One of Britain’s most interesting historic boat vessels last manned Trinity House pirate BBC radio mi Amigo Lightvessel
LV18 is the last of the manned lightships to be kept intact. The 114', 581 grt. vessel was built by Phillips of Dartmouth in 1958 for Trinity House. With a crew of nine, the ship served on some of the more exposed stations until 1993. It is now owned by the Pharos Trust, which is restoring it at Harwich. Since 1999 it has been used for licensed offshore broadacasting as Radio North Sea International, Radio Caroline, Radio Mi Amigo and twice as Pirate BBC Essex in 2004 and 2007. On the latter of those occasions the station ran for a week on the 40th anniversay of the Marine Offences Act, which made pirate radio illegal. On that occasion several of the original pirate broadcasters transmitted around the clock, with Johnny Walker, Dave Cash, Emperor Roscoe and others familiar to those whose musical memories came from outside territorial waters.
Size: 4088px × 6144px
Location: Harwich, Essex
Photo credit: © Yon Marsh / Alamy / Afripics
License: Licensed
Model Released: No
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