The Hawaiian star. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu]) 1893-1912, 1895-10-14
FREAKS or f0GIl0RNS.
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soMErInEs rHtrN 80. RAMS.
Given u Affection uetait 81 ono
~ the tests.

Is. D. ChrnItI
: ientists have been consuming
large amounts of gay matter of
late in vain endeavors 10 find out
why it is that a ioghorn can be
heard more plainly when two miles
and a half off than when mile
nearer, and that when only halt a
mile away the hardy mariners can
not hear the hoarse groan Of ii.
foghorn at all AT least two Gov
ernments have given this phenom-
enon official attention and expert
mented off OH and for divers sum
mers. But they are now at sea as
much as they were before they be-
gan experimenting Yet the fact
femains that there are varying
zones around the fog signals.
This strange freak of Nature was
first officially discovered four sum
mers ago. Like all great discoveries,
it was caused by kicker. a cap
tain of a sound steamer, plying
regularly between Newport and
New York down Long Island
sound, noticed one night that the
foghorn off Point Judith could not
be heard when he was only half
mile off. lie had heard it distinct
ly as he approached the point. A
few minutes later he caught the
sound Of the blast horn again.
Suddenly the log lifted, and the
captain found himself close in shore
scarcely quarter of a mile from the
reefs. AS soon as he brought his
boat into port the captain went
ashore and telegraphed a complaint
to Washington that his vessel had
nearly been wrecked because the
loghorn on the most dangerous
point Of the sound had stopped
blowing in the midst of a heavy
fog. The keeper Of the lighthouse
on that point, when reprimanded,
denied that he had allowed the fog
horn to stop sounding.
The Lighthouse Board at once
made an investigation. They
ordered the supply steamer to test
the fog horn. On the next foggy
day the steamer made for Point
Judith. The steamer was PA miles
off, when the first faint strains Of
the fog horn came piercing the
wall OF fog that lay between the
vessel and the distant promontory.
At a distance of two and one, half
miles the sound suddenly became
much louder, and continued just
as loud up TO two miles. Then it
grew fainter From one and three
fourths to one and a half miles it
could scarcely be heard at all.
Suddenly it grew louder again, and
the noise became so great that
the captain of the steamer took
his soundings every half minute,
fearing that he had made some
mistake in his reckonings and was
close on shore. But after stearningI
forward a whole mile and being
only half a mile off shore, the sound
suddenly ceased entirely. A quar-
ter of mile off shore The sound
appeared again and increased until
the lighthouse could be seen dis
tinc,ly through the mist. Turning
his boat around, the captain steam
ed away. AS he went he noticed
these same phenomena OF sound at
the distances already described.
is an established fact that the
sound from fog horns travels over
the water and through the mist in
zones Of varying intensity said
Professor Garriott of the Weather
Bureau this morning. But no
body has ever yet been able to eX
plain the phenomenon. The Light
house Board and the German
Government have investigated the
subjected thoroughly, but without
being able to solve the mystery.
When was in Washington | heard
half dozen papers read before the
Lighthouse Board on the question.
The Board is still pursuing its in
vestigations, but it has not caught
the cause yet"