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THOSE THINGS OUT THERE IN THE WATER
You can go back to the 16th century and find aids to navigation
to support the commerce of the old world.
Initially there were mainly light houses and light house structures.
While lighthouses continue to be the most
recognizable aids, the development of safe systems of buoyage,
and accompanying changes in the vessels responsible for tending
them, deserve a more solid place in maritime history. Some of
the first were simply crates with a big rock tied to a chain.
These were around La Compasso de Navigare. Located in the Guadalquivir
River, this buoy aided mariners approaching Sevilla, Spain. Back
then, the mariners had to pay a fee to use them. It would be another
200 years until the government would take over the task. Back
then, Kings were concerned about the “dangers of allowing
foreigners to learn the secrets of the King’s streams”.
Boston Light was the first North American light house built in
1716 on Little Brewster Island. On Aug. 7, 1789, the First Congress
passed an act for the establishment and support of lighthouses,
beacons, buoys, and public piers. Just another tidbit of info
before I start the bilge pump, the United States didn’t
have a standard system until 1848. Colors, shapes and sizes varied
from port to port. This lack of regulation gave individual contractors
free reign to
decide the types of buoys necessary for a given area or harbor.
More about buoys on our next adventure of maritime rules.
Until next time, be safe and see you on the water.
There were many problems with the buoys and markers in the mid
1700th century due to their small size and lack of consistancy.
In 1848, they finally came up with the Lateral system. This is
the system we use today. Does “ RED-RIGHT-RETURN”
ring a bell? Even more improvement came about in 1852 when the
Lighthouse Board was created.
The attempt to standardize was started. Buoys were categorized
in three sizes. The larger ones for main entrances to harbors,
mid-sized ones for secondary approaches and smaller buoys where
deeper draft ships couldn’t go. This was all o.k., but what
about night time? The solution was not so simple. The first electrically-lit
buoy tested by the board was a simple spar with a lantern housing
and light on top. It was used in Gedney’s Channel, New York
harbor in 1888. A series of these were lit by a cable running
to a generator on Sandy Hook, N.J. It was removed in 1903. Light
buoys use solar power today. Audible signal buoys were also developed.
The first were simply bells with swing clangers as we have today.
The Courtenay’s Buoy is based on the physics of air escaping
under pressure from a tube through a whistle. When the buoy moves
in the water, it causes water to be pushed into it which then
pushes air out the other end where the whistle lies.
During the early 20th century the authority that was responsible
for buoyage was disbanded and the new agency, The Lighthouse Services,
was commissioned. George Putnam was the man in charge and was
very instrumental in the change of nav aids and maintenance than
any other individual before. He encouraged new buoy designs and
crusaded for his employees to do the same. The advent of radio
beacons on buoys made it possible for mariners to not have to
see them to navigate. This became one of the most technological
changes ever made to buoys. Putnam retired in 1935. Congress moved
the Lighthouse Service out of the Department of Commerce and incorporated
it into the Coast Guard in 1939.
The Coast Guard did lots of experimentation during the 40’s
and 50’s. Plastic buoys were one of the main things they
were working on. In 1966, the Coast Guard began investigating
the possibility of replacing lightships with Large Navigational
Buoys or LNBs. They are called monster buoys having hulls up to
40 feet in diameter with a depth of 7 1/2 feet. While the tools
and methods of maintaining minor aids in U.S. waters changed a
lot in 206 years, they are still about the same. Most people even
here on the island simply notice briefly a buoy rocking in the
swells before turning their eyes to take a snapshot or bait their
hooks and not realize the vast history behind them.
As always, be safe and see you on the water.
Written by Captain Alan Stewart of the Laguna Madre Maritime
Training Center
For Information on the Laguna Madre Maritime Training Center please
call 956-639-8697
To see archived articles by Captain
Alan Stewart please click the link below:
January
2006 articles
February
2006 articles
August
2006 articles
September
2006 articles
January
2007 articles
April
2007 articles
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