Tour audio Exhibition Room 1 - Northern Lighthouse Board (NLB)

The Northern Lighthouse Board is the general lighthouse authority for Scotland and the Isle of Man since 1786. With 207 lighthouses and 170 buoys including radio aids to navigation, with the responsibility to ensure other port authorities are conforming to international maritime standards.

The head office located at 84 George Street Edinburgh is used to remotely control the aids to navigation and to monitor these for any issues that might arise. The building has been recently equipped with the Stevenson Training Room and includes some interesting historical artefacts and books.

There are two tender vessels operating to keep safety for all at sea, these include, NLV Pole Star and NLV Pharos. The ports for operations of the vessels tend to be Oban in the West of Scotland and Stromness in Orkney, however, these vessels are designed to support all the lighthouse authorities in the UK and Ireland if required and travel around the waters of Isle of Man and Scotland for maintenance on a regular basis. A helicopter is also used and can often be seen on the deck of the NLV Pharos.

Note: An accompanying video of the helicopter at work at Cape Wrath can be viewed.