| Show Complete COUll ele Network N of ot Markers leers Guide US U.S. Coast Inland Boats I I I I 4 W ri I I I 0 k 1 b i iI I I Symbolical l o If ic 11 n neu ir 1 rend and the 0 old in Unfit light I firo tiro rill n guides 1 tit titi St i the II t or 1 i f iT 1 bit lr JOINT r of III l tin tl let left teas Iran tin in 1 first fird built liI by ly iii n ni I I tilled Stairs IIII I rant 1 nil art r ri U iii V mm in ill 1790 1710 us II brightly J 1 r orn o fill tens built brill I iI I sacral years flIr Igo II I Ir 1 by Cl n v rv l n C a Service Most MORt people thinning of or lighthouses ns liS standing by the tho sen sea do lo not realize to extent inland waterways s 's arc also marked The navigable waterways of or no other continent can cnn cOIn com compare pare in extent and anti importance with those ot or North America which comprise the St St. Law Law- Lawrence Lawrence rence renee and ond the Great Lakes the Mississippi l river system the Atlantic and Gulf intra intra- coastal waterways the In In- Inside Inside Inside side channels and such long river and bay approaches to treat great sea seaports seaports ports ns os Delaware bay Chesapeake bay tho the Mississippi river passes and the tho Columbia Many of ot these are marked a for or seagoing vessels others for shallow-draft shallow boats bonts The Tho Atlantic coast const Inland water waterway way Cape Cod to Key West is about 1000 miles In length and andis andIs andIs is marked by aids to lo tion The lower portion of this route roule south from Norfolk is a combination combination tion of ot natural channels and arti artificial helot cuts and Is a 11 winding pic plc picturesque passage The special type of beacon bencon best adapted to lo tho U Florida l' waterway li le lin I lea n R simple palmetto pile bunk by urn wo I ter Jet into tho the mud Tho The top of the thi pile pUs a a finger Anger board pointing toward the channel chann I. I Markers larkers Break Loose With many vessels and tows going through the passages which ore are often narrow and end crooked It is a busy Job for a n lighthouse tender to keep these markers In place This Interesting channel lures scores of private yachts to balmier climates in winter The Tho Mississippi river system In Includes In eludes about miles mites of bio blo waterways and Is marked by nearly small lights and buoys Its once heavy truffle developed and reached Its zenith before the days of ot marking the channels In 1074 when the tho trot navigational lights were placed on the Mississippi tho the river already carried 1100 steamboats steam steam- steamboats boats besides other craft Mark Twain describes graphical graphical- graphically ly Iy the tho job of a young pilot learn learning learning ing log the river and memorizing the Ule NY NN W. M JI A I- I It J t J 4 f fY 1 I Y I i N Hyt t Lighthouse without ted teat This North Carolina brick and wooden lighthouse yean yea old now stands embarrassedly in a c bog far from Irons water tenter Kill hint once Fort Fart Caswell was teas an i. i is- is island land rind and the tlc old light l' with Ivi its iti gingerbread scroll work wor was wat a guide through frou h the channel The channel hat has long Mince since been filed up un but Ind the C durable old Ugh Tight still fill remains n. n shape chape of ot the river In aU all the different ways that could be thought of ot oL oLlie lIe He refers to piloting on vast streams like the Mississippi and Missouri whose alluvial banks cave and Iud change constantly whose snags are r I always hunting up new quarters quarter whose sand bars are nev r st st. whose whore channels channels' ate are r. r rag and shirking and whose obstructions must be confronted in all aU nights and all weathers without the thO old aid of ot n single BIngle lighthouse e or a n single I buoy for tM there Is neither light nor buoy to be found In all a 11 these thousands of ot miles of ot villain villainous ous river Moods Floods Imperil Lights on the th lower Mississippi were maintained during the period of the tile great crea t flood of at 1027 1927 under the most trying circumstances Near Natchez a keeper was wa driven from his house houst which was flooded to the tho eaves avs yet et no matter how high the water got ho he kept his light going As the tho river rose rOSl tho the lantern was raised several times by adding to Its support Homes In tho the vicinity were flooded to their roofs and It Is Isn Isn isn n mystery where the keepers found shelter sheller The keeper of Windy Point light on Grand Lake La In reported I Iam Iam 1 am IlIn yet on the Job but tho the water has run me out of my house hO I 1 have havo havethe havethe the oil aU on some logs lona I will stay out here All Is well When nn on incoming steamer reaches Ambrose lightship picks up the pilot and ond heads for New York orle It soon passes pa ses between two largo large lighted buoys marking the tho actual I I I I I entrance to Ambrose channel On the tho right side is a n quick flashing quick red light and boll bell on n tho the left kit a quick flashing while white light and whistle The Tho ship then follows six miles mUes o of 01 ofa a dredged dred cd channel 2000 toot feet wide Dna iU cd WIUf Quent buoys buoy on either side ide end and epe pe cl III c l at turns turn Large lin- lin liners ers which formerly waited for the tide Ud now pass In and out of at New NewYork N NewYork w York harbor under all conditions but that of ot dense fog U. U 8 S. has 1111 Buoys Along other coasts and at harbor barbor entrances buoys marl mark tho the sides of at atthe the channels as well as shoals rocks or wrecks Their upkeep is isan Isan Isan an endless task for tor the fleet of lighthouse light light- lighthouse house tenders which constantly pick pickup up and set out the tho buoys restore them to their U proper stations bring them in n for their annual overhaul and supply the tho lighted buoys with tanks of ot compressed acetylene gas This country now has over 10 1610 lighted buoys and a total of ot over buoys of all types and sizes not including tho the number of at Despite unceasing care buoys sometimes break away in storms are ar torn loose by passing vessels or sink Some Somo have had strange adventures ad od adventures ventures and to them poets have havo often oCten ascribed human attributes There Thern Is Kipling's poem The Dell Deli Buoy and ond Southey's Southey Rock nock A strange story is that of the Pan Frying Shoals FP which a few years ago broke from its moorings off the North Carolina coast and set out for the open sea It was 40 feet teet long weighed 12 tons with light and whistle and cost Recovered In Ireland This runaway buoy drifted over into the Gulf Gult Stream and sailed for Europe Though sighted and report report- reported ed many times Umes no vessel recovered It Finally a French steamer saw it approaching the Irish coast and lighthouse authorities there thelo were notified After Alter 13 months at sea and a voy voyage voyage age ot of about miles FP the FP P stands for tor Pan Frying was washed ashore off oR Skibbereen County Cork Sounding Its whistle day and night another buoy broke away from near Nantucket shoals light light- lightship lightship ship drilling drifting miles In 19 months circling between Bermuda and the Atlantic coast In some waters around New York traffic is rough on 00 buoys Wooden spar buoys formerly used were sometimes cut down more than once In a single day Now wooden spars have been replaced by light steel buoys which can better resist colli colli- collisions collisions and the slashing of ships' ships pro pro- propellers propellers la Ia areas below the Narrows where tow barges pass out to tea sea it became necessary to protect the lighted buoys buoy from the towlines towlines' by putting teeth 1 or knives cutting-knives Into the upper structure of the tha buoy Strong was w s the language of ot irate tug tug- men when they discovered the pur pur- purpose purpose pose of this contraption which ona one of them termed a cussed pine l' l |
