Blackout

By Rowan Stewart

During Word War Two, cities across Britain had ‘blackout’ regulations prohibiting lighting at night. The aim was to make cities less visible to enemy aircrafts. Rules included no smoking permitted outside; car headlamps were blacked out causing the speed limit to be reduced to avoid accidents and ships blackened out lights to prevent German submarines from seeing them. If rules were not adhered to there would be investigations and guilty parties would be liable for heavy fines. Certain exemptions were made for work of vital importance but had to meet certain conditions.

[Illustrated design of acceptable adjusted lighting]

Accidents were prone to happen during this period, with numerous reports of dock accidents being recorded. Recommendations were put forward to prevent future accidents including:

• Painting white lines on dock edges
• The conveying of seamen from the dock gates to their ships 
• Provision of temporary rope or chain fencing at the foot of the gangways
• Daily examinations of chains used for fencing
• And placing some type of suitable warning lights or reflectors at the quayside

However, these recommendations faced difficulties due to sea conditions and lights were still not permitted at the harbour except for discharging or loading vessels. Also, reflectors were proven to be useless in the absence of light.