Introduction to Pilotage

Ships don't exactly have brakes. Lou Vest, a retired Houston ship channel pilot tells us about a close encounter between a ship and a barge.
https://houstonmaritime.org

The Arctic magnetic pole does not move anymore. It runs, faster and faster. In recent years, even faster than expected. Therefore, geo-researchers have now had an unscheduled change to their world model and adjust their calculations, so that navigation with compass and other navigation aids such as a Pilot Plug, used by pilots around the world, continue to work.

A pilot boat is a specialized vessel that is used to transport pilots to and from ships that are entering or leaving port. Pilot boats are typically small, fast vessels that are designed to operate in a variety of weather conditions and sea states.

Over the past few years a number of pilot transfer accidents have occurred resulting from total failure of the side ropes, one school of thought is that the methods of securing a pilot ladder is a factor in such occurrences.

The man-overboard manoeuvre includes all measures to rescue a person who has fallen overboard from a watercraft.

The U.S. National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) has released a Marine Accident Brief about an accident that occurred in March 2019, involving the towing vessel Dixie Vandal, noting that the BNWAS alarm didn't prevent the fatigued pilot from falling asleep.

Royal Caribbean Harmony of the Seas leaving St Thomas pilot Boat 1/20/22

The Japanese-flagged container ship ONE Apus has lost 1,816 cargo carriers after it was caught up in a violent storm in the Pacific on November 30, 2020. The vessel arrived December 8 in the Japanese port of Kobe, where shipowners and managers said a full safety inspection would be carried out. The incident is described as the second biggest cargo loss in shipping history.

The Port Pilot, by Richard Blanco. In _Looking for The Gulf Motel_, 2012, University of Pittsburgh Press.