The Book of the Sailboat: How to rig, sail and handle small boats

by A. Hyatt Verrill

Another very important matter for all boat sailors to learn is the meaning of the various buoys, beacons, lights and other guide-boards of the sea. In small boats these are often of little importance for one may sail hither and thither without paying much attention to channels, but even in the smallest of sailboats there is a danger of running on reefs, rocks or shoals if one does not know what the guiding marks mean.

In nearly every port, harbor, or other navigable body of water, except in the open ocean, there are buoys. To the landsman these appear as so many red, black or parti-colored sticks or metal cylinders, but to the sailor every one has a definite meaning and he knows that if he proceeds according to the route marked by the buoys he is perfectly safe.

There are two general classes of buoys, known as channel buoys and danger buoys. The first are used to mark lanes or channels for boats and are always black or red in color. All the red buoys are placed on one side of the channel and all the black buoys on the other side and every boat, when coming in from sea or moving towards the land should keep the red buoys on her right or starboard side and all the black buoys on her port or left hand. When going out of the harbor or away from land, the red buoys are passed on the left and the black ones on the right.

In other words, in leaving a harbor all the red buoys should be passed on the red light side of your boat. Moreover, all the channel buoys are numbered, the black buoys bearing odd numbers, while the red ones are marked with even numbers, so that even if the colors are indistinct you can tell whether they are to be passed on right or left. But all channel buoys are not alike for there are spar buoys, can buoys and nun buoys, each of which serves a definite purpose and means a certain thing.

Can buoys are cylindrical, like giant tin cans, and are painted black and marked with odd numbers, while nun buoys are tapered on the top, are painted red and bear even numbers.

Spar buoys are merely huge, wooden poles painted red or black and bearing odd numbers on the black ones and even numbers on those which are red.

In some places the can and nun buoys are used to mark the main ship channels and the spar buoys are used to show smaller or less important channels, while in other places only one kind is used or can or nun buoys may be placed among the spar buoys to mark turning points or to aid mariners in locating their position in the channel. All the buoys’ numbers commence at the one farthest out, which is number 1, for buoys are of more importance to vessels entering a harbor than to those going out to sea.

Danger buoys differ from channel buoys in color and are not numbered and they may be either of the spar, can or nun type. A buoy painted red and black in horizontal stripes running round the buoy indicates that there is some small reef, rock or other obstruction close to it and that vessels must keep clear, but can pass on either side. A buoy painted with vertical stripes of black and white means exactly the opposite and shows that in order to avoid danger vessels must pass as closely to the buoy as possible and that there are shoals or obstructions on one or both sides of the buoy a short distance away. This striped buoy also is used to mark the center of a channel and is known as a midchannel buoy.

Bell buoys and whistling buoys are also used to mark danger spots and turning-points in channels. Whistling buoys are metal buoys fitted with whistles which are blown by air forced up by the motion of the waves and are sometimes called grunters as the sound is more like a grunt than a whistle. Bell buoys are provided with a bell which is rung by the swaying of the buoy. In many places they are located well out to sea to indicate the beginning of a channel; in other spots they are placed on reefs, rocks or other obstructions as warnings, and in still other places they serve to show where a channel turns sharply or where another channel branches off.

Still another sort of buoy is the gas buoy. These serve as miniature lighthouses or lightships and are furnished with lamps which burn compressed acetylene or other gas. They are usually placed on outlying reefs or rocks or in spots where it would not pay to keep a regular lightship.