The North Carr Lightship has witnessed some of the most dramatic events in Scotland's recent maritime history -not least during the Second World War, when every Allied vessel bound to and from the Clyde and the Mersey had to pass through the North Channel. At this vital maritime crossroads off the Firth of Clyde, the North Carr served as a beacon for vital Atlantic convoys and helped guide home the great Cunarders Queen Elizabeth and Queen Mary, bringing as many as fifteen thousand American troops at a time for the invasion of Europe.

In 1942, she marked the outbound route for the great invasion armada of 334 ships carrying 70,000 men bound for Operation Torch, the Anglo-American landing in North Africa. In 1943, the huge outbound assault convoy forthe Allied invasion of Sicily, Operation Husky, passed by the Lightship. She also saw her share of enemy action while in the North Channel, notably in January 1945 when Oberleutnant J¼rgen K¼hlmann hid U-1172 right underneath the Lightship while he torpedoed a tanker and an aircraft carrier.

Post-war, the Lightship returned to her proper station off Fife Ness and a more peaceful existence. Inthe early hours of 8 December 1959, when the east coast of Scotland was lashed by violent gales and blizzards for a whole week, the Lightship's massive anchor cable snapped and she began drifting towards the rock-bound Fife shore. The Broughty Ferry Lifeboat Mona responded to the Lightship's call for help and was seen fighting her way through enormous seas into St Andrews Bay. But the Mona never reached the Lightship and, at daybreak, the wreck of the Lifeboat was found on the beach at Carnoustie. In and around her were the bodies of seven of her eight gallant volunteer crewmen; one man was never found. Meanwhile, Skipper Rosie and the crew of the North Carr managed to get a spare anchor to hold before being winched off by helicopter.

The North Carr protected shipping off Fife Ness until 1975. After withdrawal from service she now lies in Dundee Harbour and has undergone restoration. Initially a tourist attraction, North Carr now serves as headquarters and depot ship for the Maritime Volunteer Service.