The Bluffton news. [volume] (Bluffton, Ohio) 1875-current, 1939-05-04

aid Of a single lighthouse or a single
buoy, for there is neither light nor
buoy to lie found anywhere in all
these thousands Of miles of villain
Gus river
Floods Imperil Buoys.
Lights oa the lower Mississippi
were maintained during the period
OF TIE great flood Of 1927 under the
most tryirg circumstances. Near
Natchez a keeper was driven from
his house, which was flooded to the
caves; yet no matter how high the
water got, he kept his light going.
As the river rose, the lantern was
raised several times by adding to
its support Homes in the vicinity
were flooded TO their roofs, and it is
mystery where the keepers found
shelter
The keeper of Windy Point light,
on Grand Lake, La, reported Il
am yet on The job, but the water
has run me out of my house. / have
the oil on some logs. l will stay out
here. All is we'll"
When an irconing steamer
reaches Ambrc 9 lightship, picks up
the pilot and heads for New York.
it soon passes between two large
Lighted buoys marking the actual
entrance to Ambrose channel. On
the right side is quick-fashing red
light and bell, on the left quick
flashing white light and whistle.
The ship tiien follows six miles Of
a dredged channel, 1000 feet wide
and 40 feet deep, lighted with fre-
quent buoys on either side and spe-
cial markings at turns. Large lin
ers, which formerly waited for the
tide, now pass in and out of New
York harbor under all conditions
| but that of dense fog.
U. S. Has 10000 Buoys.
Along other coasts and at harbor
entrances, buoys mark the sides of
/ the channels IS well as shoals,
| rocks, or wrecks. Their upkeep is
an endless task for the fleet of light
| house tenders, which constantly pick
up and set out the buoys, restore
them to their proper stations, bring
them in for their annual overhaul,
and supply the lighted buoys with
tanks of compressed acetylene gas.
This country now has over 1,640
lighted buoys, and total of over
10000 buoys of all types and sizes,
not including the number of reliefs.
Despite unceasing care, buoys
sometimes break away in storms.
are torn loose by passing vessels, or
sink. Some have had strange ad-
ventures and to them poets have
often ascribed human attributes.
There is Kipling's poem, 1.-The Bell
Buoy" and Southey's "Inchcape
Rock"
A strange story is that of the
Frying-Pan Shoals Buoy "a FP,
which a few years ago broke from
its moorings off the North Carolina
coast and set out for the open sea.
1t was 40 feet long, weighed II tons,
with light and whistle, and cost
! $4,000
Recovered i'm Ireland.
This runaway buoy drifted over
into the Gulf Stream and sailed fol-
Europe. Though sighted and report.
ed many times, no vessel recovered
it. Finally a French steamer saw
it approaching the Irish coast anC
lighthouse authorities there were
notified.
After l3 months at sea and a voy
age of about 1000 miles, IA FP (the
ZIP" stands for "Frying-Pan",
was washed ashore off Skibbereen
County Cork.
/ Sounding its whistle day anc
night, another buoy broke away
from near Nantucket shoals light
ship, drifting $500 miles in Is
months, circling between Bermuda
and the Atlantic coast.
In some waters around New York
traffic is rough on buoys. Wooder
spar buoys, formerly used, were
sometimes cut down more than once
in single day. Now wooden spar:
have been replaced by light stee
buoys, which can better resist COLI
sions and the slashing of ships pro
pellers.
In areas below the Narrows
where tow barges pass out to sea
it became necessary to protect The
lighted buoys from the towlines by
putting teeth or cutting-knives into
the upper structure of the buoy
Strong was the language of irate tug
men when they discovered the pur
pose of this eontraption, which ont
of them termed a '.cussed porcu
nine blIoyin