1.
Smeaton's Tower
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Smeatons Tower is the third and most notable Eddystone Lighthouse. It marked a step forward in lighthouse design. In use from 1759 to 1877, it was dismantled and rebuilt on Plymouth Hoe in Plymouth, Devon, where it now stands as a memorial to its designer, John Smeaton. The Royal Society recommended Smeaton for the task, and he modelled the lighthouse on an oak tree and he rediscovered the use of hydraulic lime, a form of concrete used in Roman times. The technique allowed concrete to set under water, as Smeaton put granite blocks using dovetail joints. Construction started in 1756 at a site in Millbay, where Smeaton built a jetty, timber rails of 3 ft 6 in gauge were laid for four-wheeled flat trucks, which were used to move masonry around the site. A 10-ton ship named the Eddystone Boat was based here, the ship carried the 2¼-ton foundation stone out in the morning of 12 June 1756. The work was completed in August 1759 at a cost of £40,000, many Cornish tin miners were employed in its construction. To avoid the possibility of press ganging, a practice which was common at the time, each worker was issued a medal to confirm he was a worker at the lighthouse. The lighthouse was 72 feet high, and had a diameter at the base of 26 feet, after the structure was completed, the lighthouses 24 candles were lit on 16 October 1759. Each candle weighed between 2 pounds and 5 pounds, a timepiece placed alongside the light was set to chime every half-hour, alerting the lighthouse keeper to the need to replace expired candles. The lighthouse candles were replaced by oil lamps and reflectors from 1810, further major renovations were carried out in 1841 by engineer Henry Norris, including the filling of a hole in the rock close to the towers foundation. The lighthouse remained in use until 1877, when it was discovered that rocks upon which it stood were becoming eroded, each time a large wave hit, the lighthouse shook from side to side. Smeatons Tower ceased operation in 1879 with the illumination of Douglasss Tower on an adjacent rock and it was opened to the public by the Mayor of Plymouth on 24 September 1884. The foundation and stub of the old tower remain on Eddystone Rocks, since the foundation proved too strong to be dismantled, the Victorians left it where it stood. The lighthouse was depicted on British penny coins from 1860 to 1894, an 1850 replica of Smeatons lighthouse, Hoad Monument, still stands above the town of Ulverston, Cumbria as a memorial to naval administrator Sir John Barrow. Smeatons Tower has been a Grade I-listed building since 1954 and it is open for visitors, who may climb 93 steps, including steep ladders, to the lantern room, and observe Plymouth Sound and the city. List of lighthouses in England Grade I listed buildings in Plymouth Smeatons Tower - official site
2.
Cornwall
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Cornwall is a ceremonial county and unitary authority area of England within the United Kingdom. It is bordered to the north and west by the Celtic Sea, to the south by the English Channel, Cornwall has a population of 551,700 and covers an area of 3,563 km2. Cornwall forms the westernmost part of the south-west peninsula of the island of Great Britain, and this area was first inhabited in the Palaeolithic and Mesolithic periods. It continued to be occupied by Neolithic and then Bronze Age peoples, there is little evidence that Roman rule was effective west of Exeter and few Roman remains have been found. In the mid-19th century, however, the tin and copper mines entered a period of decline, subsequently, china clay extraction became more important and metal mining had virtually ended by the 1990s. Traditionally, fishing and agriculture were the important sectors of the economy. Railways led to a growth of tourism in the 20th century, however, the area is noted for its wild moorland landscapes, its long and varied coastline, its attractive villages, its many place-names derived from the Cornish language, and its very mild climate. Extensive stretches of Cornwalls coastline, and Bodmin Moor, are protected as an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty, Cornwall is the homeland of the Cornish people and is recognised as one of the Celtic nations, retaining a distinct cultural identity that reflects its history. Some people question the present constitutional status of Cornwall, and a nationalist movement seeks greater autonomy within the United Kingdom in the form of a devolved legislative Cornish Assembly. On 24 April 2014 it was announced that Cornish people will be granted minority status under the European Framework Convention for the Protection of National Minorities. The modern English name Cornwall derives from the concatenation of two ancient demonyms from different linguistic traditions, Corn- records the native Brythonic tribe, the Cornovii. The Celtic word kernou is cognate with the English word horn. -wall derives from the Old English exonym walh, the Ravenna Cosmography first mentions a city named Purocoronavis in the locality. This is thought to be a rendering of Duro-cornov-ium, meaning fort of the Cornovii. The exact location of Durocornovium is disputed, with Tintagel and Carn Brea suggested as possible sites, in later times, Cornwall was known to the Anglo-Saxons as West Wales to distinguish it from North Wales. The name appears in the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle in 891 as On Corn walum, in the Domesday Book it was referred to as Cornualia and in c.1198 as Cornwal. Other names for the county include a latinisation of the name as Cornubia, the present human history of Cornwall begins with the reoccupation of Britain after the last Ice Age. The area now known as Cornwall was first inhabited in the Palaeolithic and Mesolithic periods and it continued to be occupied by Neolithic and then Bronze Age people. The Common Brittonic spoken at the time developed into several distinct tongues
3.
England
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England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west, the Irish Sea lies northwest of England and the Celtic Sea lies to the southwest. England is separated from continental Europe by the North Sea to the east, the country covers five-eighths of the island of Great Britain in its centre and south, and includes over 100 smaller islands such as the Isles of Scilly, and the Isle of Wight. England became a state in the 10th century, and since the Age of Discovery. The Industrial Revolution began in 18th-century England, transforming its society into the worlds first industrialised nation, Englands terrain mostly comprises low hills and plains, especially in central and southern England. However, there are uplands in the north and in the southwest, the capital is London, which is the largest metropolitan area in both the United Kingdom and the European Union. In 1801, Great Britain was united with the Kingdom of Ireland through another Act of Union to become the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland. In 1922 the Irish Free State seceded from the United Kingdom, leading to the latter being renamed the United Kingdom of Great Britain, the name England is derived from the Old English name Englaland, which means land of the Angles. The Angles were one of the Germanic tribes that settled in Great Britain during the Early Middle Ages, the Angles came from the Angeln peninsula in the Bay of Kiel area of the Baltic Sea. The earliest recorded use of the term, as Engla londe, is in the ninth century translation into Old English of Bedes Ecclesiastical History of the English People. According to the Oxford English Dictionary, its spelling was first used in 1538. The earliest attested reference to the Angles occurs in the 1st-century work by Tacitus, Germania, the etymology of the tribal name itself is disputed by scholars, it has been suggested that it derives from the shape of the Angeln peninsula, an angular shape. An alternative name for England is Albion, the name Albion originally referred to the entire island of Great Britain. The nominally earliest record of the name appears in the Aristotelian Corpus, specifically the 4th century BC De Mundo, in it are two very large islands called Britannia, these are Albion and Ierne. But modern scholarly consensus ascribes De Mundo not to Aristotle but to Pseudo-Aristotle, the word Albion or insula Albionum has two possible origins. Albion is now applied to England in a poetic capacity. Another romantic name for England is Loegria, related to the Welsh word for England, Lloegr, the earliest known evidence of human presence in the area now known as England was that of Homo antecessor, dating to approximately 780,000 years ago. The oldest proto-human bones discovered in England date from 500,000 years ago, Modern humans are known to have inhabited the area during the Upper Paleolithic period, though permanent settlements were only established within the last 6,000 years
4.
Foghorn
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A foghorn is a fog signal that uses sound to warn vehicles of navigational hazards, or boats of the presence of other vessels, in foggy conditions. The term is most often used in relation to marine transport, when visual navigation aids such as lighthouses are obscured, foghorns provide an audible warning of rock outcrops, shoals, headlands, or other dangers to shipping. All foghorns use a column of air to create an audible tone. Some horns, like the Daboll trumpet, used vibrating plates or metal reeds, others used air forced through holes in a revolving cylinder or disk, in the same manner as a siren. Audible fog signals have been used in one form or another for hundreds of years, at some lighthouses, a small cannon was let off periodically to warn away ships, but this had the obvious disadvantage of having to be fired manually throughout the whole period the fog persisted. In the United States, whistles were used where a source of steam power was available, though Trinity House. Throughout the 19th century efforts were made to automate the signalling process, Trinity House eventually developed a system for firing a gun-cotton charge electrically. However, the charge had to be replaced after each signal. Clockwork systems were developed for striking bells. Captain James William Newton claimed to have been the inventor of the fog signalling technique using loud, the first automated steam-powered foghorn was invented by Robert Foulis, a Scotsman who emigrated to Saint John, New Brunswick, Canada. Foulis repeatedly presented his concept to the Commissioners of Light Houses for the Bay of Fundy for installation on Partridge Island, while the Commissioners initially rejected Fouliss plan, one commissioner eventually encouraged Foulis to submit detailed plans to the Commission. For reasons unknown, the plans were given to another Canadian engineer, T. T. Vernon Smith, the foghorn was constructed at Partridge Island in 1859 as the Vernon-Smith horn. After protest by Foulis and an inquiry, Foulis was credited as the true inventor. Foulis, however, never patented or profited from his invention, the development of fog signal technology continued apace at the end of the 19th century. During the same period an inventor, Celadon Leeds Daboll, developed a coal-powered foghorn called the Daboll trumpet for the American lighthouse service, a few Daboll trumpets remained in use until the mid-20th century. In the United Kingdom, experiments to more effective foghorns were carried out by John Tyndall and Lord Rayleigh. One of the first automated fog bells was the Stevens Automatic Bell Striker, some later fog bells were placed under water, particularly in especially dangerous areas, so that their sound would be carried further and reverberate through the ships hull. For example, this technique was used at White Shoal Light and this was an earlier precursor to RACON
5.
United Kingdom Hydrographic Office
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The United Kingdom Hydrographic Office is located in Taunton, Somerset on Admiralty Way and has a workforce of approximately 1,000 staff. The UKHO is the UKs agency providing hydrographic and geospatial data to mariners and they are a trading arm of the Ministry of Defence. They are responsible for support to the Royal Navy and other defence customers. Supplying defence and the shipping industry, they help ensure Safety of Lives at Sea, protect the marine environment. Together with other national hydrographic offices and the International Hydrographic Organisation, they work to set and raise standards of hydrography, cartography. Their market-leading portfolio of ADMIRALTY Maritime Products & Services is found on over 90% of the ships trading internationally. Relied upon by mariners for over 200 years, their portfolio provides the most comprehensive range of SOLAS-compliant charts, publications and digital services to crews, cargo. The Admiraltys first Hydrographer was Alexander Dalrymple, appointed in 1795 on the order of King George III, the first chart Dalrymple published as Hydrographer to the ADMIRALTY brand did not appear until 1800. He also issued sailing directions and Notices to Mariners, Dalrymple was succeeded on his death in 1808 by Captain Thomas Hurd, under whose stewardship the department was given permission to sell charts to the public in 1821. In 1819 Captain Hurd entered into an agreement with Denmark to exchange charts. This is thought to be the earliest formal arrangement for the supply of information between the British and any foreign Hydrographic Office. Hurd developed the specialism of Royal Navy hydrographic surveyors, Rear-Admiral Sir W. Edward Parry was appointed Hydrographer in 1823 after his second expedition to discover a Northwest Passage. In 1825 some 736 charts and coastal views were being offered for sale by the Hydrographic Office, in 1828 Captain Parry and the Royal Society organised a scientific voyage to the South Atlantic, in collaboration with the Hydrographers of France and Spain, using HMS Chanticleer. In 1829, at the age of 55, Rear-Admiral Sir Francis Beaufort became Hydrographer, during his time as Hydrographer, he developed the eponymous Scale, saw the introduction of official tide tables in 1833 and instigated various surveys and expeditions. Several of these were by the HMS Beagle, including one to Tierra del Fuego, in 1831 Captain Beaufort informed Captain FitzRoy that he had found a savant for the latters surveying voyage to South America, Charles Darwin. After completing extensive surveys in South America she returned to Falmouth, Cornwall via New Zealand, by the time of Beauforts retirement in 1855, the Chart Catalogue listed 1,981 charts and 64,000 copies of them had been issued to the Royal Navy. In the 1870s the Hydrographic Service supported the Challenger expedition, an exercise that made many discoveries. The cruise was named after the vessel, HMS Challenger
6.
National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency
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NGA was known as the National Imagery and Mapping Agency until 2003. NGA headquarters is located at Fort Belvoir in Springfield, Virginia, the NGA campus, at 2.3 million square feet, is the third-largest government building in the Washington metropolitan area after The Pentagon and the Ronald Reagan Building. U. S. mapping and charting efforts remained relatively unchanged until World War I, using stereo viewers, photo-interpreters reviewed thousands of images. Many of these were of the target at different angles and times, giving rise to what became modern imagery analysis. The Engineer Reproduction Plant was the Army Corps of Engineerss first attempt to centralize mapping production, printing and it was located on the grounds of the Army War College in Washington, D. C. Previously, topographic mapping had largely been a function of individual field engineer units using field surveying techniques or copying existing or captured products, in addition, ERP assumed the supervision and maintenance of the War Department Map Collection, effective April 1,1939. With the advent of the Second World War aviation, field surveys began giving way to photogrammetry, photo interpretation, during wartime, it became increasingly possible to compile maps with minimal field work. Out of this emerged AMS, which absorbed the existing ERP in May 1942 and it was located at the Dalecarlia Site on MacArthur Blvd. just outside Washington, D. C. in Montgomery County, Maryland, and adjacent to the Dalecarlia Reservoir. AMS was designated as an Engineer field activity, effective July 1,1942, by General Order 22, OCE, the Army Map Service also combined many of the Armys remaining geographic intelligence organizations and the Engineer Technical Intelligence Division. The agencys credit union, Constellation Federal Credit Union, was chartered during the Army Map Service era and it has continued to serve all successive legacy agencies employees and their families. After the war, as capacity and range improved, the need for charts grew. The Army Air Corps established its map unit, which was renamed ACP in 1943 and was located in St. Louis, ACP was known as the U. S. Air Force Aeronautical Chart and Information Center from 1952 to 1972. A credit union was chartered for the ACP in 1948, called Aero Chart Credit Union and it was renamed Arsenal Credit Union in 1952, a nod to the St. Louis sites Civil War-era use as an arsenal. Shortly before leaving office in January 1961, President Dwight D. Eisenhower authorized the creation of the National Photographic Interpretation Center, lundahl, combining Central Intelligence Agency, Army, Navy, and Air Force assets to solve national intelligence problems. NPIC was a component of the CIAs Directorate of Science and Technology, NPIC first identified the Soviet Unions basing of missiles in Cuba in 1962. The Defense Mapping Agency was created on January 1,1972, dMAs birth certificate, DoD Directive 5105.40, resulted from a formerly classified Presidential directive, Organization and Management of the U. S. Foreign Intelligence Community, which directed the consolidation of mapping functions previously dispersed among the military services, DMA became operational on July 1,1972, pursuant to General Order 3, DMA. On Oct.1,1996, DMA was folded into the National Imagery, DMA was first headquartered at the United States Naval Observatory in Washington, D. C, then at Falls Church, Virginia
7.
Devon
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Devon, also known as Devonshire, which was formerly its common and official name, is a county of England, reaching from the Bristol Channel in the north to the English Channel in the south. It is part of South West England, bounded by Cornwall to the west, Somerset to the northeast, combined as a ceremonial county, Devons area is 6,707 km2 and its population is about 1.1 million. Devon derives its name from Dumnonia, which, during the British Iron Age, Roman Britain, the Anglo-Saxon settlement of Britain resulted in the partial assimilation of Dumnonia into the Kingdom of Wessex during the eighth and ninth centuries. The western boundary with Cornwall was set at the River Tamar by King Æthelstan in 936, Devon was constituted as a shire of the Kingdom of England thereafter. The north and south coasts of Devon each have both cliffs and sandy shores, and the bays contain seaside resorts, fishing towns. The inland terrain is rural, generally hilly, and has a low density in comparison to many other parts of England. Dartmoor is the largest open space in southern England at 954 km2, to the north of Dartmoor are the Culm Measures and Exmoor. In the valleys and lowlands of south and east Devon the soil is fertile, drained by rivers including the Exe, the Culm, the Teign, the Dart. As well as agriculture, much of the economy of Devon is linked with tourism, in the Brittonic, Devon is known as Welsh, Dyfnaint, Breton, Devnent and Cornish, Dewnens, each meaning deep valleys. One erroneous theory is that the suffix is due to a mistake in the making of the original letters patent for the Duke of Devonshire. However, there are references to Defenascire in Anglo-Saxon texts from before 1000 AD, the term Devonshire may have originated around the 8th century, when it changed from Dumnonia to Defenascir. Kents Cavern in Torquay had produced human remains from 30–40,000 years ago, Dartmoor is thought to have been occupied by Mesolithic hunter-gatherer peoples from about 6000 BC. The Romans held the area under occupation for around 350 years. Devon became a frontier between Brittonic and Anglo-Saxon Wessex, and it was absorbed into Wessex by the mid 9th century. This suggests the Anglo-Saxon migration into Devon was limited rather than a movement of people. The border with Cornwall was set by King Æthelstan on the east bank of the River Tamar in 936 AD, the arrival of William of Orange to launch the Glorious Revolution of 1688 took place at Brixham. Devon has produced tin, copper and other metals from ancient times, Devons tin miners enjoyed a substantial degree of independence through Devons Stannary Parliament, which dates back to the 12th century. The last recorded sitting was in 1748, agriculture has been an important industry in Devon since the 19th century
8.
Gneiss
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Gneiss is a common distributed type of rock formed by high-grade regional metamorphic processes from pre-existing formations that were originally either igneous or sedimentary rocks. The foliations are characterized by alternating darker and lighter colored bands, the word gneiss comes from the Middle High German verb gneist. It has occurred in English since at least 1757, gneissic rocks are usually medium- to coarse-foliated, they are largely recrystallized but do not carry large quantities of micas, chlorite or other platy minerals. Gneisses that are metamorphosed igneous rocks or their equivalent are termed granite gneisses, diorite gneisses, gneiss rocks may also be named after a characteristic component such as garnet gneiss, biotite gneiss, albite gneiss, etc. Orthogneiss designates a gneiss derived from a rock, and paragneiss is one from a sedimentary rock. Gneissose rocks have properties similar to gneiss, gneiss appears to be striped in bands, called gneissic banding. The banding is developed under high temperature and pressure conditions, the minerals are arranged into layers that appear as bands in cross section. The appearance of layers, called compositional banding, occurs because the layers, the darker bands have relatively more mafic minerals. The lighter bands contain relatively more felsic and these forces stretch out the rock like a plastic, and the original material is spread out into sheets. Another cause of banding is metamorphic differentiation, which separates different materials into different layers through chemical reactions, not all gneiss rocks have detectable banding. In kyanite gneiss, crystals of kyanite appear as random clumps in what is mainly a plagioclase matrix, henderson gneiss is found in North Carolina and South Carolina, US, east of the Brevard Shear Zone. It has deformed into two sequential forms, the second, more warped, form is associated with the Brevard Fault, and the first deformation results from displacement to the southwest. Most of the Outer Hebrides of Scotland have a formed from Lewisian gneiss. In addition to the Outer Hebrides, they form basement deposits on the Scottish mainland west of the Moine Thrust and on the islands of Coll and Tiree. These rocks are igneous in origin, mixed with metamorphosed marble, quartzite and mica schist with later intrusions of basaltic dikes. Gneisses of Archean and Proterozoic age occur in the Baltic Shield, in antiquity, gneisses were also utilized in architectural construction. They were used to erect the Sphinx of Taharqo in the Nile Valley, list of rock types Blatt, Harvey and Robert J. Tracy. Petrology, Igneous, Sedimentary and Metamorphic, 2nd ed. Freeman, mcKirdy, Alan, Roger Crofts and John Gordon
9.
Lighthouse
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Lighthouses mark dangerous coastlines, hazardous shoals, reefs, and safe entries to harbors, and can assist in aerial navigation. Once widely used, the number of operational lighthouses has declined due to the expense of maintenance, before the development of clearly defined ports, mariners were guided by fires built on hilltops. Since raising the fire would improve the visibility, placing the fire on a platform became a practice that led to the development of the lighthouse. In antiquity, the lighthouse functioned more as a marker to ports than as a warning signal for reefs and promontories. The most famous lighthouse structure from antiquity was the Pharos of Alexandria, coins from Alexandria, Ostia, and Laodicea in Syria also exist. The modern era of lighthouses began at the turn of the 18th century, advances in structural engineering and new and efficient lighting equipment allowed for the creation of larger and more powerful lighthouses, including ones exposed to the sea. The function of lighthouses shifted toward the provision of a warning against shipping hazards. The Eddystone Rocks were a major hazard for mariners sailing through the English Channel. The first lighthouse built there was a wooden structure, anchored by 12 iron stanchions secured in the rock. His lighthouse was the first tower in the world to have been exposed to the open sea. The civil engineer, John Smeaton, rebuilt the lighthouse from 1756–59, his tower marked a step forward in the design of lighthouses. He modelled the shape of his lighthouse on that of an oak tree and he pioneered the use of hydraulic lime, a form of concrete that will set under water, and developed a technique of securing the granite blocks together using dovetail joints and marble dowels. This profile had the advantage of allowing some of the energy of the waves to dissipate on impact with the walls. His lighthouse was the prototype for the lighthouse and influenced all subsequent engineers. One such influence was Robert Stevenson, himself a figure in the development of lighthouse design. His greatest achievement was the construction of the Bell Rock Lighthouse in 1810 and this structure was based upon Smeatons design, but with several improved features, such as the incorporation of rotating lights, alternating between red and white. Stevenson worked for the Northern Lighthouse Board for nearly fifty years during which time he designed and oversaw the construction and he also invented the movable jib and the balance crane as a necessary part for lighthouse construction. Alexander Mitchell designed the first screw-pile lighthouse – his lighthouse was built on piles that were screwed into the sandy or muddy seabed, construction of his design began in 1838 at the mouth of the Thames and was known as the Maplin Sands lighthouse, and first lit in 1841
10.
Lizard Point, Cornwall
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Lizard Point in Cornwall is at the southern tip of the Lizard Peninsula. It is situated south of Lizard village in the civil parish of Landewednack. Lizard Point is the most southerly point on mainland Great Britain at 49°5730 N, with the exception of parts of the Isles of Scilly it is the southernmost part of England. Lizard Point is for many ships the starting point of their ocean passage, the Lizard Lighthouse is situated at Lizard Point. Immediately below the lighthouse, situated in what used to be a hotel, is the YHA Lizard Youth Hostel, Lizard Point is situated within Caerthillian to Kennack SSSI, noted for its biological and geological interest. Polpeor Cove is a cove to the east of Lizard Point. The area is famous for its carved serpentine items, which range from ornaments to the handles in the local public house. The geology of Lizard can be interesting to some, with a number of planned walks available from local tourist authorities to more about the local rocks. The first sighting of the Spanish Armada on mainland Britain was off Lizard Point at 3 pm on 29 July 1588. This was one of the greatest invasion fleets in history and consisted of 120 ships armed with over 1,000 cannon, the Battle at the Lizard, a naval battle, took place off The Lizard on 21 October 1707. The bulk coaster carrier MV Ardgarry was lost in a storm, in over 30 ft high waves. All 12 crewmen perished and were never found and she was built by James Lamont & Co at the Port Glasgow shipyard, and was 221-feet long and weighed 1, 074-tons gross. The Ardgarry was carrying coal from Swansea and headed to Rouen in France, six of the crew were from Northern Ireland, five from Scotland, and one from the Donegal in the Republic of Ireland. Found again in 2006, the bell was recovered. All of the families were there except one, First Engineer William Shumacher, of Brougham Street. No trace of his family has been found, on 15 January 2004 the French fishing trawler Bugaled Breizh sank off Lizard Point with the loss of five lives. The Royal National Lifeboat Institution operates The Lizard lifeboat station at Kilcobben Cove, a Tyne class lifeboat is housed in a large boathouse at the base of the cliff. The station features a line to transport lifeboat crews from the boathouse to the clifftop station car park
11.
Privateer
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A privateer was a private person or ship that engaged in maritime warfare under a commission of war. Captured ships were subject to condemnation and sale under prize law, a percentage share usually went to the issuer of the commission. Since robbery under arms was common to trade, all merchant ships were already armed. During war, naval resources were auxiliary to operations on land so privateering was a way of subsidizing state power by mobilizing armed ships, the letter of marque of a privateer would typically limit activity to one particular ship, and specified officers. Typically, the owners or captain would be required to post a performance bond, in the United Kingdom, letters of marque were revoked for various offences. Some crews were treated as harshly as naval crews of the time, some crews were made up of professional merchant seamen, others of pirates, debtors, and convicts. Some privateers ended up becoming pirates, not just in the eyes of their enemies, william Kidd, for instance, began as a legitimate British privateer but was later hanged for piracy. The investors would arm the vessels and recruit large crews, much larger than a merchantman or a vessel would carry. Privateers generally cruised independently, but it was not unknown for them to form squadrons, a number of privateers were part of the English fleet that opposed the Spanish Armada in 1588. Privateers generally avoided encounters with warships, as such encounters would be at best unprofitable, for instance, in 1815 Chasseur encountered HMS St Lawrence, herself a former American privateer, mistaking her for a merchantman until too late, in this instance, however, the privateer prevailed. The United States used mixed squadrons of frigates and privateers in the American Revolutionary War, the practice dated to at least the 13th century but the word itself was coined sometime in the mid-17th century. England, and later the United Kingdom, used privateers to great effect and these privately owned merchant ships, licensed by the crown, could legitimately take vessels that were deemed pirates. The increase in competition for crews on armed merchant vessels and privateers was due, in a large part, because of the chance for a considerable payoff. Whereas a seaman who shipped on a vessel was paid a wage and provided with victuals. This proved to be a far more attractive prospect and privateering flourished as a result, during Queen Elizabeths reign, she encouraged the development of this supplementary navy. Over the course of her rule, she had allowed Anglo-Spanish relations to deteriorate to the point where one could argue that a war with the Spanish was inevitable. By using privateers, if the Spanish were to take offense at the plundering of their ships, some of the most famous privateers that later fought in the Anglo-Spanish War included the Sea Dogs. In the late 16th century, English ships cruised in the Caribbean and off the coast of Spain, at this early stage the idea of a regular navy was not present, so there is little to distinguish the activity of English privateers from regular naval warfare
12.
Louis XIV of France
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Louis XIV, known as Louis the Great or the Sun King, was a monarch of the House of Bourbon who ruled as King of France and Navarre from 1643 until his death in 1715. His reign of 72 years and 110 days is the longest of any monarch of a country in European history. In the age of absolutism in Europe, Louis XIVs France was a leader in the centralization of power. Louis began his rule of France in 1661, after the death of his chief minister. By these means he became one of the most powerful French monarchs, under his rule, the Edict of Nantes, which granted rights to Huguenots, was abolished. The revocation effectively forced Huguenots to emigrate or convert in a wave of dragonnades, which managed to virtually destroy the French Protestant minority. During Louis reign, France was the leading European power, and it fought three wars, the Franco-Dutch War, the War of the League of Augsburg. There were also two lesser conflicts, the War of Devolution and the War of the Reunions, warfare defined Louis XIVs foreign policies, and his personality shaped his approach. Impelled by a mix of commerce, revenge, and pique, in peacetime he concentrated on preparing for the next war. He taught his diplomats their job was to create tactical and strategic advantages for the French military, Louis XIV was born on 5 September 1638 in the Château de Saint-Germain-en-Laye, to Louis XIII and Anne of Austria. He was named Louis Dieudonné and bore the title of French heirs apparent. At the time of his birth, his parents had married for 23 years. His mother had experienced four stillbirths between 1619 and 1631, leading contemporaries thus regarded him as a divine gift and his birth a miracle of God. Sensing imminent death, Louis XIII decided to put his affairs in order in the spring of 1643, in defiance of custom, which would have made Queen Anne the sole Regent of France, the king decreed that a regency council would rule on his sons behalf. His lack of faith in Queen Annes political abilities was his primary rationale and he did, however, make the concession of appointing her head of the council. Louis relationship with his mother was uncommonly affectionate for the time, contemporaries and eyewitnesses claimed that the Queen would spend all her time with Louis. Both were greatly interested in food and theatre, and it is likely that Louis developed these interests through his close relationship with his mother. This long-lasting and loving relationship can be evidenced by excerpts in Louis journal entries, such as, but attachments formed later by shared qualities of the spirit are far more difficult to break than those formed merely by blood
