The Lighthouse Directory is a personal research project that is based on the use of Internet resources. Armed with the search engines of Google.com and the BabelFish translators of Altavista.com, I explore the Web looking for knowledge about lighthouses around the world. This page includes some of the links I've found to be most useful.
Basic references
- The Lighthouse Explorer Database, maintained by Lighthouse Digest, is a parallel effort to inventory all the world's lighthouses. It's not a competitor; this site and the Database are designed to complement each other. The Digest also maintains the Doomsday List of endangered U.S. lighthouses.
- The ARLHS World List of Lights, maintained by the Amateur Radio Lighthouse Society (ARLHS), is a huge catalog of navigational aids covering all countries, although it does not provide any descriptive information.
- The NGA List of Lights, an official light list describing navigational aids in all countries except the U.S., is published in seven volumes by the U.S. National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency (NGA). The list can be queried or downloaded from NGA's Maritime Safety Information page. To find it, click on "Publications," select the NGA List of Lights from the drop-down menu, and then select the desired volume. Click on "View" to download all or parts of each volume in Adobe PDF format.
- The U.S. Coast Guard Light List, covering lights of the U.S. and its territories, is also published in seven volumes and can be downloaded in Adobe PDF format from the USCG Navigation Center. Click on any of the Coast Guard Districts shown on the map to download the list for that area.
- For Canada, the List of Lights, Buoys, and Fog Signals, published in four volumes by Fisheries and Oceans Canada, can be downloaded in Adobe PDF or Microsoft Word DOC format.
- The British Admiralty List of Lights (ALL) is a traditional reference for mariners worldwide. Unfortunately, the ALL cannot be viewed online or downloaded, although the Admiralty's weekly Notices to Mariners can be searched for information on recent changes to lights.
Eagle Bluff Light, Door County,
Wisconsin, U.S.A.,May 2009
Creative Commons photo
by Christopher Franklin