Lighthouses & Shipwrecks

Lit lighthouse

Glows in its lamp's true color. White: main lights on headlands, islands and harbor approaches. Red: the right-hand side of a channel coming in from the open lake ("red, right, returning"). Green: the left-hand side. Yellow: special marks such as breakwater ends and intakes.

Flashing

Each light blinks its charted pattern from the official lists, as a ship sees it at night: Fl flashes, Iso equal light and dark, Oc mostly on with short eclipses, Q quick, F steady. Hover a light for its pattern in words. Lights with no listed pattern glow steadily; the button under the title holds them all steady.

Glow = range

The glow spreads with the light's nominal range (5, 10, 20 nautical miles), from the official lists of lights.

Range light

Front and rear pairs that line up a channel. Each shines one way, along the line, toward the ships steering by it.

Dark lighthouse

Historic towers with no light today.

Shipwreck

The chart symbol for a wreck. Bright: named. Small and dim: charted, no name.

Port city

Major ports of the lakes and the river.

Canals and locks

Ships climb between the lakes here. Soo Locks: 3 locks lift ships about 21 ft (6.5 m). Welland Canal: 8 locks lift ships about 326 ft (99 m). St. Lawrence Seaway: 7 locks lift ships up to 246 ft (75 m) above sea level. Hover a lock for more.