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[Inkmark]

Hi Guys
Does anyone know why the early steam drifters had their navigation lights on swing out boards on the accommodation aft?
Later drifters had lights on the wheelhouse sides of roof as you would expect but not the early ones.
Cheers
Mark

[Shipmate60]

The early ones had parafin lamps so they needed regular filling.

Bob

[Inkmark]

Bob
Good idea.
My family has been in sailing barges and motor barges for generations and they mostly used oil lamps.
My own experience of motor barges is that you light the lamp in the wheelhouse,
lower a window and fit it to the board so I don't think oil was the primary reason.
Cheers
Mark

[farrow]

I think Shipmate60 was right, it is easier to get at the lightboards when they are swung in, than trying to reach out to them. An yes in my early life I filled lite and trimmed lights, usually under cover so that the matches did not blow out. But trying to stretch out to the lamps on a moving hull, not easy and also a lot of the early cabs where narrow, so you had to swing the boards out so that they could be seen with a decent space between.