Pilot boat Le Fret

A beautiful day, climbing up the (not-so-well-rigged) pilot ladder and then the stairs of the accommodation towards the bridge.

Delaware River Pilot Boat Overfalls Working the Delaware River - Paulsboro, NJ - March 18, 2025

Pilot boats are an essential part of our maritime world where they provide safe passage for ships to and from the harbor. The Swedish Maritime Administration (SMA) has 23 pilot stations in Sweden.

Leaving Honningsvåg Norway aboard the Nieuw Statendam cruise ship in May 2023. Video shows the Pilot leaving the ship.

The operators of Egypt's Suez Canal say technical or human error could have caused a huge container ship to run aground. Engineers are working round the clock to refloat the Ever Given. The vessel has been blocking one of the world's busiest shipping lanes for the last five days. The chairman of the canal authority hopes a dredging operation will free the ship in the next few days.

Documentary from 2019 by "The Sea Lad"

We bid farewell to our Otaru marine pilot just outside Otaru Harbor, Japan. The crew of the pilot tug were particularly fastidious about not marking up the side of the Viking Orion during the operations, spraying the interface with water, even though that might have made the transfer more hazardous for the pilot. From the Viking Orion, October 2024

An overview of the work that has been done to enable larger ships to call at Lyttelton, New Zealand.

A Florida Harbor Pilot encountering the pilot pilot ladder of a submarine. First harbor pilots must make their way offshore through rough seas to a vessel desiring their expertise to safely enter port. Next harbor pilots must negotiate the dangerous boarding accommodations to embark on vessels of every type. Next, the real work begins by using years of experience and centuries of knowledge passed down through the rigorous training process, to safely guide vessels in and out of Florida's...