A red and white chequered buoy marking the navigable channel of the river Towy is shown on an historic chart. Sailing Directions dating to 1884 note 'Buoys, painted back, are laid down on the best track for vessesl as far up as the junction of the rivers, but have constantly to be shifted... The outer or Fairway buoy is conical, with staff and globe; its lies in 7 fathoms, 6 1/2 miles E 1/4 N from Caldy lighthouse; NW 1/2 N 9 3/4 miles from Worms Head; and N 3/4 W 10 3/4 miles from the Helwick lightship. The bar or No 1 buoy, lies in 2 fathoms, NE 1/4 E 2 miles from the Fairway buoy, with Ginst point and Warlo bluff nearly in line; at 1 1/4 mile E by N 1/4N, is the mid bar buoy; east, three-quarters of a mile, No 2; ESE one mile, No 3; E by N 3/4 N, three quarters of a mile, No 4; NE by E by 1/2 E, two thirds of a mile, No 5; E 1/4 N, half a mile, No 6, which is conical; NNE threequarters of a mile, No 7, is also conical, and lies on the left of the Carmarthen, and right of the Laugharne channel.'

Sources include:
Admiralty; 1884, Sailing Directions for the Bristol Channel, 4th Ed, pg85
Historic Admiralty Chart 1156-A2, RCAHMW Digital Collections sourced from UK Hydrographic Office and first published in 1839

Maritime Officer, RCAHMW, September 2014.