Navigating the Golden Gate

Navigating the Golden Gate. Bonfires, Buoys and Foghorns. Golden Gate National Recreation Area, Deep channels make San Francisco’s protected harbor accessible to immense ships. On the other hand, swift currents, high winds, rocks and fog make navigating the narrow Golden Gate treacherous. Early mariners looked for on-shore bonfires, painted rocks and natural landmarks to find their way. Today, navigators rely on buoys, beacons, foghorns, charts, sonar and satellite global positioning systems., Navigation aids have distinctive characteristics that make them easily identifiable. Each lighthouse flashed a unique pattern, and each foghorn has a distinctive sound. By “reading” lighthouse or foghorn signals, sailors and ship pilots can determine their location and navigate under poor visibility. Nonetheless, numerous ships have been lost at the Golden Gate and now belong to shipwreck lore., Images: , Aircraft carrier, Enterprise, leaving the Golden Gate. Traffic in, out and around the bay is coordinated by the U.S. Coast Guard’s Vessel Traffic Service. The Coast Guard also maintains the bay’s buoys, lights and fog horns., This whitewashed patch of cliff once served as a navigation aid to ships entering the Golden Gate. Pilots knew they were safely within the shipping land if the “Painted Rock” at Lands End was aligned with Mile Rock lighthouse. This maker is still visible along the trail a short walk to the east., Alcatraz has the oldest still-operating beacon on the West Coast. The light has shone since 1854, when Gold Rush fortune seekers were flooding through the Golden Gate. It was moved to a taller lighthouse in 1909 and automated in 1963., Troopship entering the Golden Gate., Nautical Charts , Nautical charts provide information you’ll never see on a road map, including water depths, the locations of potential hazards and the identifying frequencies – or signatures – of foghorns. This chart has been overlaid with symbols representing the carious navigation aids in operation around the entrance to San Francisco harbor., Image: , Late 1820s. Man sitting on the Point Bonita Fog Cannon. This was the first fog signal on the Pacific Coast.