Daily globe. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1878-1884, 1883-12-16
PLANTING 4 BUOY.
Written for tho St. Paul Globe. !

cation on the shores Of tins Atlantic, he is
apt to bring witt. him to the prairies and
hills Of the northwest many Impressions
and "reminiscences of ,he most pleasing
sort. He still, in some measure, feeis and
enjoys the stimulating influence OF the sea
coast, SO different III its way from witat sur
rounds him here. Thee is charm at
taching to the ocean which cannot be ace
euately described but must be experienced
10 be realized. Thero is tbs broad ex-
panse, the endless waste Of waters stretch
ing out as TAR as the eye can see and
spreading out. to the Imagination, thous-
ands of leagues beyond. Its vast depths,
unseen, but realized to be belonging to
such unlimited reach, are known to be the
home of myriads OF living forms, animal
and plant, constructed with an exquisite
delicacy far surprising those which the
land affords. And as We wander along the
shore this is made manifest by the scat
tered remnants Of once living forms
east up to earth By the waves.
We even dream of Atalantis
Of baried cities, and certainly an ocean
bed strewn with the hulks Of Morse gal
legs and Spanish galleons. pirate craft and
buried treasures never to be given up.
We look over the blue waters which nave
for ages oeckoned man to tempt its
trsaoherous depths and devouring storms,
in search of undiscovered countries. And
for ages has besn the nurse who has
rocked he es in her cradle, making men,
hardy ano brave of temper. And with
this she has stimulated, if not created the
highest achievements Of civil So
siety. AS we look upon the
picture with its restless waves and shift
ing colors and lights and shadows, and
feel the refreshing sea breezes blowing
through the hair, we derive our inspira-
tion of health and strength of body and
mind.
We passed long vacation at Woods
Hall on Cape Cod, among the squaint
surroundings OF q seafaring people-for
this is an old whaling country, once boast
ing of seaport towns larger and richer than
was New York. Each house has its balus-
traded platforms on The roof. whore the
people watched ter tie returning whalers
many never rslurn. The place is satu-
rated with sea lore. We were sailing off shore
one brilliant, cloudIess day, when the old
sailor said, "Ihere's a heavy fog outside"
"HoW 90 Won know it?" "Why, don't you
see, the waves sh0W it," And he was
right, az We afterwards found, when point
ing for port as hard rs we could 90 with a
free sheet, before we we're overtaken by
tbs fog and accompanying calm.
Well there is at this place . government
lighthouse station With shops, docks,
sheds, and vast accumulation Of anchors,
chains, signal cannon, spar and iron, can
buoy5 and steamer f5 to 60 10 sea
in tbs Wofsb weather. In the
harbor are several Iightships for
repair. The w0ck Of the station Is TO
supply the light houses and ships With oil,
provisions and men when needed, to to3
the ships 30 theT stations or pick them mp
when reported Girift "direuct' after 6
fierce storm along the coast, and to plant
and keep in crder beacops and buoys. The
ight-ship, by The way, IS very heavy. She
is a massive hull, pointed fore and aft,
constructed of the heaviest timbers and
planl1ing, braGed and reinforced, and equal
in herself, like Nick's wife, to any storm
that ever blow. She has immense
hawse holes for tho cables, two masts
with black, iron-ball shaped cratings at
the mast heads, for day, and lanterns
hoisted from the deck houses at night.
AS this monster lies walloWing i'll the At
lantic swell, apparently deserted, the
water rushing in and pouring out the
hawse-holes at every plunge, she presents
a picture of solitude hardly to be equeled.
And in fact she is solitude. The keepers
GO on board for many months at a stretch,
sworn in no event of disaster even to de-
sert her, and there they live in the midst
of the waters, lazily rolling in fair and
feroely plunging in bad weather.
But they are at home, having their ship
duties, books and handiwork. The keepers
family is with him, it is said, on the ship
off Sandy Hook, and his daughter had
grown to be fourteen years CT age before
she ever stepped on dry land. They have
q piano and conveaiences of homo life.
The two anchors used are known as the
mushroom anchor. 1t is Of immense
weight and shaped like mushroom. That
is, tho body Is of saucer shape, with
stem rising from It's center, and no Gross
beam. This IS so that as it is pulled and
rolled aA1ut on the bottom
it WORKS its ~ deep irto the sand and
thus luc-e -ses lis hold. The cable, also,
Is of greater .=--iH, by ms0y fafhoms,
than Size depth g w3.er. This ta give adj
GiiooS- dag NE also tong pull instead
OF riFoiu- 4uiI. Doa'5 60 near her as
sho rolls; hett.c keep away" The high
EST possibility vests IL replacing these
Ggaz at5ar hey have gone adukt. When
out sigh. OF lang, the i0oaion is known
10y compass bearings NJ soundiugs. Bat
10 any one ne. b-vtng technical training
and speciai skill. it would be- like hunting
for q needle il q lay stack, to find II.
Certainly g high order Of skill Is requi-
site and t4e government seldom changes
the command Tor the reason that the hun
dred outside indications by currents, bot
tom, etc, (for the ocean bed hiss as
marked characteristics as the state of Min
nesota) become to be a sort of secret prop
ty OF The captain which he does not give
away. You may believe this or not as
you please as sea yarn. But the cap
tain told US that the lightship on the
Great South shoal got adrift in q storm in
1873. That when she broke away the
keepers threw over a small
anchor with cable and float to mark the
spot. This shoal is many leagues out
sight of land, but he was so accurate in
his soundings and learnings that when he
thought he had reached the precise station
and was about to back the engine, there
was the float right off his port bow.