In approaching channels from seaward red buoys marked with even numbers will be found on the starboard side of the channel and must be left on the starboard side in passing in. Black buoys with odd numbers will be found on the port side of the channel and must be left on the port hand in passing in.
Buoys with red and black horizontal stripes will be found on obstructions with channel ways on either side of them, and may be left on either hand.
Buoys painted with black and white perpendicular stripes will be found in mid-channel, and must be passed close aboard to avoid danger.
All other marks to buoys will be in addition to the foregoing and may be employed to mark particular spots, a description of which will be found in the printed Government lists.
Perches, with balls, cages, etc., will, when placed on buoys, be at turning points, the color and number indicating on what side they shall be passed.
XV.
THE COMPASS.
I have no space in this volume to write an exhaustive chapter on navigation. It is, however, an art easily acquired, and may be wholly self-taught. There are certain rudimentary rules for finding one's way at sea by dead reckoning, that everyone starting out on a cruise should master. The instruments needful are a compass, parallel rulers, dividers, patent log, lead line, aneroid barometer, clock, and the necessary charts of the sea which it is proposed to navigate.
In a small cruiser a compass is generally carried in a portable binnacle. When steering by it take care that the lubber's point is in a direct line with the keel or stem and sternpost. For the benefit of the uninitiated, I will explain that the lubber's point is the black vertical line in the foreside of the compass bowl, by which the direction of the vessel's head is determined. A misplaced lubber's point is sure to cause grave errors in the course actually made. The compass should be as far removed as possible from ironwork of any kind. A spirit compass, as I have remarked elsewhere, is the only kind suitable for small craft. Those with cards of hard enamel, floating in undiluted alcohol, which renders freezing impossible, are the best. The amateur boat sailer should become familiar with the compass, be able to box it by both points and degrees, and to name its back bearings.
The points of the compass are thirty-two in number, as follows: