The Navy Boat captain and the Lighthouse keeper – Fact Check

ByCraig Haley

An online amusing anecdote claims to transcribe a confused radio conversation between the captain of a Navy ship and a lighthouse operator, where the former is heading straight towards the latter while demanding it change its course.

FALSE

In the anecdote, the captain appears unaware that what they are approaching is a lighthouse and implores its operator to change its course. An example of the tale that claims the incident occurred in Newfoundland between a US Navy ship and Canadian authorities can be seen below.

This is the transcript of a radio conversation of a US naval ship with Canadian authorities off the coast of Newfoundland in October, 1995. Radio conversation released by the Chief of Naval Operations 10-10-95.
Americans: Please divert your course 15 degrees to the North to avoid a Collision.
Canadians: Recommend you divert YOUR course 15 degrees to the South to avoid a collision.
Americans: This is the Captain of a US Navy ship. I say again, divert YOUR course.
Canadians: No. I say again, you divert YOUR course.
Americans: This is the aircraft carrier USS Lincoln, the second largest ship in the United States’ Atlantic fleet. We are accompanied by three destroyers, three cruisers and numerous support vessels. I demand that YOU change your course 15 degrees north, that’s one five degrees north, or countermeasures will be undertaken to ensure the safety of this ship.
Canadians: This is a lighthouse. Your call.

The story of the self-important Navy boat captain learning an important lesson in modesty from an unassuming lighthouse worker is one tall tale that never fails to raise a smile. It’s a popular story, but not one that appears to have actually occurred. Perhaps one tell-tale sign that this story is the stuff of legend is the large number of different versions of the story that have spread online and offline over many decades. The above variant is by no means the only version of this story, with dozens of others spreading at different times attributing the incident to different locations and different ships representing different nations.

For example, another popular version to have spread changes the North American nations to the UK and Ireland, as per below.

This is the transcript of the ACTUAL radio conversation between the British and the Irish, off the coast of Kerry, Oct 98. Radio conversation released by the Chief of Naval Operations 10-10-01:
IRISH: Please divert your course 15 degrees to the South, to avoid a collision.
BRITISH: Recommend you divert your course 15 degrees to the North, to avoid a collision.
IRISH: Negative. You will have to divert your course 15 degrees to the South to avoid a collision.
BRITISH: This is the Captain of a British navy ship. I say again, divert YOUR course.
IRISH: Negative. I say again. You will have to divert YOUR course.
BRITISH: THIS IS THE AIRCRAFT CARRIER HMS BRITANNIA THE SECOND LARGEST SHIP IN THE BRITISH ATLANTIC FLEET. WE ARE ACCOMPANIED BY THREE DESTROYERS, THREE CRUISERS, AND NUMEROUS SUPPORT VESSELS. I DEMAND THAT YOU CHANGE YOUR COURSE 15 DEGREES NORTH, I SAY AGAIN, THAT IS 15 DEGREES NORTH, OR COUNTER-MEASURES WILL BE UNDERTAKEN TO ENSURE THE SAFETY OF THIS SHIP.
IRISH: We are a lighthouse. Your call.

Countless other locations, nationalities and ships have found themselves embroiled in this story. The above two examples quote the HMS Britannia (which sank in 1918) and the USS Lincoln, but other ships to have made an appearance in permutations of the story include the USS Missouri, the USS Nimitz, the USS Coral Sea and the USS Montana (led by “Captain Hancock”.)


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The story has been spreading online since the 1990s, but it has roots much earlier than that. Inspiration for the tale appears to have derived from, of all things, a mere joke. A 1940 edition of “Boy’s Life” – a magazine from the Boy Scouts of America – included the below joke that also features a confused boat captain approaching what turns out to be a lighthouse.

The fog was very thick, and the Chief Officer of the tramp steamer was peering over the side of the bridge. Suddenly, to his intense surprise, he saw a man leaning over a rail, only a few yards away.
“You confounded fool!” he roared. “What on Earth do you think you are doing? Don’t you know my ship has the right of way?”
Out of the gloom came a sardonic voice:
“This isn’t a ship, Captain. This is a lighthouse”.

Since that 1940 publication aggregated existing jokes found elsewhere, it’s likely that the premise of the joke dates back even further.

The final nail in the coffin, however, is the dismissal of the tale right from the entity that most frequently finds itself the joke’s instigators, the US Navy. They debunked the tale on their website here.

The following is being transmitted around the Internet as an event that really took place, but it never happened. It is simply an old joke like those found in popular magazines:

As such, we rank the claim false.