Name North Carr

1.   What is the vessel’s ability to demonstrate history in her physical fabric? Evidence for designs, functions, techniques, processes, styles, customs and habits or uses and associations in relation to events and people.  How early, intact or rare these features are may impact on significance.

North Carr light vessel was designed by DA Stevenson, one of a family of lighthouse engineers, and is of iron and steel construction, riveted throughout.  She has retained a high level of originality and remains in the same configuration as when she ceased service, including the radio beacon which was installed in 1954 and the watch house from 1956. Her onboard windlass and mooring arrangements are still in place and equipment remains as fitted or in accordance with alterations during service.  Her original oil-fired galley stove, water pump, radio, electrical and firefighting equipment, fridge, battery room, crew’s quarters, furniture and master’s accommodation all survive.  The engine room machinery has been kept, including the original switchboard.  Her two original ship’s lifeboats also remain with the vessel. Advances in technology are reflected in innovations across her service life in terms of radio communications, the transition from paraffin fuel to diesel of her three Russell Newbury motors, clarity of the vessel’s light and installation of internal toilets.  A steam boiler was fitted to blow weed from the sea water engine cooling inlets. 

2.   What are the vessel’s associational links for which there is no physical evidence?

Associations with people or places.  Off-ship research.

Designed for the Commissioners of the Northern Lighthouse, built on the Clyde by A&J Inglis and launched in 1933, North Carr has significant associations for Scotland where she is believed to be the last remaining light vessel and one of only two which served in Scottish waters.  With 36 years of service on station, she presents a tangible link with the history of pilotage in the Tay Estuary dating back to the 16th Century and the dangers to ships from the rocks at Fifeness.  She played a vital role in the Second World War, when she was temporarily moved to act as a guide for ships entering the Clyde, safeguarding the Atlantic convoys and the great Cunard liners Queen Elizabeth and Queen Mary, bringing as many as 15,000 American troops at a time for the invasion of Europe.  In 1942, she marked the outbound route for 334 ships carrying 70,000 men bound for Operation Torch, the Anglo-American landing in North Africa. In 1943, the outbound assault convoy for the Allied invasion of Sicily, Operation Husky, passed by the lightship. She also saw her share of enemy action while in the North Channel, notably in January 1945 when the German u-boat U-1172 was hidden underneath her whilst torpedoing a tanker and aircraft carrier.  North Carr has particularly strong links to Edinburgh and East Neuk of Fife from where her crew members were recruited, and which fell within range of her horn.  She also offers a physical memorial to the crew of the Broughty Ferry lifeboat, Mona, who tragically lost their lives in 1959 whilst trying to secure her, after the anchor cable snapped and she drifted off station in a storm.  Having now been berthed in Dundee since 1995, she has connections with the waterfront area, as well as with Anstruther, where she was based as a static museum between 1976 and 1993.  North Carr is well documented with photographs and handwritten accounts held by the Northern Lighthouse Board Archive.  The original mirror and prisms from her light are now in museum storage.  She has been recorded on the National Register of Historic Vessels since 1996 and is a member of the National Historic Fleet.

3.   How does the vessel’s shape or form combine and contribute to her function?

North Carr has a strong hull constructed of iron below and steel above the waterline which was designed to withstand the North Sea weather and sea conditions. Painted bright red and equipped with a light situated 40 feet above sea level and a directional foghorn with a range of ten miles, she was fit for purpose as a warning to seafarers. Today, her hull shape, colour and dominating light tower has a popular appeal, being associated with saving lives at sea. Her engine room space was given over to three generators which powered the light, and three compressors for working the foghorn. Another important aspect was the chain locker, which housed two spare cables, as well as the slack from the chain of the anchor which held her in place. She was crewed by seven men at any one time with the galley acting as a focal point for life onboard. The separations between the crew quarters and master’s accommodation reflect class distinctions of the era.  North Carr is currently located in the Victoria Dock at Dundee in static preservation.

Author:

National Historic Ships UK, 21 November 2023