8524 HYDROGRAPHIC MANUAL -PaGE 798 



portance be shown erroneously or inadequately the Washington Office should be 

 notified at the earliest opportunity. (See also 173 and 175.) In general, officers of 

 the Coast and Geodetic Survey should carefully examine all charts and Coast Pilots 

 covering areas with which they are familiar, and report any erroneous or inadequate 

 information. 



8524. Positions of Survey Buoys 



Each time survey buoys are established or removed a report shall be made at once 

 to the Washington Office in order that this information may be published in the Notice 

 to Mariners (see 286). The report should give the positions of the buoys and should 

 state the type and whether lighted or not, and if lighted the color and characteristics 

 of the light. Where the buoys are equally spaced in a line, it is sufficient to report 

 the latitudes and longitudes of the two buoys at the ends of the line and the number 

 of intermediate buoys; otherwise the latitude and longitude of each should be given. 



853. Aids to Navigation 



Aids to navigation are established to aid the mariner in navigating the adjacent 

 waters and it is vitally important that the aids be correctly charted, that the floating 

 aids be maintained in their charted positions, that they be correctly placed with refer- 

 ence to the new survey, and that any deficiencies be promptly reported. 



Where the actual description or characteristics of any aid to navigation are found 

 to dift'er from those published in the Light Lists or on the charts, the facts shall be 

 reported immediately to the Commander of the nearest United States Coast Guard 

 District and to the Washington Office. 



Where a lighted aid to navigation is found extinguished, report should be made 

 immediately to the Commander of the nearest Coast Guard District (see also 174). 



Reference shall be made in the Descriptive Report to every report, made during the 

 course of the field work, to Coast Guard officials relative to aids to navigation 

 (see 842P). 



8531, Positions of Floating Aids 



All floating aids to navigation within the area of a survey shall be located, and 

 listed in the Descriptive Report for that survey. The latitude and longitude of each, 

 the depth of water at each, the position number or numbers of the location data, 

 and the date of location shall be given. (See 842P.) 



The charted position of a floating aid to navigation is its official position, until 

 notice of a change is published in the Notice to Mariners, in which case the charted 

 position is corrected by hand, pending a corrected printing. Every effort is made 

 by the Coast Guard to maintain floating aids at their official positions. 



Errors in the positions of floating aids are of two classes, (a) when the aid is not 

 at its official position and (b) where the official position of the aid does not adequately 

 serve the purpose for which it was intended. 



During the survey, if the official position of a floating aid is adequate for the 

 purpose intended, but the aid is found to be not at its position, the latter fact shall 

 be promptly reported directly to the Commander of the nearest Coast Guard District. 

 It is important to report the date on which the aid was found to be off station and the 

 distance and direction it was off station. 



During the survey, where the official position of a floating aid is found to be un- 

 favorably located for the purpose for which it was intended, the facts shall be reported 



