The Opelousas courier., 1893-02-18
N~AVIGATION'S DAY MARK"
PLACING DISTINGUISHING AND
CARING FOR BUoYS.

AA 4oVS NASASON Sf
N proaohes to a seaport town have
NJ noticed the numerous buoy
and marks which are placet
there as aids to navigation.
Tugg1ng and Jerking at their chains
as the tide sucks in around them, or ly-
ing quietly upon the placid waters OF
some sheltered bay, are black buoys and
red buoys, buoys with horizontal black
and red stripes, buoys with black and
white vertical stripes, and ding-donging
bell buoys. Well out to sea lie much
larger buoys, called mammoth buoys,
gripping the sand with their iron claws
Though these marks and buoys may
seem to have been put haphszard hero
and there, each has a meaning. The
place that each shall occupy is carefully
chosen for it, and its arrangement is
governed by a careful system.
These aids to navigation, which are
called ebay marks" in contradistinction
to the lights and beacons, fall under the
jurisdiction of the Lighthouse Board.
The coast of the United States, in.
Guiding the lakes and navigable rivers,
is divided into sixteen districts. A naval
officer is in charge of each. Under his
direction all the buoys in his district are
placed.
In all the districts similar buoys mean
the same thing, and a buoy that has a
particular distinguishing color on the
coast of Maine has the same significance
If IN the Bay of Mobile or off the coast
of Qregoaa- Sc the mariner Who sails
into Boston Harbor is guided and di-
rected exactly in the same way as he who
enters the Golden Gate.
Not only are the colors and positions
of the buoys given on the Coast Survey
Charts, but the Lighthouse Board pub
fishes a yearly list, which is distributed
gratuitously for the benefit of com
merce, in which each of its about five
thousand buoys is located and described.
Coming into port from sea, the first
buoy that we pass may be a mammoth
buoy. / say ssmay be-" because these
buoys are only used in special cases such
as to mark the approaches to channels
over bars or shoals that lie at a on
siderable distance from the coast. The
entrances to most harbors do not require
any such special marks.
The buoys that designate the channel.
and which lie on either side of it, are
red and black. The red buoys, which
all have even numbers, must be left IN
the cardboard or right hand in passing in
from sea, while the black buoys, always
with odd numbers, must be left on the
port hand. 0
In case there are two or more chan
nels, they are distinguished by a differ
once either in size or shape of the buoys.
If there should chance to be al isola-
ted rock, wreck OF any obstruction which
has a channel on either side of it, it is
shown by a buoy painted with red and
black horizontal stripes.
Buoys with white and black perpen.
dicular stripes lie in mid channel, and
indicate that they must be passed close
to avoid danger.
Finally, buoys surmounted by TRAN
giles, cages. and SO forth, are an indica-
ton that there is q turning-point In the
channel.
There are, in addition to the buoys
already mentioned, two other kinds
which are also fog signals, namely, the
whistling buoy and the bell buoy.
The whistling buoy is used of the
coast to mark dangerous outlying shoals
or other Instructions to navigation. It
is surmounted by a locomotive whistle,
which is made to sound by the rushing
through it of air admitted and COM
pressed by the rising and sinking motion
of the buoy. These buoys are well
adapted to turbulent waters, as the more
violent the sea the louder the sound
caused. Like some restless spirit chained
to the oceans bed, they can but sadly
moan their fate under smiling skies and
unbroken seas but when buffeted by
the waves and tempest tossed, they
their lamentations iercely, and
warn the mariner TO beware the spot they
mark. They are not pleasant n~eighbors.
Their sound is frequently heard at a dis
lance of ten miles, and under very favor
able circumstances il has been heard If
teen miles.
The bell buoy consists of the bottom
section of a buoy floating in the water,
which is mounted a framework bear
ing a bell which, instead of the ordinary
tongue aud clapper, has 8 small cannon
ball supported on q platform just under
meath the bells mouth. This ball rolls
to and fro with every motion Of the sea.
These buoys are used in harbors and
where the water is smoother than
In the roadsteads, and where it is not
that their sound shall be heard
> great distance.
Ordinary buoys, not OF, the whistling
bell variety, are made of either iron
Or wood. Those of iron are hollow,
alright compartments, aud are of
three shapes, called respectively nun,
san and ice buoys. The nun buoy
q almost conical in shape; the
IAN buoy approaches the cylindrical
'orm, and the ice buoy is very long and
and resembles the spar buoy in
'orm.
The wooden or spar buoys are sticks
in length from twelve to sixty
eet, and painted according to the uses
o which they are TO be put. The lower
md is fitted for a mooring chain.
A buoy has many vieissitudes, and 10
to many dangers. Passing
Iteamers run down the iron buoys and
ip them open, or cut off big pieces Of
par buoys with their sharp propeller
As the iron buoys are made in COM