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National Geographic : 1936 Aug
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THE NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC MAGAZINE Photograph courtesy The Washington Post HOME FROM THE SEA FOR REPAIRS Periodically the floating light and bell buoys must be brought into the depots for cleaning and overhauling. Mooring chains also are examined carefully. Here about 134 miles of heavy chain of various sizes are spread out on the dock of the lighthouse depot at Portsmouth, Virginia, after being cleaned. and always signifies the starboard side of the channel for the entering ship. The green light means the port side, while a white light may be on either side. Just now a modification of this system is being introduced in this country, by which the role of a buoy is indicated by the char acter of its flashing light. A quick flash, 75 flashes per minute, is cautionary, and designates a buoy requir ing the particular attention of the naviga tor-such as a buoy marking an obstruc tion or danger, a turn in a channel, or a restricted entrance. Slow-flashing buoys (not over 30 flashes a minute) indicate the sides of channels. An interrupted quick flash signifies a wreck, and a short-long flash, a fairway or midchannel buoy. This is an important advance, and will make buoyage more understandable and helpful to the navigator. If a wreck occurs in an important water way, it is extremely important to have it marked immediately, and the tenders make every effort to do this. A notable example was the sinking of the Fort Victoria in De cember, 1929, off the entrance to the New York Harbor channels. As soon as the fog would permit, the wreck was marked with a red bell buoy with red light at one end and a black whistle buoy with green light at the other. FOG IS THE TERROR OF THE SEA "Fog is the greatest enemy of naviga tion." Only recently, as explained on page 169, radio bearings have given the mariner for the first time a means of effective and accurate navigation in fog. Though menace of collision still remains, the peril must diminish as approaching ves sels in open waters make more use of radio bearings of each other, so as to pass clear. But radio signals do not make it possible to dispense with whistle fog warnings. Often, however, the whistle signals, as 194
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