Video

History: Lamp-Lighters Of The Sea (1961) | British Pathé


published on 18 May 2020 -  97 -

Found on YouTube, Created by "British Pathé"
Sailors are seen demonstrating the process of maintaining lightships, boats that acts as anchored lighthouses, and the 'street lamps of the sea' , buoys, in this colourful footage from 1961.

For Archive Licensing Enquiries Visit: https://goo.gl/W4hZBv
Explore Our Online Channel For FULL Documentaries, Fascinating Interviews & Classic Movies: https://goo.gl/7dVe8r

#BritishPathé #History #Sea #Ocean #Sailor #Ships #Boats

Subscribe to the British Pathé YT Channel: https://goo.gl/hV1nkf

(FILM ID:139.15)
Harwich, Essex.

Various shots of a Trinity House ship, The Vestal, leaving the harbour. It moves out to the Thames Estuary and moors alongside a light ship called 'Tongue'(yes, really!). Various shots as the anchor chain on the light ship is pulled in and replaced with a new one. Our ship pulls away from the light ship and moves off to find some buoys, "those street lamps of the sea".

Various navigation shots; a man on the bridge plots the course; C/U of the course being marked on a map. The Captain signals to the engine room as the ship approaches a buoy in the sea. Two men stand on the buoy and attach a winch to it; the buoy is hoisted aboard.

Several shots show the cleaning of the hanging buoy; seaweed and mussels are sloughed off the base, chain and anchor and thrown back into the sea. The cleaned buoy is then lowered back into the water.

Note: there is no print for this issue. Correspondence on file about the filming of this story between Pathe and Trinity House, plus notes on the sequences filmed.

Cuts exist - see separate record.

BRITISH PATHÉ'S STORY
Before television, people came to movie theatres to watch the news. British Pathé was at the forefront of cinematic journalism, blending information with entertainment to popular effect. Over the course of a century, it documented everything from major armed conflicts and seismic political crises to the curious hobbies and eccentric lives of ordinary people. If it happened, British Pathé filmed it.

Now considered to be the finest newsreel archive in the world, British Pathé is a treasure trove of 85,000 films unrivalled in their historical and cultural significance.

British Pathé also represents the Reuters historical collection, which includes more than 136,000 items from the news agencies Gaumont Graphic (1910-1932), Empire News Bulletin (1926-1930), British Paramount (1931-1957), and Gaumont British (1934-1959), as well as Visnews content from 1957 to the end of 1984. All footage can be viewed on the British Pathé website. https://www.britishpathe.com/
Harwich, Essex.
What's your opinion on this?
Login or register to write comments and join the discussion!
Read more...

Video Maritime Piloting in the 17th-Century

published on 25 June 2022

Many people wonder how ships made it across entire oceans without getting lost in the seventeenth century. Aaron introduces seventeenth century navigation to us today by beginning with piloting.

0

Video Look at Life - City of Sailors - Portsmouth - 1965, UK

published on 18 March 2021

Look at Life - City of Sailors - Portsmouth - 1965
Portsmouth is no longer the sea-faring city it once was; this film from the Documentary Series "Look At Life" Volume 5 - Cultural Heritage in 1965 looks at its changing face.

0

Video British Sea Pilot's 1960: Vintage History Vault Films.

published on 27 July 2026

Step back in time to the height of Britain's maritime influence with this look at the unsung heroes of the shipping industry: the sea pilots. In the 1960s, as global trade patterns shifted and shipping technology began its rapid evolution, British sea pilots remained the vital, trusted guides navigating the world’s most complex waterways. From the treacherous currents of the River Mersey to the bustling ports of the coast, these men held the legal conduct of massive vessels in their hands,...

1

Video Amazing drone video: Berthing a 230m Bulker in Puerto Brisas (Colombia)

published on 5 April 2020

Using two, 66TBP tugs to assist in berthing the 90,000 GT bulker “Jin Weng Feng”. The port is “Puerto Brisas” at La Guajira, Colombia. The vessel is turned to port just outside the berth limits due to limited room in the basin with enough depth. Then she’s backed in.

0

Video Ever Forward Versus Ever Given Grounding & Salvage | What's Going on With Shipping?

published on 23 March 2022

On this episode of What's Going On With Shipping, Sal Mercogliano - former merchant mariner and maritime historian at Campbell University - we compare and constrast the grounding and salvage of MV Ever Forward (March 13, 2022) with that of MV Ever Given (March 23, 2021).

0

Video The Halifax Explosion Inquiry Blamed One Pilot. Two Courts Disagreed

published on 1 September 2026

A French munitions ship and a Norwegian steamer collided in Halifax harbour in December 1917, and the blast that followed remains the largest human-made explosion before the atomic bomb. Within six days, a formal inquiry opened — and within two months it placed nearly all the blame on one harbour pilot. Wreck Commissioner Arthur Drysdale's inquiry found Mont-Blanc's pilot and captain responsible for the collision that triggered the disaster, and all three men involved, including a naval...

0

Opinion How to recognise a fake pilot ladder

by Gary Clay - published on 4 May 2023

A counterfeit ladder is a pilot ladder that purports to be a genuine approved ladder, from a manufacturer that has been certified by an approved body in the manufacture of pilot ladders to a certified standards.

1

Video The Maryland Pilots between 1950-1965 (a journey through time)

published on 26 March 2020

The Maryland Pilots have guided ships to and from Baltimore since the 1700's. They have been chartered as an organization since 1852. This is an edited except from films about the Pilots shot between 1950-1965 for the Port that Built a City and State. The original films are in the archives of the Baltimore Museum of Industry.

0

Video Remotely operated Vessel by Seafar - Bridge Passage Watertruck X

published on 30 June 2021

Drone visuals of a bridge passage of a remotely controlled barge on the Plassendale Canal (Ostend). The vessel is controlled by a captain in the Seafar Control Center in Antwerp (100km away). All operations are approved by the Flemish Waterway Authorities. Want to know more? www.seafar.eu info@seafar.eu

0