Hatteras Light in North Carohna, three 

 feet taller, had to be abandoned in 1935 

 because of encroachment by the sea. But 

 the highest light, though it has only a 43- 

 foot tower, is perched 422 feet above the 

 "Pacific on Cape Mendicino, Calif. It can 

 be seen 28 miles away. 



The toughest job of the aids to naviga- 

 tion branch of the Coast Guard is main- 

 taining upwards of 23,000 buoys dis- 

 tributed along the inland and coastal 

 waterways of the United States, Alaska, 

 Hawaii, and the Virgin Islands. They are 

 inspected at regular and frequent inter- 

 vals, and the compressed gas or electric 

 batteries which supply power to operate 

 their lights must be renewed to keep them 

 in proper operation. They must be re- 

 moved from the water periodically for 

 cleaning and painting, repairs or replace- 

 ment of worn and broken parts, and oc- 

 casionally taken out of the water for relo- 

 cation or to permit renewal of the chain 

 and anchors by which they are moored to 

 the bottom of the sea. 



The electronic age 



The operation of lighted aids is a lot 

 easier now, however, than in the bygone 

 days when smoky oil lamps had to be 

 cleaned and hlled and their wicks kept 

 trmimed. Some present-day lights and fog 

 signals are turned on and off by a remote 

 radio control system called ANRAC (aids 

 to navigation radio controlled). And there 

 are other electronic wonders: RACON 

 (radar beacons) which gives distance (up 

 to 120 miles) and bearing of ships and 

 planes from the beacons; and LORAN 

 (long-range aids to navigation) which pro- 

 vides navigational information to air and 

 surface craft. Present Loran stations, lo- 

 cated in Greenland, Newfoundland, 

 Alaska, the Philippines, the Caribbean, 

 and remote Pacific islands as well as 

 continental United States, form a safety 

 network over the North Atlantic and 

 North Pacific. In 1948, Congress author- 

 ized the Coast Guard to expand its Loran 

 networks to meet the needs of the armed 

 forces and the maritime and air commerce 

 of the United States. 



The Pigeon Point Ligh+house in California. 



