Look at Life - Pilot Aboard 1963

Many people wonder how ships made it across entire oceans without getting lost in the seventeenth century. Aaron introduces seventeenth century navigation to us today by beginning with piloting.

Look at Life - City of Sailors - Portsmouth - 1965
Portsmouth is no longer the sea-faring city it once was; this film from the Documentary Series "Look At Life" Volume 5 - Cultural Heritage in 1965 looks at its changing face.

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.

In this video we follow along with Capt. Dane of the Palm Beach Harbor Pilots Association on a windy Saturday morning as he brings in a massive bulk carrier cargo ship into the Port of Palm Beach. This vessel which has a draft of 27 ft, and a beam of 99 ft is the maximum allowable size vessel allowed to transit into the port due to the shoaling going on that forces all vessel to have a maximum operating draft of 29 ft. No room for error. Also featured in this video is a regular cargo vessel...

It remains a sad fact that accidents and near misses continue to occur during pilot transfers with frightening regularity. Most of these fortunately do not result in injury, and a surprisingly high number of them are not even recognised for what they are.

Surveys into pilot ladder safety consistently reveal that unacceptably high numbers of pilot transfer arrangements are not compliant with the regulations.

Harwich, Essex. Several shots of buoys at a warehouse on the quay. Various shots show the Trinity House Vessel 'Siren' setting out to sea to carry out maintenance on buoys; a naval flag showing the Union Jack and the Trinity House Jack is hoisted; officers are seen using sextants and plotting their course on a chart. Nice M/S of a sailor tying on a life jacket. Sailors drop anchor beside a buoy, hoist weather balloons and ring bells on the ship. The buoy is cleaned of mussels and limpets...

Ships in Freeport of Riga

A wonderful poem As read by the author From his books "Poems" Sometimes it is good just to stop and enjoy a poem. This poem "Ship's Pilot" is read by the author himself. A valuable piece about the nature of the pilot.

A week of ship traffic on the seven seas, seen from space. Get a glimpse of the vibrant lanes of goods transport that link the continents.
The vessel movements were captured using newest terrestrial and space-borne AIS technology from FleetMon and its partner Luxspace. The records cover the world's merchant fleet with some 100.000s of cargo ships, tankers, ferries, cruise ships, yachts and tugs. FleetMon provides advanced fleet monitoring services, software APIs, reports and analyses of...

Pilot jumping onboard the Carnival Luminosa at Cairns from the pilot boat .