Captain Peacock’s Refuge Buoy

No mention of these has been found on the East Coast but they are interesting.

2024 Spit Refuge PHM G.Thimblethorpe.jpg

In the entrance to Portsmouth Harbour, about 0.5nM South of Southsea Castle, there is a Port Hand Mark called ‘Spit Refuge’.

This must surely take its name from Captain Peacock’s Refuge Buoy which was installed there in the mid-nineteenth century and received a glowing review in the Illustrated London News of 1852. Presumably, by the marking, the one illustrated was at the Varne.

From Illustrated London News of 1852 – Public Domain

Despite the enthusiasm for it, what were the chances of unintentionally wrecking one’s ship near a refuge buoy?

Beacons, Great Britain Commission Appointed to Inquire into the Condition of Lights, Buoys and. Report of the Commissioners Appointed to Inquire Into the Condition and Management of Lights, Buoys and Beacons: Together with a Letter from Rear-Admiral W.A.B. Hamilton, Chairman of the Commission, and Appendix and Index. H.M. Stationery Office, 1861.

There was at least one Refuge ‘beacon’ in Scotland at Skellig something and another at the Goodwin Sands that was washed away in 1877.

Godwin Beacon washed away in 1877 from ‘Our Seamarks’

See World War Two Air Sea Rescue Buoys or Floats

Captain George Peacock (1805–83): Naval Officer, surveyor, inventor, entrepreneur

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