The daily Alaskan., 1909-02-16
FUGITIVE SPAR BU0YS
Rescuing These Stray "StiCks"
 Is PeriIOuS Work.
SlGNBoARDS OF CHANNELS.

How These Marinsrs' Guides Arc An
 ehorsd and How They Sometimes
 Break Away and Are Hunted Down
 by the Lighthouse Service Tenders.
 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 "siguboards" out of the sea or putting them over side Is like "yank- ing" splles with ton derrick on a heavlng platform
 Although passengers in the boats that ply the waters of New York har- bor. 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 !t is different Color shape and size give him volumes of information, and he looks upon the spar buoy as an in- valuable guide.
 In the government inventories they arc listed as sticks" although they are sometimes sixty feet long They are anchored in the bed of river or harbor channel. their "up ends paint cd in such way as to indicate to the observer thc formation of the bottom. On the margin of government charts explana' a'pry notes ton one that vessels approaching a horbor from the sea should leave red buoys with even numbers on the right and black, with odd numbers on the lef, side of chan ncls. Black and white striped buoys, the stripes running perpendi'ularly' mean an obstruction iU the channel with room to reJ by on either side, If balls or cages ornament the up ends" it 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 iob to find them. Ice focs break their cables and some times crush the sticks; storms pull them loose. and ships iu the fog or darkness foul them and tear them from their hold on thc bottom, Not infre, Qucutly ships use them as moorings, although this is forbidden.
 There are instances where the aG- chors of spar buoy have been secure enough Co hold against ice pressure and iu a narrow channel cause a dangerous lam But such cases are few, for when ibis happens the weight of tho ice usually becomes so great as to force the buoy under. and the pack slides on.
 If the Ice pocl; gets under the buoy so as Co Ilft ir there is only one result fhe parting of the cable Then or starts rhe spar upon 90 tourney maybe of thousands nr miles. perhaps of only one or two. It may fetch up on the nearest shore. and it may drift to the coast of Europe nr into the southern seas. On the Irish coast today is one which travelled there in six weeks from New York harh0r Ir was presented to the British government by the Unit ed States and now floats o0 the coast on which lt stopped after its long At- lantic Journey.
 IfItis long chase Co find the stray buoys lt Is even more difficult task to recover the anchors left behind by the rrglrrvc surrs Tenders that sail out of the harupr have derrick and tackle ricged lr iron. of 'he pilot house, with a donkey cuniur to lift and pull, The location oC every buoy Is marked on the charts to degree. SO it is not di.h- cult 'o find thn desired position. The serious HuFincss ls dragging for the anchor and after groppIlng with it to hoist lt aboard srID Here the donkey engine comes into play Another haz- ard is to pull a spar buoy aboard. If a sea happens to bc running the captain of the tcuIo~ NGs Co use extreme care. Should a Nlc roller get under him and suddenly tlchtnn the lifting chains either they w0,li give way or the wcl"ht would come uN too fast the crew In either ease being placed In Jeopardy of their lives.
 But ,hc risk these men run Is all In the days work. To them a job in a seaway on a lee shore is regarded as no more monotonous task than repaint- Ing a row of buoys on Iand.-New York Post.
 The Rrcyity Of Ballarat.