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.

They look like toy boats, but they serve a serious purpose. An outsider at this facility near Grenoble, France, may see grown men riding arounda lake in miniature ships. But these are pilots of the world's largest ships, and they're practicing navigation with meticulously engineered 1:25 scale models of real cruisers, tankers, and containerships. Port Revel Shiphandling Training Centre, in operation since 1967, has had more than 6,000 maritime pilots and merchant ship officers from all over...

This video seems to be slow and boring for non maritime people, but doing the job in a good way needs a lot of experience and knowledge. And it's the very the best job in the world.

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

Texas State Harbor Pilots

Bulk Carrier sailing from Seaforth Dock through Gladstone Lock into The River Mersey

This paper described some of the characteristics it could offer to be classified as "smart" by reviewing risk management practices and accident statistics using the Finnish port of Rauma.

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.