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Displaying items by tag: Skulmartin Buoy

The Commissioners of Irish Lights has, in the Notice to Mariners 05/2020, given notice that on 30th October or as soon as circumstances permitted, the existing Skulmartin Buoy off the north County Down coast, is to be repositioned.

The existing position is Lat 54deg 31.848' N - Long 005deg 24.910' W and the new position is Lat 54° 32.393'N Long 005° 24.910'W.

The dangerous Skulmartin Rocks off the village of Ballywalter were marked by a 'bell boat' in the late 1870s which was replaced by the manned Skulmartin Light vessel in 1886.

The manned Skulmartin Light vessel of 1886The manned Skulmartin Light vessel of 1886

This, in turn, was replaced by a lit whistle buoy in June 1967 and on 6th December 2004, the wave activated whistle fog signal was permanently discontinued.

Published in Lighthouses

William M Nixon has been writing about sailing in Ireland and internationally for many years, with his work appearing in leading sailing publications on both sides of the Atlantic. He has been a regular sailing columnist for four decades with national newspapers in Dublin, and has had several sailing books published in Ireland, the UK, and the US. An active sailor, he has owned a number of boats ranging from a Mirror dinghy to a Contessa 35 cruiser-racer, and has been directly involved in building and campaigning two offshore racers. His cruising experience ranges from Iceland to Spain as well as the Caribbean and the Mediterranean, and he has raced three times in both the Fastnet and Round Ireland Races, in addition to sailing on two round Ireland records. A member for ten years of the Council of the Irish Yachting Association (now the Irish Sailing Association), he has been writing for, and at times editing, Ireland's national sailing magazine since its earliest version more than forty years ago