Light House Cyclopedia

Question 11 ：Supply to lighthouses

A:
The Department Of Marine Affairs has been established under the Customs of the Ching Dynasty s ince 1868 . The department is responsible for construction and maintenance of Aids to Navigation facilities. Lighthouses are located either in the remote hilltop, or at the coast near shoals. There are few inhabitants or visitors in those poor and secluded places. To keep lighthouses in working order, the Customs sends supply vessels to supply necessary lighting facilities and daily necessities for lighthouse keepers, and exchange staff twice a year regularly. The system still exists.
There are no well docks or landing equipment near lighthouses. Therefore, crews for the supply task should be experienced and mastery of local terrain, tide and water depth. The Yunsing Lighthouse Supply Vessel is in charge of this tough supply task at present.
The Yunsing Lighthouse Supply Vessel, built by China Shipbuilding Corp. in Taiwan on December 21 st , 1987, weighs 964.21 metric tons, and measures 65 meters in length and 10 meters in width. The draft reaches more than 4 meters, and tonnage weighs 900 shipping tons. The speed can reach 16.5 knots per house at most. There are around 50 crews, small arms and two 2-tonnage boats on the vessels. They are responsible to carry routine supplements to offshore islands, and conduct anti-smuggling tasks. They also need to deliver supplements to all lighthouses in Taiwan on a large scale every May and September.
Before setting off for the supply task, the captain has to collect Marine Meteorology Data for the climate changes in order to make sure the sailing date and any details related to the supply task.
The supply crews have to fill up the fuel oil, prepare foods, file up supplement items, and separate the stuff by lighthouses or supplying order when loading them.
When the Yunsing Lighthouse Supply Vessel reaches the nearby sea area, it would the drop anchor right away. Then crews use the boats to send fuel oil and other goods to the dock. After that, porters move them from the dock to the lighthouse. According to the rules, the supply vessel has to raise the flag of the ship to make itself known by the control tower of the Harbor Bureau when harboring and leaving the port. Besides, when berthing at the dock, the vessel has to raise the Customs flag. When boats are carrying supplements to the fishing port, the crews have to hang up the national flag in the stern of the boats to make themselves known by Coast Guard Administration staff.
All in all, it is tough to perform supply task by Yunsing Lighthouse Supply Vessel, partly because of hardship of the journey and partly because of long-time dangerous sailing and attacks of wave against anchoring. As an old saying goes, “ Traveling on the hard road in Sihcuan is harder than scaling the blue sky .” While I think anyone who experienced this difficult supply task would agree that it is harder to perform the supply task than traveling on the hard road in Sihcuan. Maybe lighthouse keepers and those supply crews could appreciate each other for their nameless efforts when they meet.

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