Publication describing lighthouses and other aids to maritime navigation
The front cover of a List of Lights volume
A list of lights is a publication describing lighthouses and other aids to maritime navigation. Most such lists are published by national hydrographic offices. Some nations, including the United Kingdom and the United States, publish lists that cover the whole world in many volumes. Other nations publish lists that cover only their own coasts.
Canada
The Canadian Coast Guard publishes the List of Lights, Buoys and Fog Signals in four volumes which are updated periodically
The books are available in paper from dealers. As well, HTML and PDF formats updated up to the latest version of the Monthly Notices to Mariners can be viewed online. The PDF format is also available for free download.[1]
Navigational aids in Chile are provided by the Servicio de Señalización Marítima [Maritime Signalling Service], a department of the Dirección de Seguridad y Operaciones Marítimas (Dirsomar) [Directorate of Maritime Security and Operations], of the Dirección General del Territorio Marítimo y de Marina Mercante (Directemar) [Directorate General of the Maritime Territory and the Merchant Marine] of the Chilean Navy.
Admiralty List of Lights & Fog Signals vol. H: Northern and Eastern Coasts of Canada
The United Kingdom Hydrographic Office, generally known as "The Admiralty", publishes the Admiralty List of Lights and Fog Signals covering the whole world in 15 volumes. The information is also available in digital form.[4][5]
United States
The United States Coast Guard Light List is published annually in seven volumes. It covers the entire coastline of the United States and its possessions.[6]
I, Atlantic Coast, St. Croix River, Maine to Shrewsbury River, New Jersey
II, Atlantic Coast, Shrewsbury River, New Jersey to Little River, South Carolina
III, Atlantic Coast, Little River, South Carolina to Econfina River, Florida
IV, Gulf of Mexico
V, Mississippi River System
VI, Pacific Coast and Pacific Islands
VII, Great Lakes
Each volume of the Light List contains aids to navigation in geographic order from north to south along the Atlantic coast, from east to west along the Gulf coast, and from south to north along the Pacific coast. It lists seacoast aids first, followed by entrance and harbor aids listed from seaward.
The listings are preceded by a description of the aids to navigation system in the United States, luminous range diagram, geographic range tables, and other information.
NGA publishes NGA List of Lights Radio Aids & Fog Signals covering the rest of the world:[7]
PUB. 110 – Greenland, the East Coasts of North and South America (excluding Continental U.S.A. except the East Coast of Florida) and the West Indies
PUB. 111 – The West Coasts of North and South America (Excluding Continental U.S.A. and Hawaii), Australia, Tasmania, New Zealand, and the Islands of the North and South Pacific Oceans
PUB. 112 – Western Pacific and Indian Oceans Including the Persian Gulf and Red Sea
PUB. 113 – The West Coasts of Europe and Africa, the Mediterranean Sea, Black Sea and Azovskoye More (Sea of Azov)
PUB. 114 – British Isles, English Channel and North Sea
PUB. 115 – Norway, Iceland and Arctic Ocean
PUB. 116 – Baltic Sea with Kattegat, Belts and Sound and Gulf of Bothnia
Both the Coast Guard and the NGA lists are available in book form from a range of dealers and in PDF form, without charge.
In addition to information on lighted aids to navigation and sound signals in foreign waters, the NGA List of Lights provides information on storm signals, signal stations, racons, radiobeacons, and radio direction finder calibration stations located at or near lights. Publication number 117, Radio Navigational Aids, is the primary source for details on radio navigational aids.
The List of Lights does not include information on lighted buoys inside harbors. It does include certain aeronautical lights situated near the coast; however, these lights are not designed for marine navigation and are subject
to unreported changes.
Notices to mariners provided by other countries are the main source for correctional information source for the Lists of Lights, however other sources, such as ship reports, are also used.
