She was built as an iron hulled lightship by J.Reid, Glasgow for the Commissioners of Irish Lights.
1904 Completed under the name COMET
Dim. 96 x 23 x 12¼ft.
Did not have power to propel the vessel, only for the lighting of the vessel.
After completing towed in a position off Daunt Rock on the entrance to Cork, Ireland. I believe she has been always been anchored off Daunt Rock and was only moved away when she needed dry-docking.
On 7 February 1936 a south-eastern gale, with rain and snow, developed into a hurricane. Mountainous waves were crashing over the pier and breakwater transforming the harbour into a seething cauldron, the spray was flying over the lantern of the 196 ft high lighthouse"stones, some a ton in weight, were being torn from the quay and flung about like sugar lumps". At 8am next morning an SOS was received: the LV COMET on station at Daunt rock, had broken from her moorings and was drifting dangerously. Without waiting for orders, in horrendous conditions, Coxswain Patrick ("Patsy") Sliney took MARY STANFORD to sea. COMET was not at Daunt rock, she was riding at anchor a quarter mile away. Other ships arrived, but dare not approach the COMET in such conditions. Lightships, are not 'lightweight', they are heavy: built for endurance. The COMET was being tossed around by the waves, were it to hit another ship, that ship would suffer serious damage.
MARY STANFORD made several attempts to get a steel cable aboard the COMET. Every time they did, a terrible wave crashed the ships further apart and the cable snapped. When darkness fell, MARY STANFORD headed for Cobh to get stronger cables. The Innisfallen and HMS TENEDOS (H0) stood by. The Lifeboat crew had been, all day, without food. They ate, slept for three hours and received a change of clothing. Early next morning (Wednesday) MARY STANFORD returned to Daunt rock. The sea was just as stormy. It was now enveloped by a thick fog. It was impossible to effect a rescue. The lifeboat remained in the storm all day and all night. The Commissioners of Irish Lights vessel ILV ISOLDA had arrived and stood by while MARY STANFORD went to Cobh at 7am to refuel, and promptly returned.
That evening, the storm increased. COMET drifted closer to Daunt rock. When she was 60 yards from the rock, as darkness approached, the Coxswain decided the only option was to try and get alongside and for the crew to jump for the lifeboat. He knew the dangers. On the first attempt, one man got on board, on the second attempt no one jumped; a third time, and five men were safe. The lifeboat went in a fourth and fifth time, and again no one was able to make it. Two men were still on board, clinging to the rails, too exhausted to jump. On the sixth attempt, as the MARY STANFORD came alongside, the two were seized by the lifeboat crew and dragged aboard. (This moment was depicted on the postage stamp)
They then went to Cobh and disembarked the rescued at 11pm and then returned to Ballycotton. MARY STANFORD had been away for 79 hours. The crew had only three hours sleep during the 63 hour rescue (from leaving Ballycotton to disembarking COMET’s crew at Cobh), they all suffered from colds, saltwater burns and hunger.
A Gold Medal was awarded to Coxswain Patrick Sliney, Silver Medals to Second Coxswain John Lane Walsh and Motor Mechanic Thomas Sliney, and Bronze Medals to Crew Members Michael Coffey Walsh, John Shea Sliney, William Sliney and Thomas Walsh. Even the boat MARY STANFORD received an award - the only time this has happened in lifeboat history. This rescue became legend. It was depicted by marine artists. It featured in popular books When a postage stamp was issued to commemorate the 150th anniversary of the RNLI, this rescue was chosen. The design of the stamp was based on the painting by Bernard Gribble, which depicts the last two lightshipmen being pulled on to the lifeboat.
After the storm in which she did not sink, the COMET was towed back to her position.
1965 Taken out of service and sold to the shipbrokers Turner Hickman in Glasgow, she was refitted in a floating broadcasting station Radio Scotland in Guernsey after she was towed to a position off the East coast of Scotland.
Radio Scotland was an offshore pirate radio station broadcasting on 1241 kHz mediumwave (242 metres), created by Tommy Shields in 1965. The station was located on the former lightship M.V. COMET, which was anchored at various locations off the Scottish coastline, usually outside territorial waters.
The station began broadcasting on 31 December 1965 and featured DJs including Paul Young, Richard Park, and Jack McLaughlin with his irreverent ceilidh programme that promised to tickle the listener's "tartan tonsils." Its land-based headquarters, Radio Scotland House, was located at a (now demolished) building at Cranworth Street, Hillhead in Glasgow. (A two-minute walk from BBC's Scottish HQ). As well as being the station's administrative centre, Cranworth Street also allowed the creation of taped programmes - using 1/4" magnetic tape, which were taken out to the ship by tender and replayed as and when required.
The Comet was initially anchored off Dunbar on the east coast of Scotland and the station achieved strong coverage of Edinburgh, but could not be received as clearly in Glasgow. Shields decided to move the ship to Troon off the island of Arran on the West coast, but since it had no working engine this meant that it had to be towed all the way. Adding to the expense was the fact that the station remained on the air during the journey, meaning that it had to take a much longer route to remain outside British territorial waters.
The anchorages off the West coast of Scotland were found to be within territorial waters and the company was fined £80 as a result, bringing about a move to offshore of Co Down, Northern Ireland and the station changing its name to Radio Scotland and Ireland for a time, then Irish state broadcaster RTÉ claimed the station was causing adjacent channel interference to its Dublin transmitter (then on 1250 kHz). In addition, unfortunately but unsurprisingly, transmissions to the East of Scotland were much worse from this location, so Shields returned the ship to a new anchorage on the East coast off Fife Ness and the Isle of May. As well as giving the Eastern area of Scotland a strong signal, the "water run" from this position meant the signal didn't hit land until it reached Grangemouth in Stirlingshire, only about 20 miles (32 km) from Glasgow. So the Central belt at last had a listenable signal.
The station closed on August 14, 1967, when the Marine Offences Act 1967 legislation came into force. Shields had repeatedly lobbied the British Government to grant Radio Scotland exemption from the act and attempted to negotiate terms under which the station might continue to operate legally, but was always refused. One of his main arguments was that the station was broadcast into areas of Scotland where it was not possible to receive BBC radio services.
Many of the Radio Scotland presenters went on to have careers on other radio stations, including BBC Radio 1, Radio Caroline, Radio Luxembourg and BBC Radio Scotland.
18 September 1967 she arrived at Methil Docks, Scotland, where she was stripped of its masts and transmitters, where after she was sold for scrapping.
1969 She was scrapped in the Netherlands.
Ireland 1974 5p sg336, scott 338.
Source: Wikipedia. Various other web-sites.
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