Dot dot dash : U ………. are heading into danger - especially if your vessel has no GPS or AIS when sailing in the coastal waters of Irelands East and South East. From 11 January 2011, the use of the foghorn at 9 lighthouses on the south and east coasts of Ireland, between the Fastnet at 51°23.358'N 09°36.178'W and St. John’s Point at 54°13.605'N 05°39.611'W, has been decommissioned by the Commissioners of Irish Lights. They say that fog signals are no longer considered an aid to navigation, and have become redundant. This latest decision follows the previous decommissioning over the past 20 years of all other Irish coastal foghorns, and has prompted some (mostly negative) debate in the Irish marine world. Foghorns have been a familiar resonating sound over the last 100 plus years, but they have in truth been operational in some form or another for many years previous to this on the bigger ships.

There are those who will miss the comforting and maybe sentimental sound of the foghorn (if you don’t live too close to it)! There have been times, when a foghorn jolted an especially tired seaman from the early stages of an unscheduled minute of shut eye. (There is not much that GPS can do to help you with that). In addition, any smaller or older vessel without GPS, or any vessel whose GPS may have uncharacteristically failed, may now face unnecessary danger. Recently in Dun Laoghaire a windsurfer ran into difficulty when a last minute fog descended, hampering his progress back to harbour. The sound of the foghorn aided his orientation, and his subsequent safe return to harbour. There are not many windsurfers equipped with GPS or manual compass just yet, and although there is an element of common sense required, it could be argued that safety considerations all around should come first. The Commissioners have reportedly stated that cost was not the main factor in their decision, and also say that the foghorn only gives an indication of where you are, and does not provide an actual position. I’m sure our windsurfer was not splitting hairs over this on his recent adventure.

On the other side of the coin, you have those who feel that with the continued presence of lighthouses, and with onboard navigational aids having improved so much, that there is absolutely no need for the regular loud and lingering sound associated with the foghorn. With the advent of GPS being installed on all new boats as standard, and with the ease of post build installation of the latest out of the box GPS, maybe the time had simply come, when the foghorn had indeed gone past it’s sell by date. A shame all around…..

More info... Discontinuation of fog signals
Irish Light houses