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Displaying items by tag: Last Lanby

The decommissioned Codling Bank (Lanby) buoy is no longer in the water but rests firmly on a quayside in Dublin Port, writes Jehan Ashmore. In late July  the Commissioners of Irish Lights withdrew the Lanby (Large Automated Navigation Buoy) was towed by the tender ILV Granuaile to the Coal Quay where the Lanby was hoisted out of the water.

The Lanby neighbours the adjacant Hammond Lane Company which is due to demolish the structure for scrapping. The removal of the Lanby, the last to serve in Irish waters, completes the withdrawal of Major Floating Aids to Navigation (MFAs) that also consisted of Lightships.

The Lanby was replaced with a Type 1 buoy to mark the Codling Bank offshore of Arklow. The new aids to navigation buoy has a focal in excess of 5-metres is fitted with a racon and Automatic Identification System (AIS).

Apart from loading scrap-metal the Coal Quay is also used by vessels for dry-cargoes trades such as animal feed, re-cycled glass and fertiliser.

The_decommissioned_Codling_Bank_Lanby_on_the_Coal_Quay_Dublin_on_8_August_awaiting_demolition_Photo_Jehan__Ashmore_ShipSNAPS

The decommissioned Codling Bank Lanby on the Coal Quay Dublin on 8 August awaiting demolition. Photo: Jehan Ashmore

Published in Lighthouses

About Commander Bill King, Solo Circumnavigator

William Donald Aelian King was the last surviving submarine commander in the Second World War - in charge of the British Navy's T-class Telemachus that sank a Japanese sub in the Strait of Malacca, between Malaysia and Sumatra, in 1944.

Decorated many times for his service by the end of the war, King became a trailblazing solo sailor.

At the age of 58, he was the oldest participant in The Sunday Times Golden Globe Race sailing Galway Blazer II, a junk-rigged schooner he designed himself.

After a number of abortive attempts, including an incident with "a large sea creature", he finally completed his solo circumnavigation of the globe in 1973.

Beyond his aquatic escapades, King settled with his wife Anita (who died in 1984, aged 70) at Oranmore Castle outside Galway after the war, where he later developed a pioneering organic farm and garden to help tackle his wife's asthma.

The round-the-world sailor and Galway native Bill King died on Friday, 21 September, 2012, aged 102.