Orleans County monitor. [volume] (Barton, Vt.) 1872-1953, 1895-05-13
RULES OF ThE RCk0 AT SEA.
The Color and Position of Lights at Night
Tell of a Vessels Course.

A
Tell of Vessels Course.
Ensign John M. Ellicott, in ST. Mich
olas, has paper entitled "What the
Lights Tell This is a description of
the system of signaling at night. En-
sign Ellicott writes as follows of tie
RULES of the Road
Presently there flashes out of the
gloom ahead a small bright speck; then
it is gone, then it shows again, and one
of the lookouts who has craned his neck
forward in the intensity Of his gaze cries
out:
''Light, hot'
In an instant the officer of the deck is
by his side, glasses in hand, inquiring:
"Where away?'
Then he, too, sees it, and by it is in
formed Of another vessels presence near
him on the dark ocean. Then comes an
anxious time when with strong glasses
he strives to tell the color of that faint
light, for he is as yet informed only of
the other vessels whereabouts at the
moment and knows not which way she
is going nor what manner Of vessel she
may be. This last is what the light next
reveals, for if it be white it is the mast
head light of a steamer, but if it be red
or green the absence of white light
reveals a sailing vessel 1t is for the red
and green lights, commonly known as
the side lights, that the officer Of the
deck most intently watches, for by them
he can tell which way the vessel is going.
If her red light shows, he knows that
her port side is toward him and she is
crossing to his left. If it is her green
light, her starboard side is toward him,
and she is crossing to his right, but if
both the red and green are showing she
is heading straight in his direction. Thus
he learns by these running lights where
the other vessel is, what she is, and in
what direction she is going, and he
knows in plenty of time whether she is
on his track Or whether she is crossing
it in one direction or the other. All that
is not enough, however, to avoid COLI
sion, for both he and the officer on the
other vessel must know exactly what to
do and what the other is going to do.
He must know, SO to speak, on just
what track to switch and on just what
track the other vessel will switch to
avoid him. This is settled by fixed rules,
which are the same the world over, and
are known to all men who follow the
sea. They are called the "rules Of the
road.
The rules Of the road say that when
two vessels are coming bows on-that is
to say, on the same track-each vessel
shall turn off to the right far enough to
avoid the other; that when two vessels
are crossing-that is, when their tracks
would cross each other, the one which has
the other on her starboard (right) hand
must turn to starboard (the right, and
go behind the other vessel, while the
latter keeps on her track, of course, and
that steam vessel must always get out
Of the way Of a sailing vessel, vessel
at anchor or disabled, or a vessel with
another in tow
Thus the lights tell, in the darkest
night, which way the ships are going
and what kind of ships they are, while
the rules Of the road tell, both for night
and day, in which direction the ships
must turn to keep out of each others
way. If a vessel has another vessel in
tow, she carries two masthead lights in
stead of one, and when a vessel is at an
Choir she has no side lights or masthead
light, but single white light made fast
to a stay where it can be seen from all |
around her.