Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1893-1920, 1912-07-12
COLORS or BUOYSI
Spell the Same Words of Warn.
ing In All Our Waters.

AS everybody knows, there are black |
buoys and red buoys, buoys with hori- |
zontal 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."
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
charge of an officer who sees that all
buoys in his district are properly cared
for.
For obvious reasons similar buoys in
all districts mean the same thing. In
other words. buoy Of a particular dis
tinguishing color off the coast of Maine
carries the same significance that
buoy OF 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 rail Of
the liner coming in from sea will prob
ably first notice a 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 a differ
ence either in the size or in the shape
of the buoys.
An isolated rock. wreck or any OBJ
struction that has a channel on either
side Of it is shown by a 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 or other distractions. 1t is sur
mounted by a locomotive whistle made
to sound by the rushing through il
!, of air admitted and compressed by the
: rising and falling motion of the buoy
itself. 1t 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 whistline
buoy, a most unpleasant neighbor, may
be heard at distance of about ter
miles Under very favorable condition:
it has been heard fifteen miles.
The bell buoy consists of the bottom
section OF a buoy floating in the water
D on which is mounted a framework
0 bearing a bell which, instead of the
ordinary tongue and clapper, shows {
small cannon ball supported on plat
form just beneath the bells mouth
n This ball rolls TO and fro with ever.
o motion Of the sea.
Bell buoys are employed in harbor
and rivers where the water is smooth
er than in the roadsteads and wher
it is not necessary that their soun'
shall be heard a great distance.
3 The ordinary buoy. not of the whis
2 ting or the bell variety. is made eithe
q of wood or Of iron. Those Of iron ar
4 hollow with air tight compartment
and are of three shapes, called re
z spectively nun. can and ice buoys
2 The nun buoy is almost conical i
shape. the can buoy approaches tn
* cylindrical form, and the ice buoy
z very long and narrow. somewhat re
Z sembling the spar buoy in form.
: The wooden or spar buOys are stick
3 ranging in length from twelve to sixt
u feet and painted according to the use
a to which they are to be put. Tn
u lower end is fitted for moOring chair
a Buoys have many vicissitudes an
. are exposed to many dangers. Passin
steamers run down the iron buoys an
l. rip them open or cut off big pieces {
i spar buOyS with their sharp prupelle
blades. AS the iron buoys are mad
a in compartments. they are sedol
sunk by such collisions. but their lii
. Of fiotation is often so lowered tbs
q they have to be Harper