English: To end the week and probably the years postings we chose to do so with a solemn note. For many years the lighthouse and lightship men have risked their lives to keep others safe along with the many volunteers in the Royal National Lifeboat Institution. Most, if not all, of the lightvessels are gone now and the lighthouses in the main are unmanned so the danger for them is past. On the other hand the dangers for the RNLI people, men and women, is still real and they are coming in for a lot of abuse in the UK for the rescue of boat people. In this festive season we should think of them and their sacrifice as they will be on call no matter what the time of year and what the weather is like!

Daunt Lightship 'Puffin' during investigation into shipwreck, Rushbrooke, Co. Cork goes the title and the condition of the ship is pretty obvious. It's done for I'm afraid!

Photographer: Ball, Robert S. (Robert Stawell), 1840-1913

Collection: Commissioners of Irish Lights Photographic Collection

Date: Circa 1890 - 1909

NLI Ref: NPA CIL362

You can also view this image, and many thousands of others, on the NLI’s catalogue at catalogue.nli.ie