Oh, buoy! | Maryland Gazette (HometownGlenBurnie.com)

The $120,000 buoy, which took about 18 months to build, is powered by four solar panels, three of which were damaged by someone whose own tax dollars were used to build it. The top of the buoy was also damaged.

The Coast Guard and Maryland Department of National Resources Police are investigating the incident.

It was the third buoy deployed to mark the Captain John Smith Chesapeake National Historic Trail, the nation's first water-based national historic trail. Two buoys are at the mouth of the Potomac and James rivers, and a fourth was recently deployed at the mouth of the Rappahannock River. NOAA plans to launch two more this summer on the Elizabeth River in Norfolk, Va., and on the Susquehanna River in Havre de Grace.

The first indication of a problem with the Patapsco buoy was at 7:25 p.m. July 24 when it stopped sending wind, wave and current data, said David Hall, a spokesman for NOAA.

"It collects meteorological and water quality data as well as information on waves and currents," he said.

Most buoys collect one or the other.

"The technology gives us the opportunity to relate current-day conditions to those observed by Captain John Smith," Mr. Hall said.

The data is transmitted in real-time to a Web site and hotline accessible worldwide. An oral history of Captain Smith's travel around the Chesapeake Bay accompany the data.

The buoys use high-speed wireless modems to transmit data from a sensor package to researchers and watermen, while most other buoys use satellites.

Captain Smith, an English explorer, was searching for gold, silver and the fabled Northwest Passage between Europe and Asia 400 years ago, when he found the Chesapeake Bay. He is credited with making the first accurate map of the bay and its surrounding areas.

Staff writers Allison Bourg and Mary C. Schneidau contributed to this report.