# Are maritime foghorns still used? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [August 2, 2013, 9:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-maritime-foghorns-still-used/665195 "2013-08-02T21:41:55Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 15\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Musicat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/musicat/32/20189_2.png) [@Musicat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Musicat)\ **Post date:** [August 2, 2013, 9:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-maritime-foghorns-still-used/665195/1 "2013-08-02T21:41:55Z")
I live about 10 miles (as the seagull flies) from a fixed foghorn, a small red building near a Coast Guard station, at the end of a breakwater/pier that leads into a canal/harbor. Until ~20 years ago, whenever there was the slightest haze on the horizon, the foghorn would automatically turn on. We could barely hear it 10 miles away, but you couldn’t physically stand within sight of the foghorn, it was so loud. It sounded like a giant wounded cow. I suspect better navigation equipment negated the reason for the foghorn. But are there any other foghorns still in operation anywhere in the world? And if so, why? And do large boats still carry and use them? ---
**Author:** ![SpoilerVirgin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/4491bb/32.png) [@SpoilerVirgin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SpoilerVirgin)\ **Post date:** [August 2, 2013, 9:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-maritime-foghorns-still-used/665195/2 "2013-08-02T21:54:24Z")
Definitely still in use on the San Francisco Bay. I hear them all the time. There are several on the [Golden Gate Bridge](http://www.sfgate.com/entertainment/article/When-the-foghorns-blow-3292917.php). > [@](#): > > The job of the horn is to guide ships into the bay without hitting the south tower of the bridge on the San Francisco side. ---
**Author:** ![Musicat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/musicat/32/20189_2.png) [@Musicat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Musicat)\ **Post date:** [August 2, 2013, 10:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-maritime-foghorns-still-used/665195/3 "2013-08-02T22:15:56Z")
> [@SpoilerVirgin](#): > > Definitely still in use on the San Francisco Bay. I hear them all the time. How far away are you from them? ---
**Author:** ![want2befree](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/3e96dc/32.png) [@want2befree](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/want2befree)\ **Post date:** [August 2, 2013, 10:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-maritime-foghorns-still-used/665195/4 "2013-08-02T22:45:41Z")
I want to find that sound to go to sleep by. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![SpoilerVirgin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/4491bb/32.png) [@SpoilerVirgin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SpoilerVirgin)\ **Post date:** [August 2, 2013, 11:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-maritime-foghorns-still-used/665195/5 "2013-08-02T23:40:13Z")
> [@Musicat](#): > > How far away are you from them? From where I’m physically sitting at this moment at work, I’m less than 1 mile from the Bay, about 5 miles from the Golden Gate Bridge. I spend a lot of time right along the San Francisco Bay waterfront. I think of foghorns as part of the background noise of the city, like car horns or birds. They’re just something I hear a lot. Sometimes the sound will inspire me to pay attention to the weather conditions - if I notice the foghorns, I generally find that it is pretty foggy (otherwise, I’d typically be oblivious). ---
**Author:** ![want2befree](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/3e96dc/32.png) [@want2befree](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/want2befree)\ **Post date:** [August 2, 2013, 11:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-maritime-foghorns-still-used/665195/6 "2013-08-02T23:50:19Z")
Spoiler, living where you are sounds delightful! I’m in dry, boring Sacramento. ---
**Author:** ![Trinopus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/2bfe46/32.png) [@Trinopus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Trinopus)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2013, 1:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-maritime-foghorns-still-used/665195/7 "2013-08-03T01:43:22Z")
The horn on the ballast point light in San Diego Bay was active less than a year ago, in my experience. I like to walk the Pt. Loma Bayside Trail, and the horn is kinda hard to ignore. ---
**Author:** ![SpoilerVirgin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/4491bb/32.png) [@SpoilerVirgin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SpoilerVirgin)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2013, 2:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-maritime-foghorns-still-used/665195/8 "2013-08-03T02:22:47Z")
> [@want2befree](#): > > Spoiler, living where you are sounds delightful! I’m in dry, boring Sacramento. Hah! I lived in dry, boring Sacramento for three years. I even wrote a song called “Summer in Sacramento” about that experience. A sampling: _Oh I love Sacramento It’s a town that can’t be beat There’s plenty to do I’m sure you’ll love it too If you can only stand the heat!_ Now I really do feel like I left my heart in San Francisco. Whenever I think about what it would be like to live somewhere else, I realize just how much I love the city, even with all its problems – transit strike starts Monday! ---
**Author:** ![Fubaya](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/c2a13f/32.png) [@Fubaya](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fubaya)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2013, 2:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-maritime-foghorns-still-used/665195/9 "2013-08-03T02:57:51Z")
> [@Musicat](#): > > And do large boats still carry and use them? They have them. I stumbled across cruise ship foghorn videos on youtube once. They apparently like to have [foghorn duels](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aQDGG51Qq3I). ---
**Author:** ![Musicat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/musicat/32/20189_2.png) [@Musicat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Musicat)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2013, 12:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-maritime-foghorns-still-used/665195/10 "2013-08-03T12:35:27Z")
> [@Fubaya](#): > > They have them. I stumbled across cruise ship foghorn videos on youtube once. They apparently like to have [foghorn duels](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aQDGG51Qq3I). Our foghorn only played one pitch. Guess we should have hired Disney to build it instead of the US Coast Guard. ---
**Author:** ![silvermist](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/cc9497/32.png) [@silvermist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silvermist)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2013, 12:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-maritime-foghorns-still-used/665195/11 "2013-08-03T12:40:21Z")
I miss the foghorn in Portland, Me. It was one of those comforting memory sounds from childhood. ---
**Author:** ![minionkat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f05b48/32.png) [@minionkat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/minionkat)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2013, 12:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-maritime-foghorns-still-used/665195/12 "2013-08-03T12:43:17Z")
I often hear the boats on the St. Clair river. It is lovely to be just waking up and hear the fog horns. It makes me smile every time. ---
**Author:** ![Onomatopoeia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/onomatopoeia/32/4145_2.png) [@Onomatopoeia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Onomatopoeia)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2013, 1:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-maritime-foghorns-still-used/665195/13 "2013-08-03T13:34:39Z")
> [@Musicat](#): > > I live about 10 miles (as the seagull flies) from a fixed foghorn, a small red building near a Coast Guard station, at the end of a breakwater/pier that leads into a canal/harbor. Until ~20 years ago, whenever there was the slightest haze on the horizon, the foghorn would automatically turn on. We could barely hear it 10 miles away, but you couldn’t physically stand within sight of the foghorn, it was so loud. It sounded like a giant wounded cow. > > I suspect better navigation equipment negated the reason for the foghorn. But are there any other foghorns still in operation anywhere in the world? And if so, why? > > And do large boats still carry and use them? As a boater, I can tell you definitively that yes, foghorns are still used, and supplement on-board electrical equipment, although their ubiquity has waned greatly. Some large boats still carry and use them. Yachtsmen can have their boat kitted out with a foghorn either OEM or from an after-market vendor. ---
**Author:** ![Musicat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/musicat/32/20189_2.png) [@Musicat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Musicat)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2013, 2:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-maritime-foghorns-still-used/665195/14 "2013-08-03T14:06:16Z")
> [@Onomatopoeia](#): > > As a boater, I can tell you definitively that yes, foghorns are still used, and supplement on-board electrical equipment, although their ubiquity has waned greatly. I can certainly see the need for horns on boats – GPS won’t tell you where a boat is and if you’re about to collide, at least under the current technology (and why not? Planes have them!). But lighthouses and harbors are fixed, and GPS probably replaces the need for a sound warning. At least that’s my theory as to why our Coast Guard foghorn is now silent. ---
**Author:** ![GusNSpot](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gusnspot/32/436_2.png) [@GusNSpot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GusNSpot)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2013, 6:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-maritime-foghorns-still-used/665195/15 "2013-08-03T18:55:19Z")
Back when I was using them, long distance ferries that were using multiple ships on the same route, or crossing shipping lanes, not only used them in fog & low visibility nights but were very picky about keeping a human lookout posted in the bow.