in sea affairs, a sort of close cask, or block of wood, fastened by a rope to the anchor, to determine the place where the anchor is situated, that the ship may not come too near it, to entangle her cable about the stock or flukes of it.

Buoys are of various kinds; as,

Can-Buoys: these are in the form of a cone; and of this construction are all the buoys which are floated over dangerous banks and shallows, as a warning to passing ships, that they may avoid them. They are extremely large, that they may be seen at a distance; and are fastened by strong chains to the anchors which are sunk for this purpose at such places. See Plate CVIII. fig. 6.

Nun-Buoys are shaped like the middle frustum of two cones, abutting upon one common base, being casks, which are large in the middle, and tapering nearly to a point at each end. Plate CVIII. fig. 7.

Wooden Buoys are solid pieces of timber, sometimes in the shape of a cylinder; and sometimes in that of a nun-buoy; they are furnished with one or two holes, in which to fix a short piece of rope, whose two ends, being spliced together, make a sort of circle or ring called the flrop.

Cable-Buoys, are common casks employed to buoy up the cables in different places from rocky ground. In the harbour of Alexandria in Egypt, every ship is moored with at least three cables, and has three or four of these buoys on each cable for this purpose.

Slings of the Buoy, the ropes which are fastened about it, and by which it is hung: they are curiously spliced round it, something resembling the braces of a drum.

To stream the Buoy, is to let it fall from the ship's side into the water; which is always done before they let go the anchor, that it may not be retarded by the buoy-rope as it sinks to the bottom.

Buoy-Rope, the rope which fastens the buoy to the anchor: it should be little more than equal in length to the depth of the water where the anchor lies, as it is intended to float near, or immediately above, the bed of it, that the pilot may at all times know the situation thereof. See Plate XXIX. fig. 1. no. 3. where b is the anchor, c the buoy-rope, and d the buoy floating on the surface of the water. The buoy-rope is often extremely useful otherwise, in drawing up the anchor when the cable is broke. It should always, therefore, be of sufficient strength for this purpose, or else the anchor may be lost through negligence.

Buoy of the Nore, is a buoy placed at the mouth of the river Thames, to direct mariners how to avoid a dangerous sand.