Buoy to return but in silence

Press, 15 January 1986, Page 5

Buoy to return but in silence

Lyttelton’s whistling buoy has lost its “voice” but is set to make a return to the harbour after an 18-month absence.

The buoy had been an invaluable navigational aid to shipping since its installation off Godley Head in June, 1914. It was a landfall buoy and showed shipmasters the entrance to Lyttelton Harbour. A wind-operated whistle on the buoy sent an eerie sound across the harbour, a noise designed to warn ships of the nearness of land in darkness and times of f og- . . ..

Sailors say that the whistle made a “mournful, moaning sound,” similar to the wind whistling through wires.

The buoy, however, became obsolete when a new directional lighting system was commissioned recently to guide ships into Lyttelton Harbour.

The Lyttelton Harbour Board has now decided to improve the buoy and return it to the sea as a navigational aid.

A pilot for the board, Captain Michael Barnett, said the buoy would be used as a spoilground marker between Breeze Bay and Mechanics Bay,

The area can be dangerous for shipping as its depth varies and the harbour dredges dump spoil there. The yellow-painted buoy might be placed there within the next 10 days, a move which will please harbour yachties who have often used it as a race marker.

But the 13m buoy will be without its whistle and gaspowered lighting system. Instead, a solar-powered lighting system is likely to be installed. The lantern at the top will be replaced by a cross, as required by marine regulations. No use has yet been found for the old whistle.