A stern light manually insertible into and removable from a powered socket such as for a boat, is shown and described. The stern light comprises a light transmissive elongated post with a plurality of point light sources. Each point light source is individually controllable as to on-off and as to color, either from local pushbuttons or from a portable wireless transmitter. The point light sources may be controlled by a programmable controller which responds to the local pushbuttons or to the portable wireless transmitter, and may illuminate according to various lighting sequences, such as constantly on and such as flashing.