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Show "r . 1 t t ! j Protecting Ships Alon Uie Reeky (oast of ttifi East When the lightships fht are arttt-trd arttt-trd along th Msasschusetta const and are anchored away ont oa Nan-turket Nan-turket shoals break adrift. It la tba man In tba lighthouse tender Azalea who are aent nut to eearcli for tba wandering ships, and they moat And them If penult) le and bring them bark and place them on the Identical e-pot from which thejr have been torn away. The crew of the Aialea never know There are curtain ilaya when they are whore night will overtake them. There are certain days when they are supposed to go O'lt and take a peep at tba different llghlahlpi along the const, and other tlmea when they are expected expect-ed to run alongside the lightships and put supplies aboard, but thla work la governed by the wenther condition!, and It cannot be carried out with any degree of regularity. The breaking adrift of the llghtahlpa la not likely to occur however, except during very atormy weather, and following fol-lowing theae storms, the Atalea makee a crulae of the aound, looking for thorr. Often the ahlpa are found to ba atlll riding at anchor, but at noma considerable dlatance from the place where they ought to be atatlon-d, atatlon-d, having unawarea to thoae on board, dragged their Diudhooks during the gale. The Arnica In a caae like thla marka for the crew waa cnpslterl and lost, together with all Ita content, la the attempt to board the lightship. Reaching the llghtahlpa along the aound and on the ahoala la a difficult cud hazardous undertaking even In good weather, owing to the myrlada ot ahoala and sunken a hi pi that atretrh far out under the sea along the coaAt line of the Cape. The purllous tank which the crew of the Ar.elca are often cahed upon to perform In replacing buoys In poaltlon bring forcibly to notice the vltnl Importance Im-portance of buoya along the coast. These b'ovs are to the navigators by dny wu. the beacons scattered along the con 1 1 are at night, and the fog alg-nnls alg-nnls are when neither llghta nor buoys can lie discerned. Theae buoys tell the sallormen, by their else, form, color, and number, how to escape rocks and hidden ahoala, and are as a guide to the skipper who Is working his vessel In or out of a harbor or through the moil lo'tuoua channels. j 'the bioy aervlre has ahorn a moat remarkable growth during the last decade, there being about 6.O1O buoys in the aevernl districts under control of the lighthouse board. The buoya used In the lighthouse lervlre are of wood, or Iron. T'v wooden buoys are sticks ot from about Moving Ice fllds are the wrrrat enemy ene-my of the buoys. When the Ice field atarta before a atrong wind It usually rarrlen every buoy within Ha grasp with It, releasing them when the open aea Is rearhed and the Ira beglna to break up. The Atalrn. when a buoy la lighted In the Ice, plowa her way through the field If It la possible to do o and, making mak-ing fast the buoy, placed It on bar deck and la again off In search of other wandering wan-dering guides to navigation that have been swept adrlTL Theae drifting buoys have often been I paaaed In mldocean and one buoy which was torn from Its moorings In New York harbor found lis way to the coart of Ireland after a voyage of about all weeka. The buoy waa swept adrift by a large Bold ot Ice, and Waa carried out Into tbe bay so oulrklr that all attempts at-tempts to recover It were unavailing. Tba Iron lee bunya ara made of boiler Iron, and the Arst-rduaa buoya of this class coat about JM. They art 50 feet In length and ataud 21 feet out of water. , , Tho whistling buoy consists of an Iron pear-shaped hulb about 13 feet acruaa at the wldeat part and floating about I! fe.'t out of tlx witter, Inalde the bulb la a tube 33 Inches acmes, extending ex-tending from the top through the bottom bot-tom to t depth of 32 teat Into water aai are found to be of untold valui la marking sunken wrerka along th rant tflieie buoya, from the peculiar rayi oi HM which they give at night, can rO'lllr be distinguished from any other tnd of Hint on fh water, and It li firely that they are mistaken for any Other kind. When exhausted titer are tikrn Up ,y , Aralea anil aent to be pfilW. another being placed In poal-oii poal-oii to do duty. If sot engaged in cruising for mlsa-bx mlsa-bx buoys or looking for a wandering fi tiiab I p or cnrrylng supplies to the Igbtlisusra along the const the Asalea ,11 atwmlng along the sound or work-fig work-fig hsr any among the Ice flelda along the cape, ever ready to give assistance B VMsels In dlatresa. Thslr work Is never done and upon the faithful performance of theae serv-inti serv-inti of the government depends In a large measure the safety, of all the coastwise shipping around the danger-ui, danger-ui, inure of Cape Cod. f (R J ' nun X WEBTUHG ,l " Be&cuittg- jl ttx.3uar:..'.... the true position with a small buoy and then tows the lightship back to her station. In searching for lightships that have broken adrift the Atulra follows In the wake of the storm that swept them uway and If the. missing ships have not obtained too grout a atari tba Aialea usually overtake them. rutting supplies aboard the lightships light-ships Is perhups the moat huiardous of all work that the crew of the lighthouse light-house tender are culled upon to do. It la only a few yar ago that a boat's crew from the Atulcu. while engaged en-gaged In unloading coul from their bout to the Nantucket shouts IlKhtehlp hud their bout sink under them, barely bare-ly giving them time to scramble n hoard the llKlitxblp. This Is only one of a number of Instance In-stance when the lives of the crew of the Axalea have been endangered and that, too, within a comparatively shurt time. On the orraalon of tho recent trip of the Aiulca to the Nantucket ahoala ahlp. wheu C'apt. Olhba muds an effort to take Capt. Jorgwiaen ashore to attend his (f'apt Jorgen-en's) Jorgen-en's) daughter' funeral, the boat containing all ilia Christmas presents I a dosen to sixty feet long of cedar, pine or spruce, preferably cedar. Spar buoys are classified by length Hiid thickness, and then acquired color, but are Interchangeable within these roudltlona. All Iron buoya are made hollow, with atr-tlght compartments and are made of throe shapes, culled the nun, cau and Ire buoy. The nun buoy la itlmost conical In form, while the can buoy la 111 the shape of the frustum of a rone nearly approaching a cylinder. The Ire buoy closely reseuiblas tbe wooden spur buoy, of greut length, 1 1 Klit thlrkneu. and of the largest dluiurter near tbe middle. Iluoys are exposed to the dunger of being run down, which frequently happens along the roust, where there aro a countless number ot tliuui an-fhoieil. an-fhoieil. Having alr-tlght compartments compart-ments the buoys aro rarely a (ink by being run down, but often they are so seriously damaged by being ripped open by steamers and sailing vessels striking them thut their usefulness la lost. Hpar buoya ara often rendered useless use-less by being cut down by the propeller pro-peller bladea of passing steamers. free from wave motion. The tube la open at Ita lower end but projecting airtight through tho top of tho bulb, and Is closed with a plate having In It throe holea. two for letting the air Into the tube and one between these for letting the air out to work the lD-litrb locomotive whistle with which the buoy la surmounted. The great bulb which buoya up the whole mass rises and fulls with the motion of the wavea carrying the tube up and down with It and establishing a piston and cylinder mov&uiniil, the water In the tube acting as an Immovable Immov-able plKton, while the lube Itself arts as a moving ryllndi r. The air admitted til rou nb (he valves s tbe buoy rises on the v. lives Into that part of the bulb which la abovo witter la compressed com-pressed aud as the buoy fulls with the wave It Is further compressed aud forced through a pipe which at Ita apex connects with the whistle. In the hnrbors, rlvern aud lakes the bell buoys are found, while tbe big whistling buoys are loratcl In the open sea and roadsteads. Tbe gas buoya are one of the most valuable aids to navigation. They are coming Into more general use each year |