Providing a guiding light to mariners

Dermot Grey, Master, ILV Granuaile

The Irish Lights vessel, ILV Granuaile, is operated by the Commissioners of Irish Lights (CIL) who are the General Lighthouse Authority for all of Ireland, its adjacent coasts and islands.

The CIL provide Aids to Navigation for the general safe passage of all vessels operating in Irish waters. These Aids include 80 lighthouses, 149 buoys, 2 automatic light vessels, two Large Automatic Navigational Buoys (Lanbys), differential GPS transmissions from three coastal locations, 19 beacons, 30 perches and 22 racons.

The Aids mark exposed headlands, sandbanks, reefs and isolated dangers such as rocks and wrecks. The differential GPS transmissions correct and enhance the raw GPS positions received by vessels to an accuracy of 10 meters.

Maintenance of the Aids is the primary work of ILV Granuaile; however the ship also delivers building materials, fuel and fresh water to Ireland’s offshore lighthouses: Kish Tower, Tuskar, Ballycotton, Fastnet, Bull Rock, Skelligs, Inishteareaght, Aran Islands, Slyne Head, Eagle Island, Tory Island, Inishtrahull, Rathlin Island, Maidens, Mew Island and Rockabill.

ILV Granuaile entered into the service on January 31, 2000, replacing the thirty-two-year-old ILT Granuaile. Under Captain J Hickey, the marine department guided the naval artchitects in the design and outfitting of the ship. This department has a wealth of experience in Aids to Navigation vessels and an in-depth knowledge of operations required to be carried out by such vessels.

They knew the type of operations for which the ship was required and the constraints of the older ILT Granuaile. For this reason, ILV Granuaile has a large after working deck, which has proven even more successful in carrying out all operations.

Daily operations
ILV Granuaile provides the most effective Aids to Navigation in the world today. Because of her design and equipment she is capable of lifting, maintaining and deploying buoys in weather conditions in which other Aids to Navigation vessels could not attempt such operations.

She has landed water and fuel to lighthouses in a fraction of the time taken in the past, which is achieved by pumping fuel and water directly from the ship to the lighthouse through the ships high- pressure pumps and hoses. (This work was previously carried out by ships’ launches carrying water and oil tanks.

ILV Granuaile has also been involved in some high profile and unusual tasks. She has acted as an ‘on scene co-ordinator’ to the Irish Marine Emergency Services by giving assistance to search and rescue missions and has participated in major marine emergency drills conducted by both the Irish Coast Guard and H.M. Coast Guard in Northern Ireland.

The vessel also conducted a number of trials with underwater remote ordinance vehicles. On one such occasion a submersible ROV was deployed from the deck to investigate the wreck of the Kowloon Bridge off the Stags Rocks near Baltimore, West Cork. The ROV quickly found the wreck and because the bow section was only 3.5 meters below the sea surface and posed a danger to navigation, CIL has since retained the buoy marking the wreck on station.

ILV Granuaile is also available for charter and has undertaken ROV work for Marathon at the Kinsale Gas Field; seismic surveys and hydrographic surveys with the Geological Survey of Ireland as part of the National Seabed Survey at the Rockall and Hatton Banks, and some water sampling for the Radiological Institute of Ireland.

The vessel also assists The Trinity House (English Lighthouse Authority) and Northern Lighthouse Board (Scottish Lighthouse Authority) when their vessels are otherwise engaged.

Specifications
ILV Granuaile is a highly manoeuvrable vessel. She does not carry rudders and is fitted with two 360° azimuth propellers aft and a 360° degree bow thruster.

The propulsion system is integrated to a dynamic positioning system that allows the vessel to hold station in position for prolonged periods without the use of anchors. This means that the ship can be positioned very close to the point of interest to carry out operations. This approach has been adopted in servicing and maintaining the floating Aids to Navigation and offshore Lighthouse stations.

She is a diesel electric ship with five alternators that provide power for accommodation, machinery and propulsion. Fitted with a Power Management System ensures that only the required amount of alternators are running to operate the ship. An integrated bridge system comprises an ‘X’ (3cm) and ‘S’ (10cm) band radar, Ecdis electronic chart display, Differential GPS receivers and multibeam echo sounders. Communication equipment include VHF MF Radio stations and Satcom.

“ILV Granuaile is proving to be highly successful and effective. A major contributing factor to this is her crews who are highly skilled, experienced and motivated. I am honoured to be sailing as Master on this ship and to work with such professional and dedicated colleagues.

“I must admit to a high degree of satisfaction with the performance of the vessel as I worked very closely with the builders during the course of her construction. She is a credit to the vision and effort invested in her by the Commissioners of Irish Lights and the head of our Marine Department.”

Construction of ILV Granuaile commenced in 1998 at the Damen shipyard in Holland. The steelwork and engine installation was completed in a Damen controlled Romanian Shipyard at Galatz. The hull was then towed to an enclosed shipyard at Harlingen in the Netherlands when installation of all the electronic equipment, crane, deck equipment, bridge, engine-room and accommodation was completed. Sea trials began on January 2000 with a trip to Rotterdam during which each aspect of the ship was rigorously trialled. Following a final coat of paint, ILV Granuaile sailed to Ireland to commence full crew training. This involved familiarisation and training in new equipment, to a level when each crew member was competent and confident in the use of all equipment prior to the ship taking up service work.