The Jersey City news. (Jersey City [N.J.]) 1889-1906, 1894-11-02
SHUN THE new CIRCES
Mariners Warned Against
Steam Fog Signals, Which
Often Lure to Destruction.

| WASHINGTON, Nov. 2, 1S94-The hy-
| geographic office directs the attention of
| seafaring men to the uncertainty of
| audibility of fog signals and cites a
| number of examples selected by Arnold
| johnson of the lighthouse establishment
for the benefit of mariners who, from
the facts presented, seem to be in as
much danger of being lured to destruc-
ton by the modern storm sirens intend
ed for coast protection as the ancients
were by the NEUROLOGICAL Circes of old.
1.-THE idea that sound is always heard
in all directions from its source. accord
ing to its intensity and force, and ac-
cording to the distance of the .hearer
from It," says this authority, SIS an err
roneous popular notion. Instances OF this
fallacy have accumulated and they are
emphasized by shipwrecks caused by the
insistence of mariners on the infalli-
bility of their ears, who have accepted
unquestioned the guidance of fog sig
nails as they do that of lighthouses dur
ing clear weather. Addition is subject
to alterations and under circumstances
where little expected. Implicit reliance
on sound signals often leads to danger,
if not DEATH
'sThe steamer Rhode Island was
wrecked in fog on Bonnet Point, R. l.,
November 6, 1880. Investigation showed
that Beaver Tail Point fog signal (about
two miles distant) was in full operation,
and also proved that. while there was no
lack in the volume OF sound emitted,
there was often a decided lack in the
addition OF that sound. 1t could not be
heard at the intensity expected nor at
the place expected: it would be heard
family where it ought to be heard loud
| Iy, and vice versa it could not be heard
at some points, while it could be heard
further away; it could be heard and
lost and heard and lost again, all within
reasonable ear shot. and all this while
the signal was in full blast and sound
@ GALATEA GROUNDED.
"on the night, of May 12, 1881, the
dense fog on Little Gull Island. Long
Island Sound, about one-eighth of a
mile, from the fog -. signal: Investigation invest {i
proved that the fog signal was in opera
ton, it having been heard fifteen miles
distant, at Mystic, Conn. Several days
We're spent steaning about Little Gull
Island and the alterations in addition
here We're as numerous and eccentric as
at Beaver Tail.
General Dunno, U. S. A., in reporr
to the Light House Board states, re-
garding the action of six steam fog sig
nails on the coast of Maine. that they
have frequently been heard twenty
miles distant and again not heard at a
distance of two miles The whistle at
Cape Elizabeth was heard at Portland,
nine miles away to windward during
heavy northwest snow storm, the wind
blowing a gale at the time. The great :
est difficulty observed, he says, arises
from the fact that ibe signal appears
to be surrounded by g. belt varying in
radius from one to two and a half miles
from which the sound appears to be
entirely absent. This section is COM
mon to all ear signals and has been OBJ
served at all stations, even one on a
rock twenty miles from the mainland,
with no surrounding objects to defect
the sound.
CONCLUSION REACHED.
All this is accompanied and illustrated
by diagrams and Mr.. Arnold reaches the
following conclusions and gives the
following advice as the result of his in
vestigation:-
fog signals are likely to be heard earliest
from aloft; from leaward, on deck. Do
not assume that you are out of hearing
distance if the signal is not heard; nor
faint; nor near because it is plainly
heard; nor that given point of the
course is reached because the signal is
or is not heard with the same intensity
as on some former occasion; nor that the
signal has ceased sounding because 1t
is not heard within easy ear shot; nor
same in different fog signals. Do not ex-
pect to hear the signals so we'll when
the upper and lower air. current
are moving in, opposite directions;
or when wind and tide are contrary; or
during electrical disturbances; or when
the sound must come over an island or
point of land. When a bluff exists be-
hind the signal, be prepared for irregu-
lar intervals in addition, such as would
follow were the sound to ricochet as a
cannon ball; thus you might hear it
at 2, 4, 6, s.. etc, miles, and lose it at l,
3. 5. 7. etc, miles, or at any other COM
bination of distances, regular or irregular.
When expected signals are not made,
keep the lead going freely and proceed
carefully