The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1907-11-06
REGARDING SPAR BUoYs.
How an Important Aid to Navigation
Is Cared for and Maintained.

mournfu1 tone of the whistling buoy.
But little has been written about spar
buoys. They seem to be so common as
to pass without notice. Yet the spar
buoy is a most important factor. With
out it navigation would be paralyzed,
and were it not for the ships which
look after them, the men whose lives
are spent in making, placing and re-
pairing them, and the satisfactory ser
vice these sticks of wood render, the
commerce of the world, as far as river
and harbor navigation is concerned,
would suffer materially
A spar buoy is a stick of wood, any
where from ten to sixty feet in length,
anchored to the bed of a river or har-
Dor, and its projecting end is painted
in way to tell the observer about GER
tain formations of the bottom. NaV1-
cation laws of this country demand
that red buoys, with even numbers, be
on the right, and black buoys, with odd
numbers, be on the left side of chan
nels as approached from the sea. BuoyS
on wrecks or other distractions, having
a channel on either side, are painted
with horizontal red and black stripes;
midchannel buoys, with perpendicular
black and white stripes, and bells
cages, etc. on the top Of buoys, indi-
cate turning point. the color and num-
Der Indicating the course.
One might be led to suppose that once
such a stick of wood was placed in
position it would remain there to the
cared for in much the same manner as
boats. Anywhere from six months to
two years after being set lighthouse
tender is sent out to pick them up and
put new ones in their places. Then
the old buoy is scraped, dried, painted
and repaired, until finally 1t goes back
to work again.
Not infrequently buoy must be re-
placed because it has been broken. 1t is
not an everyday occurrence, but oc-
casionally it happens that a boat will
run over buoy at night and the pro-
peller cut it off below the water line.
Then, of course there is trouble. Some
boat comes up the channel, expecting
TO get it's course from the buoy 1t can
not be found. A report is Immediately
made and a tender ordered to the spot.
What remains of the old buoy is found
and removed, new one being immed-
lately put in it's place.
But the greatest menace to the spar
buoy is Ice 1t is possible for we'll
moored buoy, If heavy enough, to cause
an ice jam in narrow channel, but
usually the ice simply passes over the
cuoy as its head is forced down by the
foe Sometimes the ice is too quick
for the spar and it is caught up and
dragged from the moorings, accompan-
led by its anchor, provided the shackle
holds.
There is at present moored off the
coast of Ireland a buoy which Travelled
to that point in six weeks from its
home in New York harbor. The gov
eminent presented the buoy to the Irish
board which, when they had added
their distinguishing marks to it, an
chored it where 1t had come ashore, in
honor of it's long and curious journey.
Wave and wind action is not the only
factor which tends to move buoy
from its position. Ships. by being
rnoored to them, though contrary to the
laws of navigation, do their share of
damage. To see the enormous iron
10 Or
rough stone with ring bolts through
them, one would never imagine they
could be moved by any outside agent,
yet they not only drag their anchors,
but often break off their shackles.
When the tender goes to replace
buoy she runs up as close as possible.
1t is then caught by hand and loop
of chain thrown over It's mead. rms,
when drawn tight, bites into the wood
and holds it firmly for the hosting en-
zine to raise. When six feet or more
are out of water another chain is slip
ned on below the first, and as the 9TH
or eide of the hosting engine hauls
this in the first chain is removed and
adjusted below the second. So, little
by little, the spar comes from the wa
ter. muddy, barnacled and covered with
aeaWeed. Then, before 1t is lowered to
the broad deck of the tender, men
with shovels scrape off the weeds and
barnacles, often foot or more thick,
while others with brooms sweep on the
debris ana WASH II cream Win a lAoSc-
Two men with. hammers loosen the
iron-bound end of the spar from its
anchor, while a third knocks out the
Connecting bolt. A fresh buoy, which
a. held in rope sings over the side OF
the tender, Is always dropped beside
the old one. before the latter is re-
moved, unless, of course, the old one
has dragged in which case sextant
lights are taken to locate the true po-
sition of the spar.
IT is not often that a buoy is worked
in bad weather, but in case sea Is
running the captain has to use ex-
IRENE care Should he tighten up on a
frrnly fastened buoy and sea lift his
boat either the tackle will break or
the buoy come up too fast In either
case there is great danger of some OF
the men being injured.
This buoy service, so little known to
the pubIic has its own code of laws.
10th state and national 1t has fleet
of steamers for its maintenance, and a
corps of private contractors to attend
10 buoys in places impractical to work
from a tender. 1t has depots for the
making, storing and painting Of both
Eooden and iron buoys, and an annual