The life of a Deep Sea Pilot by Roger Francis

Let us start a journey back in time. Back to the black and white films of history. The times have changed, but it is good to know what kind of things have changed and where are the roots of pilotage.

Look at Life Vol 01 Transport Pilot Aboard 1963
The story of Britain's pilotage services.

The Maryland Pilots have guided ships to and from Baltimore since the 1700's. They have been chartered as an organization since 1852. This is an edited except from films about the Pilots shot between 1950-1965 for the Port that Built a City and State. The original films are in the archives of the Baltimore Museum of Industry.

To monitor the vessel’s progress, the pilot had set up his portable pilotage unit (PPU). He had connected the rate-of-turn generator to the vessel’s pilot plug and had set a variable range marker on the radar with a radius of 0.5 nm.

Two decades ago, candidates were selected for TNPA's accelerated training programme in Rotterdam, which aimed to train a new generation of ship pilots, managers and other maritime professionals.

Welcome to Point Hope Shipyard in Victoria, British Columbia, Canada. In this video, I follow the float off of the Pacific Navigator, a hardworking pilot boat that serves the Port of Victoria and Ogden Point. We watch as the vessel is pulled along the marine railway, rotated on the turntable, and positioned onto the cradle. Once secured, the cradle lowers to float-off depth, and the Pacific Navigator fires up her engines for a short harbour spin before returning to duty. Some segments,...

The article was written by Allen Garfinkle, Executive Director – Board of Pilot Commissioners for the Bays of San Francisco, San Pablo, and Suisun

KITTIWAKE ( MMSI 232008570) is a Pilot and currently sailing under the flag of United Kingdom (UK) Here she is speeding down the River this morning.

Commissioned by the Aberdeen Harbour Board the Sea Shepherd was built by the renowned Macduff Shipyards in Aberdeenshire. The vessel was designed by Murray Cormack, evolving from their highly successful "NorthBay 17" hull design. The primary design prompt called for an exceptionally rugged craft capable of handling the severe, choppy sea conditions found just outside the Aberdeen breakwater. To meet this requirement, Murray Cormack developed a single-chine displacement hull specifically...