Crawford avalanche. (Grayling, Mich.) 1879-19??, 1899-12-14

City Streets,

City streets,
Mariners about our English coasts,
says the London Mall, have the sea
marked out for them into roads and
streets as definite and obvious az Pic
cadilly or the Strand. 1t Is only by
extreme negligence or by an absolute
unforeseen combination OF adverse CIR
cumstances that a ship can lose It's
way nowadays when 1t Is within TWEEN
ty or thirty miles of the English coast.
The greatest sea road In the whole
world is the Swim Deep. at the mouth
of the Thames. 1t Ii not too much 10
say that every foot OF IL Is surveyed
and marked down on the chart. Ii Is
lighted more completely than many
city thoroughfares, and to the sailor IL
liz more homelike and familiar than
the Commercial road or the White
chapel High street.
Down this great high road of the sea
much of the trade of the world Is ear
ried Ships from the farthest parts OF
the world patrol 1t day and night in
an endless procession, bringing goods.
to London or taking English products
to distant lands.
AS the traveller steams down the
Thames between the low mud reaches
beyond Gravesend, his first glimpse or
the wonderful system Of lights which
guides the ships is obtained at South
head.
A red light shines out over the wat
er. and it is IA warning that the river
journey is nearly finished, and that
Swim street Is near at hand.
Tom Hood immortalized the More in
a poem called the Little Buoy mt the
Nore." but he had nothing to say about
one of the lost famous Of our English
lightships. The More light as the
sailors call it, is at the very entrance
to the great highway. 1t shows
white light which revolves every half
minute.
Every lighthouse and lightship has
its own particular and distinguishable
system of signaling its name. For ex-
ample, the next light in Swim street is
seven miles from the More, and Is
called the Mouse" light.
In order that there may be no confu-
sion between the two ships the Mouse
ship shows green light, which re-
wolves every twenty seconds, and
which Is visible for exactly ten miles.
1t is also provided with foghorn.
which is blown by compressed air, and
is said to have the most unpleasant
voice in the whole channel.
These lightships provide the princi-
pal illumination of Swim street. In
daytime each one carries a cone of iron
bars Of different shapes in the place
where the lamp is hoisted ut night,
and. moreover. the name of the ship Is
painted upon its side in colossal white
letters.
One of the most powerful and Gu
rious lights in Swim street is known as
the Maplin light. 1t is mt the edge of
lin and Foulness sands. These sands
dry ut low water, and extend for sew
enteen miles. along the coast. 1t was
found impossible 10 build solid ma
sorry upon the shifting surface, and
so the famous Maplin light has been
built upon an enormous erection of
piles.
1t is one of the most conspicuous
sights In Swim street, for it appears to
be rising straight up out of the middle
of the sea. The light Is what is known
as red ''occulting" light. Every half
minute IL is hidden by Il revolution of
the lantern behind a steel shutter
There are many Of these ''occulting''
lights I'm Swim street, and 1t Is often Il
welcome sight to see one of them flash
out OF the dark, explaining with abso-
lutte certainty the exact position Of the
ship in the channel. The smallest
lights of all the many colored ilumin-
ations are those ut the head OF the
buoys which mark out the various safe
pass; - for ships. These burn night
and day, and the light is produced
from ordinary gas. The great buoys-
many of them from fifteen TO twenty
feet high-are hollow and filed with
gas, Which burns continually from
lamp mt the top.
Often the traveller in Swim street
may see curious, slowly moving YES
sci with great tank on the deck. NOV
ing from buoy to buoy. This is the
gas boat which supplies the lights
with fresh gas at stated intervals. 1t
may be called the lamplighter of the
sea road.