SAFEGUARDS OF THE SEA 89 



how to steer, even though they have never been 

 in the locality before. 



From all this you may see how really simple 

 it is for a good mariner to find his way into 

 harbours and along coasts where there are 

 lights, beacons and buoys, but in a great many 

 places there are none of these safeguards of 

 the sea and the sailors must depend upon other 

 methods of safely navigating their vessels 

 along the dangerous shoals and reefs. It is in 

 this work that charts are of the greatest value 

 and a sailor without charts would be greatly 

 handicapped and would have to proceed very 

 slowly and cautiously in any strange locality. 

 There are a great many kinds of charts includ- 

 ing pilot charts of the great oceans, sailing 

 charts from one distant point to another, charts 

 of individual countries and islands and har- 

 bour charts. The pilot charts of the ocean are 

 very elaborate and complete and to the lands- 

 man they appear a hopeless, unmeaning jum- 

 ble of red and blue lines, figures and symbols, 

 letters and arrows, queer, wavy lines, areas of 

 shaded lines and many other mysterious and 

 incomprehensible signs. In reality each of 



