summer. Due to the northwesterly setting nontidal current arising from the discharge of the drainage waters through the Strait of Juan de Fuca, the strongest currents at Swiftsure Bank Lightship come with southeasterly winds and the weakest with northwesterly winds. In general it may be said that winds from the southeast quadrant here bring about currents having a velocity about 3 percent that of the wind while winds from the northwest quadrant bring about currents with a velocity about 1 percent that of the wind. The general rule for the deviation of the wind-driven current from the direction of the wind does not hold good here, not only because of the effect of the northwesterly setting nontidal current, but also because of the fact that the coast line here is to the north of the light vessel, while for the other light vessels it is to the east. For an approximate general rule here it may be taken that with winds from the southeast, southwest, and northwest quadrants the current sets about 20° to the right of the wind, while with winds from the northeast quadrant the current sets about 20° to the left of the wind.

PROCEDURE IN ASSISTING VESSELS IN DISTRESS TO AVOID DISTRESS-SIGNAL INTERFERENCE

The successful expedition of distress traffic requires the adherence of all operators to the rules of procedure and noninterference. One of the most conspicuous difficulties in handling this traffic is the interference caused by the operator, who, no doubt, is anxious to assist, but by his efforts in trying to persuade another operator to maintain silence, is himself contributing largely to the confusion. It sometimes happens that several operators are trying to silence an operator that they feel is an offender while they themselves are offenders.

The United States Coast Guard recommends the following procedure for vessels intercepting a distress signal:

1. Give absolute priority to distress call and messages relating thereto.

2. Cease all transmissions capable of interfering with the conduct of distress communications.

3. Maintain absolute silence if within range and not actually taking part in the conduct of distress communications.

4. Concentrate attention on the distress case and intercept all information possible.

5. If unquestionably in vicinity of distressed vessel, acknowledge receipt of the distress message, if received, giving your position to the vessel in distress, stating action being taken.

6. Be extremely careful not to interfere with stations more favorably situated to handle the case.

7. Do not try to silence other units, i.e. "QRT”, unless you are in control. The vessel in distress controls: Permit him to handle the situation without being interfered with. The vessel in distress may delegate this control to some other station more favorably situated. Do not interfere with the station lawfully controlling the situation.

INSTRUCTIONS TO MARINERS IN CASE OF SHIPWRECK, AS PUBLISHED BY THE UNITED STATES COAST GUARD

GENERAL INFORMATION

Coast Guard (lifesaving) stations and houses of refuge are located upon the Atlantic and Pacific seaboards of the United States, the Gulf of Mexico, and the Lake coasts.

The stations are manned throughout the year by crews of experienced surfmen.

All lifesaving stations are fully supplied with boats, wreck guns, beach apparatus, restoratives, and clothing provided by the Blue Anchor Society, women's national association for the shipwrecked requiring it, etc.

Houses of refuge are supplied with boats and restoratives but not manned by full crews; an officer in charge, and at places, one or two additional men reside in each, who are required to make extended excursions along the coast after every storm, with a view of ascertaining if any shipwreck has occurred and finding and succoring any persons that may have been cast ashore.

Houses of refuge are located exclusively upon the east coast of Florida, where the requirements of relief are different from those of other portions of the seaboard.

The lifesaving stations are provided with the International Code of Signals, and other means of visual signaling, and vessels can, by opening communication, be reported; or obtain the latitude or longitude of the station, where determined; or information as to the weather probabilities in most cases; or, where facilities for the transmission of messages by telephone or telegraph are available, request for a tug or Coast Guard cutter will be received and promptly forwarded.

All services are performed by the lifesaving crews without other compensation than their pay from the Government.

Destitute seafarers are provided with food and lodging at the nearest station by the Government as long as necessarily detained by the circumstances of shipwreck, and, if needed, with clothing provided by the Blue Anchor Society. The station crews patrol the beach from 2 to 4 miles each side of their stations between sunset and sunrise, and if the weather is foggy the patrol is continued through the day. A continuous lookout is also maintained at every station night and day.

Each patrolman carries warning signals. Upon discovering a vessel standing into danger he ignites one of these, which emits a brilliant red flame of about 2 minutes' duration, to warn her off, or, should the vessel be ashore, to let her crew know that they are discovered and assistance is at hand.

If the vessel is not discovered by the patrol immediately after striking, rockets, flare-up lights, or other recognized signals of distress should be used. If the weather be foggy, some recognized sound signal should be made to attract attention, as the patrolman may be some distance away at the other end of his beat.

Masters are particularly cautioned, if they should be driven ashore anywhere in the neighborhood of the stations, to remain on board until assistance arrives, and under no circumstances should they attempt to land through the surf in their own boats until the last hope of assistance from the shore has vanished. Often when comparatively smooth at sea a dangerous surf is running which is not perceptible 400 yards offshore, and the surf when viewed from a vessel never appears as dangerous as it is. Many lives have been lost unnecessarily by the crews of stranded vessels being thus deceived and attempting to land in the ship's boats.

The difficulties of rescue by operations from the shore are greatly increased in cases where the anchors are let go after entering the breakers, as is frequently done, and the chances of saving life correspondingly lessened.

RESCUE WITH THE LIFEBOAT OR SURFBOAT

The patrolman after discovering your vessel ashore and burning a warning signal, hastens to his station or the telephone for assistance. If the use of a boat is practicable, either the large lifeboat is launched from its ways in the station and proceeds to the wreck by water, or the lighter surfboat is hauled overland to a point opposite the wreck and launched, as circumstances may require.

Upon the boat reaching your vessel the directions and orders of the officer in charge (who always commands and steers the boat) should be implicitly obeyed. Any headlong rushing and crowding should be prevented, and the captain of the vessel should remain on board, to preserve order, until every other person has left.

Women, children, helpless persons, and passengers should be passed into the boat first.

Goods or baggage will positively not be taken into the boat until all are landed. If any be passed in against the remonstrance of the officer in charge, he is fully authorized to throw the same overboard.

RESCUE WITH THE BREECHES BUOY OR LIFE CAR

Should it be inexpedient to use either the lifeboat or surfboat, recourse will be had to the wreck gun and beach apparatus for the rescue by the breeches buoy or the life car.

A shot with a small line attached will be fired across your vessel. Get hold of the line as soon as possible and haul on board until you can get a tailblock

with a whip or endless line rove through it. The tailblock should be hauled on board as quickly as possible to prevent the whip drifting off with the set or fouling with wreckage, etc. Therefore if you have been driven into the rigging, where but 1 or 2 men can work to advantage, cut the shot line and run it through some available block, such as the throat or peak-halyards block, or any block which will afford a clear lead, or even between the ratlines, that as many as possible may assist in hauling.

Figure 1.

Attached to the tailblock will be a tally board with the following directions in English on one side and French on the other:

"Make the tail of the block fast to the lower mast, well up. If the masts are gone, then to the best place you can find. Cast off shot line, see that the rope in the block runs free, and show signal to the shore."

The above instruction being complied with, the result will be shown in Figure 1.

As soon as your signal is seen a 3-inch hawser will be bent onto the whip and hauled off to your ship by the lifesaving crew.

If circumstances permit, you can assist the lifesaving crew by manning that part of the whip to which the hawser is bent and hauling with them.

Figure 2.

When the end of the hawser is got on board, a tally board will be found attached, bearing the following directions in English on one side and French on the other:

"Make this hawser fast about 2 feet above the tailblock, see all clear and that the rope in the block runs free, and show signal to the shore."

These instructions being obeyed, the result will be as shown in Figure 2. Take particular care that there are no turns of the whip line round the hawser. To prevent this, take the end of the hawser up between the parts of the whip before making it fast.

When the hawser is made fast, the whip cast off from the hawser, and your signal seen by the lifesaving crew, they will haul the hawser taut and by means of the whip will haul off to your vessel a breeches buoy suspended from a traveler block, or a life car, from rings running on the hawser.

Figure 3, below, represents the apparatus rigged, with the breeches buoy hauled off to the ship.

If the breeches buoy be sent, let one man immediately get into it, thrusting his legs through the breeches. If the life car, remove the hatch, place as many persons therein as it will hold (four to six) and secure the hatch on the outside by the hatch bar and hook, signal as before, and the buoy or car will be hauled ashore. This will be repeated until all are landed. On the last trip of the life car the hatch must be secured by the inside hatch bar.

In many instances two men can be landed in the breeches buoy at the same time by each putting a leg through a leg of the breeches and holding onto the lifts of the buoy.

Children when brought ashore by the buoy, should be in the arms of older persons or securely lashed to the buoy. Women and children should be landed first.

In signaling as directed in the foregoing instructions, if in the daytime, let one man separate himself from the rest and swing his hat, a handkerchief, or his hand; if at night, the showing of a light and concealing it once or twice

Figure 3

will be understood; and like signals will be made from the shore. (See also Wreck Signals," below.)

Circumstances may arise, owing to the strength of the current or set or the danger of the wreck breaking up immediately, when it would be impossible to send off the hawser. In such a case a breeches buoy or life car will be hauled off instead by the whip or sent off to you by the shot line, and you will be hauled ashore through the surf.

If your vessel is stranded during the night and discovered by the patrolman— which you will know by his burning a brilliant red light-keep a sharp lookout for signs of the arrival of the lifesaving crew abreast of your vessel.

Some time may intervene between the burning of the light and their arrival, as the patrolman may have to return to his station, perhaps 3 or 4 miles distant, and the lifesaving crew draw the apparatus or surfboat through the sand or over bad roads to where your vessel is stranded.

Lights on the beach will indicate their arrival, and the sound of cannon firing from the shore may be taken as evidence that a line has been fired across your vessel. Therefore upon hearing the cannon, make strict search aloft, fore and aft, for the shot line, for it is almost certain to be there. Though the movement of the lifesaving crew may not be perceptible to you, owing to the darkness, your vessel will be a good mark for the men experienced in the use of the wreck gun.

72870°-34--23

IMPORTANT

Remain by the wreck until assistance arrives from the shore, or as long as possible. If driven aloft, the inshore mast is the safest.

If not discovered immediately by the patrol, burn rockets, flare-up, or other lights, or if the weather be foggy, fire guns or make other sound signals.

Make the shot line fast on deck or to the rigging to prevent its being washed into the sea and possibly fouling the gear.

Take particular care that there are no turns of the whip line around the hawser before making the hawser fast.

Send the women, children, helpless persons, and passengers ashore first. Make yourself thoroughly familiar with these instructions, and remember that on your coolness and strict attention to them will greatly depend the chances of success in bringing you and your people safely to land.

WRECK SIGNALS

The following signals, approved by the International Marine Conference convened at Washington in October 1889, have been adopted by the Coast Guard service and will be used and recognized by the officers and employees as occasion may require:

"Upon the discovery of a wreck by night, the life-saving force will burn a red pyrotechnic light or a red rocket to signify, 'You are seen; assistance will be given as soon as possible.

"A red flag waved on shore by day, or a red light, red rocket, or red roman candle displayed by night, will signify, 'Haul away.'

"A white flag waved on shore by day, or a white light slowly swung back and forth, or a white rocket, or white roman candle fired by night, will signify, 'Slack away.'

"Two flags, a white and red, waved at the same time on shore by day, or two lights, a white and a red, slowly swung at the same time, or a blue pyrotechnic light burned by night, will signify, 'Do not attempt to land in your own boats; it is impossible.'

"A man on shore beckoning by day, or two torches burning near together by night, will signify, 'This is the best place to land.'

"Any of these signals may be answered from the vessel as follows: In the daytime, waving a flag, a handkerchief, a hat, or even the hand; at night, by firing a rocket, a blue light, or a gun, or by showing a light over the ship's gunwhale for a short time, and then concealing it."

66

BOUNDARY LINES OF THE HIGH SEAS

The following lines divide the high seas from rivers, harbors, and inland waters described in this volume. Waters inshore of the lines here laid down are inland waters", and upon them the inland rules and pilot rules given on page 356 apply. Upon the high seas, viz, waters outside of the lines here laid down the international rules given on page 349 apply.

San Diego Harbor.-A line drawn from the southerly tower of the Coronado Hotel 2242° true (SSW. 5% W.), 4% miles to San Diego Bay entrance gas and whistling buoy 1 A, thence 032° true (N. by W.), 25% miles to Point Loma Lighthouse.

San Francisco Harbor.-A line drawn through Mile Rock Lighthouse 326° true (NW. 5% W. mag.) to Bonita Point Lighthouse.

Columbia River Entrance.-A line drawn from knuckle of Columbia River south jetty 351° true (NNW. % W. mag) to Cape Disappointment Lighthouse. Juan de Fuca Strait, San Juan Archipelago, and Puget Sound.-A line drawn from New Dungeness Lighthouse 132° true (N. by W. mag.) 10% miles to Hein Bank gas and bell buoy (HS); thence 3371⁄2° true (NW. 1⁄4 W. mag.) 104 miles to Lime Kiln Light, on the west side of San Juan Island; from Bellevue Point, San Juan Island, 3361⁄2° true (NW. 4 W. mag.) to Kellett Bluff, Henry Island; thence 347° true (NW. 5% N. mag.) to Turn Point Light; thence 71% true (NE. % E. mag.), 8 miles, to westerly point of Skipjack Island; thence 382° true (N. by E. 4 E. mag.), 4% miles, to Patos Islands Light; thence 338° true (NW. % W. mag.), 12 miles, to Point Roberts Light. General rule.-At all buoyed entrances from seaward to bays, sounds, rivers, or other estuaries for which specific lines have not been described, Inland