These are the arms of the Trinity House. Our British and Irish lightships numbered fifty-nine in 1870. Each, like the lighthouse on shore, is distinguished by its own peculiar aspect—by certain differences which assist the navigator in recognizing it, and, consequently, in recognizing the particular danger he is called upon to avoid. Some have one light, some two lights, some three lights. Of these lights many are fixed, many revolving, many coloured. The building and equipment of one of these vessels[57] will cost from £2000 to £3000. Its maintenance, including the cost of oil, the wages and provisions of the men, amounts to about £1200 per annum. [57] The average length is 80 to 90 feet, and the burden from 160 to 180 tons. The _Calshot_, between Southampton Water and the mouth of the Medina (Isle of Wight), is only 100 tons. The United States stand next to Great Britain in the number of lightships which they support in the interests of commercial enterprise. At one time, however, their organization was very indifferent; but of later years the system followed in England has been adopted with a few unimportant modifications. The American ships are painted in longitudinal stripes of varied colours. In very bad weather they frequently quit their posts, and return into harbour. France has fewer lightships than either Great Britain or America, and only _five_ whose burthen exceeds seventy tons. * * * * * Let us now say a few words in reference to the resolute crews who man these vessels. The crew of an English lightship consists of a master, a mate, and nine men. Three out of the nine are intrusted with the service of the lamps; the six others, who always include among them a good carpenter, attend to the order and cleanliness of the vessel. It must be remembered, however, that the nine men are never all on board together; one-third are always enjoying an interval of rest on shore. Experience has proved that a perpetual sojourn on board a ship of this kind is too much for the moral and physical forces of human nature. The crushing monotony of the same scenes, the eternal spectacle of foam-crested waters rolling wherever the eye is turned, the ceaseless noise of the winds, the everlasting murmur of the ocean—swelling at times into so terrible a roar that it renders inaudible the human voice—could not fail to exercise a depressing influence on the mind. But even allowing for the occasional vacation spent upon land, the life is so uniform and unexciting that it is wonderful any man can be found to endure it; and the crews of our lightships may assuredly be ranked among the curiosities of civilization.