A sandbank at the mouth of the river Thames, England, marked by various buoys and by a lightship, with revolving light. This ship lies 3 m. from the nearest point on the Kent coast, about the same distance from the Essex coast, and 474 m. below London Bridge. The first light was placed here as an experiment by Mr Hamblin, its patentee, in 1731. In 1 797 the neighbouring anchorage was the scene of a mutiny in the British fleet then lying here, well known in history as the Mutiny of the Nore.