All corrections
Wikipedia September 22, 2026 at 02:38 PM

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eddystone_Lighthouse

2 corrections found

1
Claim
Eighteen cisterns in the lower part of the tower were used to store up to 2,660 tons (nine months' worth) of colza oil to fuel the lamps.
Correction

This is a units error: contemporary descriptions of the 1882 tower say it stored 2,660 gallons of oil, not 2,660 tons.

Full reasoning

A contemporary 1882 description of the new Eddystone lighthouse in the RNLI's The Life-Boat gives the same figure as 2,660 gallons of oil, explicitly describing it as about a nine months' supply. That directly contradicts the article's claim of 2,660 tons.

This is almost certainly a simple unit mix-up rather than a substantive historical disagreement: the surrounding details in the article (oil rooms in the tower, nine months' supply) match the historical account, but the unit does not. The historical source states:

  • "There is storage space for 2,660 gallons of oil in the oil rooms, which is about a nine months' supply."

So the quantity is wrong as written in the post.

2 sources
2
Claim
The light is visible to 22 nautical miles (41 km), and is supplemented by a foghorn of 3 blasts every 62 seconds.
Correction

Current Trinity House data does not match this: Eddystone’s light is listed at 17 nautical miles, with a horn sounding once every 30 seconds.

Full reasoning

This sentence conflicts with current official Trinity House specifications for Eddystone Lighthouse.

On Trinity House's lighthouse page, Eddystone is listed with a range of light of 17 NM. In Trinity House's own aids-to-navigation review table, the Eddystone entry is shown as "Range 17" and "Horn (1) 30s".

That means the article's present-day claim of 22 nautical miles and 3 blasts every 62 seconds does not match the current official characteristics published by the lighthouse authority itself.

2 sources
Model: OPENAI_GPT_5 Prompt: v1.16.0