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Descant · 08-24-2015, 04:12 PM

There really aren't many new ideas here.

I hesitate to guess the dates, but I'd say in the late 60's, for several years, the Witches were ringed with (6? 8?) orange barrels, probably old beer kegs to be consistent with the state budget. These floated on their sides, very high in the water, and had a white reflective stripe, probably 6" wide. Very easy to see, day or night. Good for radar, but nobody had radar in those days.

I don't know why they were removed and not replaced, but I bet they didn't reduce the number of service calls enough to justify the cost of removing replacing seasonally. I believe it was shortly after that when flasher #71 was added.

I sometimes think the extra flasher adds to light confusion. When there was only #28, and you saw a flasher, you knew which one you were looking at. Of course, if you can read the chart at night, you'll see that #71 has a double flash.

Nevertheless, it seems most of the discussion here is about daytime navigation.

If you can find Governor's Island, Lockes Island, and Timber Island, it should be simple stuff to find and avoid the Witches, or to go to the deep water closer to Governor's and Lockes. The Mount goes through there occasionally. You should have no problem.

08-24-2015, 04:12 PM	#18
Descant Senior Member Join Date: Mar 2006 Location: Merrimack and Welch Island Posts: 4,598 Thanks: 1,418 Thanked 1,705 Times in 1,109 Posts	New ideas There really aren't many new ideas here. I hesitate to guess the dates, but I'd say in the late 60's, for several years, the Witches were ringed with (6? 8?) orange barrels, probably old beer kegs to be consistent with the state budget. These floated on their sides, very high in the water, and had a white reflective stripe, probably 6" wide. Very easy to see, day or night. Good for radar, but nobody had radar in those days. I don't know why they were removed and not replaced, but I bet they didn't reduce the number of service calls enough to justify the cost of removing replacing seasonally. I believe it was shortly after that when flasher #71 was added. I sometimes think the extra flasher adds to light confusion. When there was only #28, and you saw a flasher, you knew which one you were looking at. Of course, if you can read the chart at night, you'll see that #71 has a double flash. Nevertheless, it seems most of the discussion here is about daytime navigation. If you can find Governor's Island, Lockes Island, and Timber Island, it should be simple stuff to find and avoid the Witches, or to go to the deep water closer to Governor's and Lockes. The Mount goes through there occasionally. You should have no problem.