The following text may have been generated by Optical Character Recognition, with varying degrees of accuracy. Reader beware!

204 used is acetylene gas compressed to a density that is almost a liquid. The tank containing this is placed in the lower part of the buoy or in the box- like structure of the shore light. A leather diaphragm in the burner closes the opening at the sudden inrush of the gas, then drops, allowing a little gas to pass through. This is ignited by a tiny constantly burning flame fed through a small tube, and the flash is the result. - The compression of the fuel and the saving effected by the intermittent burning make it possible for the “blinker” light contained in even the small tank of the buoy to burn for many weeks without the supply being renewed. In fact, in some instances they have been arranged so as to burn a whole year without attention. In such a case, there are génerally one or two reserve tanks which are auto- THE MARINE REVIEW matically turned on when one is emptied. There are three ways in which these lights are more economical than the lighthouse stations: First, in the matter of construction and installa- tion, the average cost of installing an acetylene light being about $1800 against the $125,000 required to build and install a modern concrete light- house station; second, in the fraction of personal attention required by the “blinker” and, third, in the amount of fuel used. Of course there is also the same most important reason for the use of the “blinker” light that has caused the change of the steadily burning light in lighthouse stations to the flashing light, that is, the certainty of its being distinguished as a signal and not taken for some other light on shore or on a boat. The “blinker” light is quite a mod- ern invention and was adopted by this April, 1919 country only a few years ago. It is just now being taken up by one or two others. When Alaska was. first opened to commerce, the Canadian government was much more prompt than the United States in placing lights along the route. The first ones placed in Alaskan waters were installed in 1895, the only previous aids to navigation being a few in- adequate charts and 14 iron buoys, which were established in 1884. The cause of this seeming procrastination on the part of the United States light- house bureau was.a law which forbids the building of a lighthouse on any property until the government can establish an absolute title to it. The Canadian government. was handicapped by no such law and went ahead erect- ing temporary structures as fast as they were needed. Since the adoption of the “blinker” by the United States, _ THE TREACHEROUS WATERS OF ALASKA.DEMAND A HEAVY ANNUAL TOLL IN WRECKS AND STRANDINGS The upper left illustration shows the steamer Savor att i } f 1 } , i empting to salve the wreck of r upper right illustration is the steamer ADMIRAL EVANS wrecked at Hawk inlet ape Pai et rhe near Seward on the southwest coast of Alaska, the steamer Dora and the tug UNCLE Sam os She went ashore near Dixon’s entrance in 1917. i in the center illustration. the entrance of Tongass narrows. “The fishboat The center right i z The lower left illustration shows the Princess M Tea ae SPOKANE in Seymour narrows in 1912. The The center left illustration shows two vessels wrecked The Prince Rupert is shown high and dry on the rocks ation is the barge Bangor wrecked in 1916 at : AY piled up on the rock id ‘ i is Sunrise high and dry on Channel island in 1917 is ee at the a reht sear ante eatovieaths upc