Please note that because of our recent fire the ship is not open to visitors at the moment. Sadly this means that if you come to Harwich then it won’t be possible for you to walk aboard. We hope to re-open the ship to visitors later in the year and will put an announcement on here and on our social media accounts when we have definite information.
Following great team efforts our radio station Radio Mi Amigo returned to the ‘air’ at 3pm on Saturday 17th February, 15 days after it was silenced.
We’re using a temporary studio and don’t have all the equipment up and running but we are able to broadcast a selection of our shows via our web stream.
Listen via https://lv18radio.uk
The following is a press release that was submitted to the Harwich & Manningtree Standard for the Friday 16th Feb 2024 edition:
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A fortnight after the horrific fire that threatened to destroy the LV18 Lightship, plans are now being finalised to restore the ship to its original condition. In the past few days a highly qualified marine surveyor has been appointed to drive the project whilst meetings have also taken place with a Marine Insurance Assessor and our legal team. These meetings were necessary but had to wait for the right people to be available. Subject to a written sign-off from these professionals, we should soon be in a position to move forward, albeit carefully, to clean and restore the vessel.
Tony O’Neil, of the Pharos Trust, said “We needed to get the right team of professionals together and haven’t been able to say very much until the site meetings had been held and the necessary legal & HSE steps accomplished. Our Marine Surveyor will overview the process and ensure all regulations are followed. We are, of course, extremely grateful to Essex Police and Harwich Haven Authority for their continued support.”
A team of volunteers will, when all safety measures have been implemented, take part in the restoration but a professional team will be removing the majority of the smoke damage. We currently believe this will be late February or early March.
The Pharos Trust has also been in contact with the Charity Commission to ensure our funding arrangements are compatible with our restoration plan and we are pleased to confirm that this is indeed the case. A Go Fund Me appeal has been started by Heather O’Neil, on behalf of the Pharos Trust, and this has so far exceeded £5000 of the £25000 target. The Charity Commission has approved this appeal.
Tony O’Neil said “Our solicitor is overseeing all the legal aspects of the restoration and this includes our charity status, which he himself was responsible for. We have always taken professional advice and followed legal routes to funding.”
Tony O’Neil added. “We are still planning to be involved in the 60th anniversary of offshore pirate radio, and we are working hard to ensure that the ship is ready for public events happening at Easter.”
Fundraiser: https://www.gofundme.com/f/lv18-restoration-fund
Update 10.45pm 12 Feb 2024:
Due to the quantity of water needed to fight the fire, this had left the LV18 listing heavily to starboard. After a meeting involving marine professionals, overseen by a newly appointed marine surveyor, the ship has been made level and is not currently at risk. The appointed marine surveyor is now due in the next few days to identify anything else that needs to be done regarding the ship’s integrity.
A marine insurance surveyor / assessor is also due to visit although we have been in regular contact with our specialist marine insurers.
We have also confirmed with the Charity Commission that we are operating within their legal guidelines, and that the crowdfunding on our behalf is permitted. Copies of all legal and insurance documents will also be lodged with the Trust’s solicitor this week.
We are grateful to those who have already donated, your money will be used to restore the ship and contents and is ring-fenced for that purpose and will be held securely in the charity bank account. We have also had many offers of voluntary assistance but until the surveyors have agreed that it is safe then we have to wait.
We are, of course, grateful to all the officers from the emergency services who assisted saving the ship on the night of the fire and have been involved in the subsequent investigation.
A further update will be given when there is new information.
Pharos Trust
Issued 4th February 2024:
As you may be aware, the LV18 suffered a major fire on 2nd Feb 2024. as such our ship has been severely damaged.
If you can, please visit our Go Fund Me page to contribute towards the restoration of this unique vessel. We will put back the radio station feeds as soon as possible.
Radio Mi Amigo, from the historic Lightvessel LV18 on Harwich Quay, is returning to the air on Christmas Eve and will continue on a permanent basis through the New Year. The station will be bringing the sounds and spirit of the original radio pirates back to their roots of Harwich.
Returning to the floating newly-installed studios are Garry Lee, Neon Nancy (pictured), Chris Cooper and the Reverend Rabbit as well as many new DJs who are broadcasting in support of the Pharos Trust charity, which owns the LV18.
Tony O’Neil, Chairman of the Pharos Trust, said he was excited to bring a nostalgic ‘retro’ sound to Harwich once again and appreciated all who were giving their time and expertise towards the project.
Listen via our dedicated website https://lv18radio.uk
The Pharos Trust was asked earlier this year if we could light the lantern for the 2019 Illuminate Festival. In the past this has been a low key event but for 2019 we were promised a bigger affair.
Little did we know that, over the two days of this year’s festival, several thousand people would be on Harwich Quay, marking the start of a year of events. 2020 will be the 400th anniversary of The Mayflower’s voyage to the USA and Harwich has a large part of the story to tell.
The Pharos Trust would like to thank the LV18’s volunteers who put in a total of 143 hours getting the ship in order and ready for the lighting of the lantern and the continuous liaison with the other festival stakeholders in order to ensure an incident-free event.
We have found this lovely review of the ship from last summer!
Thank you Annika.
Lightvessel LV18 is a registered historic ship and is believed to be the only publicly accessible historic ship between the Thames and the Humber.
She was built in 1958 and decommissioned by Trinity House in 1994, as the last manned lightvessel in UK waters. LV18 is the only preserved lightvessel in its original condition in the UK.
The lightvessel is owned by a charity, the Pharos Trust, who bought it in 2002. The vessel has been in the current berth on Harwich Quay since 2011, funded by Haven Gateway Partnership as part of the Quayside Regeneration Project. LV18 is open to the public all year round, albeit weather dependant in the winter.
The Trust is keen to continue working alongside Harwich Tourism Group, Harwich Haven Authority, Harwich Town Council, Tendring District Council & Essex County Council in order to promote the history of Harwich and to attract additional visitors to our maritime town.
In particular we feel it is appropriate to work closely with HHA and other stakeholders on interpretation and promotion, especially given HHA’s enhanced community involvement over the past few years and their outline plans for 2019/2020. This will hopefully include Mayflower 400.
During 2018 we were awarded funds by Harwich Town Council and TDC’s Big Society Fund. These were used for essential maintenance and emergency engineering.
For 2019 we have plans to reallocate one exhibition compartment on the lightvessel. This will give us the space to create a new gallery covering the role lightvessels played in the waters around the UK and include the role of merchant shipping, particularly in and around the Harwich Estuary.
We are also planning to enhance the existing pirate radio exhibition.
In both areas, additional audio visual displays will be introduced as we have access to archive media, including an interview with the last master of the LV18.
As a part of these plans an additional weatherproof audio visual facility will be installed on the aft deck, under the Helideck. This will be available to visitors who may be unable to access the lower decks, as well as being a suitable starting point for educational groups.
We will be seeking funds to support these plans and hope to start work by the end of March 2019. It is believed that we could have the new or refurbished exhibitions in full use by June.
Alongside those works we also plan to install new lighting, signage and banners and update our hangouts.
We are already undertaking a project to extend audio and video cabling from our studio to the exhibition spaces as well as external locations, a deep clean and repaint (where necessary) will occur alongside these works.
Our financial plan for this is as follows:
Exhibition interpretation and presentation update £5k
including: 4 x internal video/still displays with mounting kits
1 x external/weatherproof audio-visual display
Exhibition display boarding
Lighting and electrical supply for exhibition spaces
Public harbour webcam
Installation costs
External advertising signage & banners
External Lighting
Other projects, still being developed, include a twenty four month repair and renovation plan for the ship, including re-installation of central heating, as well as a rebuild of our radio studio and creation of a production suite.
It is also intended that Radio Mi Amigo will broadcast on FM and online for ten days in the summer of 2019. We’ll again invite former pirate radio DJs to Harwich to recreate the pirate radio atmosphere from our floating studio. This is funded by advertising and sponsorship.
Tony O’Neil
on behalf of the trustees of the Pharos Trust
LightVessel 18
The Quay
Harwich
CO12 3HH