Vernon County censor. [volume] (Viroqua, Wis.) 1865-1955, 1908-12-30
FUGITIVE SPAR BUOYS
Rescuing These Stray Sticks
Is PefiIous Work.
SlGNBoARDS OF CHANNELS.

How These Mariners Guides Are An
ehored and How They Sonstiuss
Break Away and Are Hunted Down
BY the Lighthouse Service Ter 4srs.
When the winter gales begin to blow
the tenders Of the lighthouse service
turn their stems toward northern seas
to hunt stray spar buoys. OF all the
work Of the coast patrol this, perhaps,
is the most exposed to danger Pulling
these "signboards'' out Of the sea OF
putting them over side is like .yank-
ing" spiles with a ton derrick on a
heaving platform.
Although passengers IN the boats
that ply the waters of New York har-
Dor Long Island sound and other wa
terways along the coast see many
spar buoys, they give them little
thought. With the man at the wheel
it Is different Color. shape ard size
give him volumes of information, and
he looks upon the spar buoy as an in
valuable guide
In the government inventories they
are listed as sticks" although they
are sometimes sixty feet long They
are anchored in the bed Of a river or
harbor channel, their up ends" paint
ed in such a way as to indicate 70 the
observer the formation Of the bottom
On the margin of government charts
explanatory notes tell one that vessels
approaching a harbor from the sea
should leave red buoys with even
numbers on the right and black. with
odd numbers on the left side Of chan
nels. Black and white striped buoys
the stripes running perpendicularly.
mean an obstruction in the cEaunel
with room to get by ON either side
If balls or cages ornament the up
ends 1t means a turning point, the
color and number indicating the course
These sticks are put down with heavy
iron anchors and sometimes great
stone weights. One would suppose that
so fixed they never could get away. but
they do, and It is job TO find them
Ice foes break their cables and SOM.
times crush the sticks; storms pull
them loose, and ships I'm the fog or
darkness foul them and tear them from
their hold on the bottom. Not infre-
quently ships use them as moorings.
although this is forbidden
There are instances where the an
chors Of spar buoy have been secure
enough to hold against ice pressure and
in q narrow channel cause a dangerous
jam. But such cases are few. for
when thi: happens the weight of the
ice usually becomes SO great MS to force
the buoy under, and the pack slides on.
II the ice pack gets under the buoy
so as to lift 1t there is only one ~"sult-
the parting Of the cable. Then off
starts the spar upon a journey maybe
Of thousands Of miles, perhaps Of only
one or two It may fetch up on the
nearest shore and II may drift to the
coast Of Europe or into the southern
seas. On the Irish coast today is enc
which Travelled there In six weeks from
New York harbor 1t was presented
to the British government by the Unit
ed States and now floats off the coast
on which It stopped after fits long At
lantic Journey
If It Is a long chase to find the stray
buoys It IS even more difficult task to
recover the anchors left behind by the
fugitive spars Tenders that sail out
Of the harbor have a derrick and tackle
rugged IN front Of the plot house, with
a donkey engine to lift and pull The
location Of every buoy Is marked on
the charts to degree. so 1t T. not diff
cult to find the desired position The
serious business Is dragging for the
anchor and after grappliug with 1t to
hoist It aboard ship Here the donkey
engine comes into play. Another haZ-
ard is 10 pun a spar buoy aboard II
sen happens to he running The captain
Of the tender has to use extreme care,
Should big roller get under him and
suddenly tighten the lifting chains
either they would give way or the
weight would come up too fast the
crew IN either case being placed in
Jeopardy Of their lives.
Buf the risk these men run is all In
the DAYS work To them a Job in
seawav ou q lee shore is regarded rs
no more monotonous task than repaiut
ing A row ~ huovs on land New York
Post.