False Navigation Lights Abatement Act

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My dictionary of ships & the sea refers to an important British Maritime Law that gives the authorities the right to order the extinguishing of any lights on coastal private property , indoors or outdoors, that shipping could possibly mistake for lighthouse lights. If a brightly lit party in a house or garden close to cliffs and dangerous rocks could be mistaken for lighthouse signals that could cause shipping to divert, potentially onto the rocks, someone might well knock on the door to make the people within put the lights out. Up to the late 19th century smuggler wrecking crews deliberately set up false lights to lure ships onto sandbanks and rocks so they could steal the cargo. Nowadays it is more likely to be drunken revellers, unaware that their sparkly lights are creating a misleading signal, though sat-nav systems on ships make many lighthouses redundant anyhow. Youtube Nickel Creek - The Lighthouse 's Tale, a sad song about a lighthouse that laments the death of its owner, who commits suicide over the death of his lover. Arthur Chappell