Maritime Pilot Tribute

All working vessels on the River Mersey gathered in front of the Three Graces – Liver Building, Cunard Building and the Port of Liverpool Building. The formation included pilot launch boats, RNLI Lifeboats, river tugs, Mersey Ferries and the Disney Magic cruise liner. They all blew their whistles in tribute to The Sovereign, who passed away last week. River tugs will perform Fleur De Lis – spraying water from their fire cannons. Vessels currently within Liverpool and Wirral dock systems,...

Hardest part of getting on board of a ship is climbing up on a maximum height of pilot ladder as 9m. Vessel on that video is a 27kdwt bulk carrier in ballast condition bound for İstanbul strait northbound passage.

A pilot boat is a type of boat used to transport maritime pilots between land and the inbound or outbound ships that they are piloting.

Tuesday, September 15, 2009 finds the New York Harbor Pilot Boat No. 1 overtaking the Circle Line Zephyr on a Hidden Harbor Cruise along the Kill van Kull.

Pilot boats in action. The key elements for a safe pilot transfer.

Inbound San Juan harbor new pilot boat build by Safehaven marine

Editors note: Great video with a brilliant technique: Move your phone while watching and see the different angles of the full 360 degree view. Amazing!
A big thank you to Kris de Decker.

Like many seafarers I have long been a keen follower of The Nautical Institute’s MARS programme, and along with many other members I listened to the recent webinar on that topic. One theme which was repeated more than once was that it is better to learn from someone else’s misfortune rather than have it happen to you. Having personally been involved in two near misses resulting from unsafe pilot transfer arrangements in a relatively short space of time, I asked how experiences and knowledge specifically about pilot ladder safety could best be promulgated to avoid repeating common accidents or near misses.