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
December 2007 articles
Texas Clipper Article
May 2008 articles

Back to Baycam