Page "Wrecking (shipwreck)" Paragraph 1

There are legends that some ships were deliberately lured into danger by a display of false lights.

John Viele, retired U. S. Navy officer and author of a history of wrecking in the Florida Keys, states that such tricks simply would not work.

He points out that mariners interpret a light as indicating land, and so avoid them if they cannot identify them.

Moreover, oil lanterns cannot be seen very far over water at night, unless they are large, fitted with mirrors or lenses, and mounted at a great height ( i. e., in a lighthouse ).

In hundreds of admiralty court cases heard in Key West, Florida, no captain of a wrecked ship ever charged that he had been led astray by a false light.

A Bahamian wrecker, when asked if he and his crewmates made beacons on shore or showed their lights to warn ships away from the land at night, is reported to have said, " No, no ; we always put them out for a better chance by night ".