No. 4
Rules of the Road · Deck Pass drill
Day shapes
Balls, cones and diamonds hoisted by day: anchored, aground, not under command, fishing, towing and more.
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By day, lights are hard to see, so vessels hoist black shapes instead: balls, cones, diamonds. Most match a night light signal one for one. From the U.S. Inland Navigation Rules (33 CFR Part 83).
The shapes and what they mean
- One ball, forward: at anchor.
- Two balls: not under command (two red lights at night).
- Three balls: aground.
- Ball, diamond, ball: restricted in her ability to maneuver (red, white, red at night).
- Two cones, points together: fishing. A single cone point up to one side: gear reaching out more than 150 m that way.
- One cone, point down: a sailing vessel also using her engine; she counts as power-driven. Under 12 m it is optional.
- A diamond on the tug and on the tow: the tow is longer than 200 m.
Dredges and underwater work
A vessel dredging or working underwater shows ball-diamond-ball, plus two balls on the side where the obstruction is and two diamonds on the side where you may pass. At night the balls become red lights and the diamonds green lights.