With GPS systems and other geographical technology being as sophisticated as it now is, do lighthouses still serve an integral purpose? Are they more now just in case the captain/crew lapses on the monitoring of navigation systems? Obviously lighthouses are more immediate and I guess tangible, but do they still fulfil a purpose beyond mitigating basic human error?
In: 5120
[deleted]
Boats and ships still hit rocks.. with lighthouses.
More boats and ships would probably hit rocks without lighthouses.
I have a friend who is a captain with the Canadian coat Guard. He says that they are experimenting with virtual light buouys and lighthouses. Channel markers and such. Most if not all large vessels have computer navigation with so much redundancy that the lights aren’t needed. Part of his job is servicing the lights. Virtual ones will save a ton of money. Inshore small vessels still use them of course but less and less. My brother in law is a urchin diver. He has a small boat that spends a lot of time very close to shore but even he navigates with his laptop.
Look up the coastline of Maine on a map. There’s a reason Maine and New England are known for lighthouses. There are a lot of islands and the underwater topography is chaotic. Lighthouses serve a very needed function.
[deleted]
Boats and ships still hit rocks.. with lighthouses.
More boats and ships would probably hit rocks without lighthouses.
Outside of still serving a purpose for yachtsman it still serves a great purpose for commercial trades as well. Signals are often blocked or jammed and we rely heavily on landmarks and lights to navigate safely as often the signal is jammed along the coastlines which are also the busiest sailing areas.
Within western europe the GPS signal is stable as long as a war doesnt break out. Outside of that tho in areas as the med, black sea, red sea etc etc the signal is very often not stable / jammed
Source: am a mercant navy captain
I don’t even boat and I know the answer. But I’m in technology: I watch systems fail all day long and I get to sit there and say “where’s your failover plan?” And people just don’t fucking know what to say.
You could put gps in every floating object and you’d still want lighthouses: Electrical short, dead battery -‘d no gas, Smashed gps device. Human error. Sabotage. The only truth I know in life is that shit happens, so you better have a plan.
Anyone on a boat can look up and see a massive beam of light cutting across the sky, or hear the deafening boom of a foghorn and know “oh shit I gotta get outta here!”
Think of it as a last line of defense.
Look up the coastline of Maine on a map. There’s a reason Maine and New England are known for lighthouses. There are a lot of islands and the underwater topography is chaotic. Lighthouses serve a very needed function.
I have my boating license and I can say I’ve been on plenty of boats with no GPS lol, plus obviously, smaller boats which basically are just a motor strapped to a hull
Latest Answers