Quote:
Originally Posted by HossC
I've never heard of one either, but that's what Google's for, right? 
According to www.merriam-webster.com, a whistling buoy is "a buoy that makes a whistling sound due to the action of waves and usually marks a shoal or channel entrance". A longer, more technical description can be found at chestofbooks.com.
USC has a picture which looks remarkably similar to the postcard. It's titled "Close-up view of the whistling buoy off Point Fermin, San Pedro, 1890".
USC Digital Library
The following article is from the San Francisco Call, Volume 102, Number 106, 14 September 1907. It mentions the Point Fermin whistling buoy and another at Point Vincent - I'm guessing they mean Point Vicente.
California Digital Newspaper Collection
Four maps showing the location of the Point Fermin lighted whistling buoy can be found here. |
The "whistle" appears to have been steam operated, suggesting that it had someone tending to it. Could the buoy have been some indirect inspiration for some other forms of navigational whistling?
Especially good for splashdowns?
https://encrypted-tbn3.gstatic.com/i...E5rUuDmDNn3V1A
http://media.airspacemag.com/images/..._Main_ON09.jpg
http://www.trbimg.com/img-5373ae6b/t...03/580/580x455
The capsules appear to have been constructed by McDonnell in St. Louis; however, there were plenty of SoCal connections to the project. Bendix, North American, Convair and others.
https://encrypted-tbn3.gstatic.com/i...E5rUuDmDNn3V1A