Q HISTORY Coastal fog signals


We are all familiar with the deep mournful moan from coastal foghorns – but they have been just one of many different types of coastal fog signal used over the centuries Words: Keith Ray


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Since the construction of the mighty Pharos lighthouse at Alexandria in 280 BC, mariners have been assisted by coastal installations to steer them clear of dangerous rocks or to guide them safely into harbours. Although lights were of limited effectiveness, they were at least of some assistance for mariners. But even the most powerful lights could not


penetrate thick fog, and at such times mariners had only a choice of either not sailing at all or using primitive methods to determine whether they were close to shore, such as a lead line to measure the depth of water. Sometimes the lead weight would have


tallow inserted in a hollow in its base which would pick up sand and shells, and if the sailors were familiar enough with the area they could deduce fairly accurately where they were from this detritus. It was crude, but better than


nothing in the days before fog signals were developed. Today of course vessels have sophisticated navigation aids, but before these came along the crude lead weights, together with early forms of fog signal of various types, were the mariners’ best friend when close to land and enveloped by fog. Audible fog signals of one form or another


have been in use for hundreds of years. The earliest were rockets and cannons, or fog guns. Fog guns and rockets were first used in Europe in the early 18th century, and the idea of the gun spread to the United States with the first one set up in Boston in 1719. While rockets did not catch on across the Atlantic, in both the States and Europe many locations became equipped with fog guns. The fog guns, while being fairly effective, were far from ideal. They had to be reloaded each time they were fired,


and the actual warning blast was of very short duration, making it very difficult for mariners to assess the direction of the sound; knowing there were dangerous rocks around, but not knowing exactly where, was of limited help. In some locations, especially on the east


coast of the United States, fog could linger for days, making the job of continually reloading the cannon a tiresome and dangerous task, and firing it certainly did nothing for the operator’s hearing. In addition, the cannon often posed a threat to nearby buildings. The next development in fog signals was


the use of percussion instruments, bells, gongs and in some cases truly massive triangles. At first these were struck by hand, and when the fog lingered for days it was extremely tiring work. Efforts were made to automate the sounding of bells and gongs. One interesting


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