How to Illuminate Lanterns

[Ferit]

Hi,

Nowadays I work on lantern.

I want to learn how the lanterns had been illuminated in 1600's... Candles or oil lamps or... ?

 

 

[Mark P]

Good Morning Ferit;

 

If you are talking of 18th century ships, or earlier, I have seen frequent mention in lists of bo'suns' stores to candles, and they are mentioned in other documents. Oil would be a volatile substance to have near a flame on a constantly-moving ship made of wood.

 

I would exclude oil completely, and show candles.

 

However, for 19th century merchant vessels, oil might have been used. I cannot say. If this is your area of interest, try looking under the National Maritime Museum's online collections site. They will certainly have some ships' lanterns there.

 

All the best,

 

Mark

[Ferit]

Thank you Mark...

[Hank]

Ferit,

 

I may have some info on ship's lanterns packed away in a small book - I'll look tomorrow. But, my feeling is that candles were used up until the 19th century on most ships. Right whale oil was used in some lanterns until it was determined that Sperm Whale oil burned cleaner and brighter - obviously, this was one of the main factors in whale hunting - the oil was prized by everyone! Whether or not ship lanterns used this form of fuel, I don't know. I'm hoping there will be some information in the book I think I may have on early ship fittings, etc.

 

Hank

[mtaylor]

I've read somewhere... I'll have to do some digging)...  that when the whale oil was used, the wick ran from lantern down through piping to the source, usually a barrel located in the cabin.  I'd trust the others on when they started using oil as I'm not sure.

[Hank]

Ferit,

Well, I'm sorry to report that the books I thought might have information re. lanterns, etc. - in fact, do not! I've only been able to find a reference in Falconer's regarding a lantern used for signaling but it doesn't describe the fuel source.

 

I will keep researching this, but right now I don't have anything that would be helpful to you.

 

Hank

[Hank]

Ferit,

As of this evening a bit more info has been located. In a 2016 article (Iver P. Cooper) in Granville Gazette (online) there seems to be archeological evidence of candlestick holders being found on several seventeenth century merchant ships using a variety of fuel sources - tallow (animal fats) and beeswax. The link to this article is: https://grantvillegazette.com/article/life-at-sea-in-the-old-and-new-time-lines-part-3-shipboard-lighting-and-fire-prevention/

Later in the 18th century, oil lamps came into use with various types of whale oils used as the fuel source. See the same article link above.

 

Hope this helps,

 

Hank

[Louie da fly]

See https://nautarch.tamu.edu/academic/alum.htm for a paper by Kendra LeeAnne Quinn called 

"Shipboard Lighting: A.D. 400-1900".   Might be of help.   Steven

[Ferit]

Thank you very much for your concern and the information...

[wefalck]

It probably depends also on where in the world you were. In some places access to oil was easy, while in others not. In the Mediterranean olive oil has been available since antiquity, while in the North vegetable oils were less readily available. Here animal tallow was used to make candles. However, commercial whaling from the 17th century on made whale oil accessible to northern Europe. At some stage also sunflower oil became available.

The commercial exploitation of mineral oils from the mid-19th century on changed the game. Since then petroleum was the main energy source for lighting until electricity was introduced in (steam) ship from the 1880s on. Sailing ships, however, retained petroleum lamps up to the end of commercial shipping under sail due to the absence of generating power.