BUOY, b00% boi or bwoi, any floating body employed to point out the particular situation of anything under water, as of a ship's anchor, a shoal, etc. They are of various shapes and constructions. The can buoy is of a conical form and is used for pointing out shoals, sand banks, etc. In the United States it is prescribed by law that channel buoys be painted red on the starboard hand coming in from sea, and black on the port or left-hand side. They are also numbered in order from seaward, with even numbers on the starboard and odd numbers on the port hand. Mid-channel obstructions are marked with danger buoys, having black and red transverse stripes. Mid-channel buoys marking the fair way have longitudinal white and black stripes. Buoys marking sunken wrecks are painted green. White buoys desig nate anchorage limits or dumping limits. A yellow buoy designates a quarantine station. The cask buoy is in the form of a cask; the larger are employed for mooring, and are called mooring buoys. Spar buoys are wooden poles weighted at the thick end, by which they are moored. They are used in inland waters and in situations where, by reason of ice, iron buoys would be damaged in winter. Whistling buoys
are provided with apparatus, operated by the waves, which compresses air and discharges it through a whistle. A bell buoy is a large fixed buoy to which is attached a bell which is sounded by the heaving of the sea, serving as a signal in foggy weather. The life or safety buoy is intended to keep a person afloat till he can be taken from the water. Its most usual form is a ring of cork covered with painted canvas and having beckets at its circumference. Life buoys are sometimes equipped with a port fire or signal light which is kindled by pulling a lanyard at the moment of heaving overboard. Gas buoys are charged with compressed gas and provided with a suitable burner. The gas be ing lighted, and burning continuously, such buoys serve as a guide at night. Some buoys are fitted for generating and burning acetylene gas, and are often made to carry a charge to last six months or more. Electric buoys are illuminated by connection with power on shore by means of a cable.