452 



LIGHTHOUSE ESTABLISHMENT, THE UNITED STATES. 



cylinder; and the ice-buoy is much like a 

 spar -buoy, of great length, slight thickness, 

 and of largest diameter near its middle. Each 

 shape is classified by size, and diversified by 

 color and number. They were once made of 

 wooden staves, like barrels, but their rapid de- 

 struction by the Teredo navalis caused the sub- 

 stitution of boiler-iron. The cost of these buoys 

 varies with the price of iron and cost of labor. 

 The board's last contract for buoys, with all 

 their attachments, except mooring-chains, was 

 made at the following rates : 

 For first-class can-buoys, six feet across, and nine 



feet six inches high $262 



For second-class can-buoys, four feet four inches 



across, and seven feet nigh 143 



For third-class can-buoys, three feet two inches 



across, and four leet ten inches high 96 



MUSHROOM ANCUOKS. 



IRON 

 SINKER. 



(For mooring Buoys.) 



Congress prescribed by act of September 28, 

 1850, that red buoys, with even numbers, be 

 placed on the right-hand side, and black buoys, 

 with odd numbers, on the left-hand side of 

 channels approached from seaward ; that buoys 

 placed on wrecks or other obstructions, having 

 a channel on each side, be painted with red 

 and black horizontal stripes ; that those buoys 

 placed in mid-channel, and which indicate that 

 they must be passed close-to to avoid danger, 

 be painted with white and black perpendicular 

 stripes; and finally, that perches, with balls, 

 cages, etc., when placed on buoys, will indicate 

 a turning-point, the color and number of the 

 buoy showing the side on which they are to be 



Buoys are exposed to many dangers, not the 

 least of which is that of being run down and 

 ripped open by passing steamers. As the iron 

 buoys are made with compartments, they are 

 rarely sunk, but their line of flotation is often 

 lowered, and their usefulness accordingly de- 

 creased. Spar-buoys frequently lose a portion 

 of their length, which is cut off by strokes of 

 colliding propeller-blades. Despite state and 

 national statutes forbidding it, vessels will some- 

 times make fast to buoys, thus gradually drag- 

 ging them off their bearings. A buoy has 

 sometimes been set adrift, that a reward may 

 be obtained for its recovery; but this is not a 

 profitable operation, as the reward paid is 

 varied with the circumstances of each case. 



The buoys' worst enemy, however, is ice, 

 when moving in mass, and with a tide or cur- 

 rent. A well-made, well-moored buoy, at the 

 mouth of a narrow river, can create an ice- 

 gorge ; but usually, when the ice moves in 

 force, the buoys met have their mooring-loopg 

 torn out, their mooring-chains broken, or their 



mooring-anchor weighed ; and in each case the 

 buoy is carried out to sea, when the buoy-ten- 

 ders give chase, and, if successful in its cap- 

 ture, return it to position. The sea-going qual- 

 ities of the large iron buoys are shown by 

 their volunteer voyages. One is now anchored 

 off the coast of Ireland, where it was picked 

 up, about six weeks after it had been wrenched 

 from its place in New York Harbor, and turned 

 over to the Irish lighthouse establishment, by 

 which it was reported to the United States 

 Lighthouse board, when it was presented to 

 the Irish board, who simply added to its for- 

 mer marks their own, and moored it near the 

 point where it came ashore, in commemoration 

 of its peculiar voyage. 



The importance of keeping New York Har- 

 bor and Bay well marked has moved the board 

 to keep its iron buoys in position, notwith- 

 standing their danger during the winter, but 

 with a spar-buoy beside each iron buoy, as the 

 ice that carries away the one passes over the 

 other, and allows it to resume its position, and 

 indicate to passing vessels where the iron buoy 

 should be, and also to show the buoy-tenders 

 exactly where it is to be replaced. New York 

 Harbor was twice swept clean of iron buoys 

 during the winter of 1880-'81, and, though 

 some of them have been recovered, the board 

 has been put to large expense to replace those 

 which were lost. Still, it recognizes the fact 

 that the loss of one steamer might cause a de- 

 struction of property many times greater than 

 the cost of the buoys, to say nothing of the loss 

 of life that the absence of buoys might occa- 

 sion. The ice-buoy invented by Mr. J. Parsons 

 Smith, clerk to the Lighthouse Inspector at 

 Philadelphia, is made of boiler-iron, and is di- 

 vided into compartments, so that any one may 

 be pierced without sinking the buoy. That of 

 the first class costs $300, is fifty feet long, and 

 stands twenty-two feet out of water. That of 

 the second class costs $250, is forty feet long, 

 and stands seventeen feet out of water. As 

 with wooden spar-buoys, the ice passes over 

 them without carrying them away ; but, unlike 

 the wooden buoys, they break the propeller- 

 blades which strike them instead of being bro- 

 ken, and thus, defending themselves, last many 

 times longer than spar-buoys, and, though cost- 

 ing more at first, are more economical in the 

 end. 



The board has a fleet of twenty-three steam- 

 ers and three schooners, ranging from fifty to 

 five hundred and fifty tons burden. It is the 

 business of some of these steamers to attend to 

 the buoyage of the coast, replacing the buoys 

 which have gone adrift, exchanging every buoy 

 for a fresh one once a year, and placing new 

 buoys. They are also used to supply the light- 

 houses with provisions, fuel, and minor sup- 

 plies, and on them the inspectors visit the 

 light-stations to make their regular quarterly 

 inspections and to pay the keepers. Certain 

 of the tenders are used for construction pur- 

 poses, freighting building material to light- 



