Ellsworth American. [volume] (Ellsworth, Me.) 1855-current, 1912-11-20
COLORS OF BUOYS
Spell the Same Words of Warn
ing In All Our Waters.
DAY GUIDES FOR MARINERS.
The Simple Code That Governs These
Valuable Aids to Nsvis stion--tio~
the Whistlins Buoy and Bell Buoy
Fog Signals Are Operated.

As everybody knows. there are black
buoys and red bnoys, buoys with hori.
rontal black and red stripes. buoys
with black and white vertical stripes,
not to speak of bell buoys and the
much larger buoys that lie well out at
sea and are called mammoth buoys.r
Each of these aids to navigation has.
of course, its own particular meaning.
The place that each occupies Is care
fully chosen for It and its arrangement
Is governed by careful system
Buoys are called day marks" in
contradIstinction to the might marks"
the lights and beacons.
For the purposes of the lighthouse
board the coasts of the United States,
including the lakes and navigable
rivers, are divided into various dis
tricts. each district being under the
Duoys In his district are properly cared
for.
For obvious reasons similar buoys in
al districts mean the same thing. In
other words. buoy OF particular dis
tinguishing color OF the coast Of Maine
carries the same significance that a
buoy o. that same color has of the
coast OF Florida. So the mariner who
enters the New England port is guided
and directed In precisely the same way
as the mariner who enters a southern
port, and the same Is true of all other
parts of the country.
The government publishes coast
charts showing the colors and posi-
lions Of the buoys- The lighthouse
board publishes. In addition. a yearly
list. distributed gratis for the benefit
of navigation. In which each one of the
thousands of buoys Is located and
described.
The passenger standing at the rain of
the liner coming In from sea will prob
ably hrst notice mammoth buoy"
These buoys are used only in special
cases-as. for example. to mark the ap-
proaches to channels over bars or
shoals that lie some distance from the
coast
Red and black buoys designate the
channel They lie on either side. The
red buoys. which have even numbers.
must be left on the starboard or right
hand In passing In from sea. The black
buoys. always with odd numbers. must
be left on the port hand
When there are two or more chan
nels these are distinguished by differ
ence either in the size or In the shape
of the buoys.
An isolated rock. wreck or any OBJ
struction that has channel on either
side Of 1t is shown by buoy with red
and black horizontal stripes.
Buoys showing white and black per
pendicular stripes and lying in mid
channel indicate that they must be
| passed close TO avoid danger.
AS an indication that there is a turn
ing point In the channel we see buoys
surmounted by triangles. cages. etc.
There are buoys which are also fog
! signals. such as the bell buoy and the
whistling buoy. The latter is used Off
the coast to show dangerous outlying
shoals OF other distractions 1t is sur
mounted by locomotive whistle made
| to sound by the rushing through 1t
of air admitted and compressed by the
rising and falling motion of the buoy
itself. Ii has been found that these
buoys are particularly adapted to tur
! bulent waters, inasmuch as the more
violent the sea is the louder the sound
given out by the buoy. The whistling
buoy. a most unpleasant neighbor. may
be heard at distance Of about ten
miles Under very favorable conditions
it has been heard fifteen miles
The bell buoy consists of the bottom
section Of buoy floating In the water
on which is mounted framework
bearing a bell which. instead of the
ordinary tongue and clapper, shows a
small cannon ball supported on a plat
form just beneath the BELLS mouth.
This bali rolls to and fro with every
motion of the sea.
Bell buoys are employed In harbors
and rivers where the water is smooth
er than In the roadsteads and where
It is not necessary that their sound
shall be heard a great distance.
The ordinary buoy. not of the whis-
of wood or of iron. Those of iron are
hollow with air tight compartments
| and are of three shapes, called re-
spectively nun. can and ice buoys
The nun buoy is almost conicai In
shape. the can buoy approaches the
cylindrical form. and the ice buoy Is
very long and narrow. somewhat re
sembling the spar buoy in form
The wooden or spar buoys are sticks
ranging In length from twelve to sixty
feet and painted according to the uses
to which they are to be put The
lower end is fitted for mooring chain
Buoys have many vicissitudes and
are exposed to many dangers. Passing
steamers run down the iron buoys and
rip them open or cut off big pieces Of
spar buoys with their sharp propeller
blades. As the iron buoys are made
10 compartments they are seldom
sunk by such collisions. but their line