I’ve been listening to a podcast where they cover the mystery of the Flannan Island lighthouse and it struck me that i’ve never actually understood how a lighthouse works other than shining a beam of light at the ocean? How do the ships know what do and how to steer through the water?
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Around the North Sea at least it is common to have sectored lights where there is a white beam on the safe passage and red and green beams to the sides. Stray into those and you know which way you need to turn to get back to safe water.
Others just flash a known pattern so you can identify them. If you can take compass bearings to two lights you can plot your position on a chart.
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