for local churches. At one time – before the development of Cardiff Bay – it was the only place to get anything to eat in the area.

The starboard side of the lightship maintained her original appearance.

The trustees managing the vessel had to close it down a couple of years ago . One said it just didn’t attract enough paying customers . Even though the large ship is brightly painted in red, her berth became almost totally obscured by a high hedge. When a meeting was convened to discuss her future in December 2013 only one person turned up.

The ship was moored in Cardiff Docks free of charge, the light on the top of the ship’s light-tower still works and the engines apparently still run and generate electricity, but regulations meant the ship needed to be dry-docked for hull checks and operational overheads have swamped the income .

Today at around noon the ship will be moved away from the berth she has occupied for over 20 years and on Monday morning at 05:00 will be towed out to sea past Penarth – destination Sharpness , future unknown." (visit link) & (visit link)

Type of publication: Internet Only When was the article reported?: 05/15/2015 Publication: The Penarth Daily News Article Url: [Web Link] Is Registration Required?: no How widespread was the article reported?: local News Category: Society/People

Visit Instructions:
Give the date of your visit at the news location along with a description of what you learned or experienced.

Recent Visits/Logs:

Date Logged Log User Rating   04/27/2016 veritas vita visited it