21 Facts About Trinity House

1.

Trinity House is a maritime charity, 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.

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2.

Previous Masters of Trinity House have included: Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh, Vice-Admiral of England Thomas Spert, master of the warship Henry Grace a Dieu under Henry VIII; the diarist Samuel Pepys; William Pitt the Younger; Field Marshal the Duke of Wellington; and Admiral William Penn.

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3.

Trinity House gained his status as an Elder Brother of Trinity House as a result of his position as First Lord of the Admiralty before and during the First World War.

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4.

Trinity House is ruled by a court of thirty-one Elder Brethren, presided over by a Master.

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5.

Headquarters of the corporation is the present Trinity House, which was designed by architect Samuel Wyatt and built in 1796.

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6.

Trinity House took over the management of all public buoys in the kingdom in 1594 from the Lord High Admiral.

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7.

In 1836, Trinity House accepted powers to levy out the last private lighthouse owners and began refurbishing and upgrading its lighthouse estate.

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8.

In December 2002, Trinity House announced that the Great Yarmouth, Penzance and East Cowes depots would close.

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9.

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.

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10.

Trinity House pilots were responsible for all commercial vessels involved and many of the service vessels.

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11.

In 1969, Trinity House initiated the debut of helicopter reliefs to and from offshore lighthouses, succeeding the boat reliefs.

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12.

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.

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13.

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.

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14.

Trinity House was aboard Trinity House Motor Boat No 1 during the Diamond Jubilee procession.

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15.

Contrary to popular belief, Trinity House is not part of HM Coastguard, although it does work closely with the Maritime and Coastguard Agency.

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16.

Trinity House maintains 65 lighthouses ranging from isolated rock towers like the Eddystone to mainland towers like Southwold lighthouse.

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17.

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.

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18.

Trinity House operates a number of small boats, mostly functioning as ship's tenders to the vessels in the section above.

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19.

On 8 November 2014, Trinity House entered a float into the annual Lord Mayor's Show in the City of London, consisting of a heavy low-loader lorry, with the Trinity House No 1 Boat mounted on the low-loader trailer as an exhibit.

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20.

Amongst other significant assets, Trinity House operates a helicopter capable of landing on lighthouse and ship landing pads.

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21.

Ensign of Trinity House is a British Red Ensign defaced with the shield of the coat of arms.

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